DH has cancer

[TessaR]

My dh was diagnosed a few weeks ago and during all this medical crisis I have been having a hard time taking care of me. I need to do low carb, but between school and taking care of dh(appointments,surgery,chemo,radiation,cooking, cleaning, ect) I'm at wits end! Does anyone have any ideas on how to cope with the added demands and still be able to cook low carb? I have have to admit to eating frozen dinners that appeal to him and not making anything low carb because I'm just too tired. I'm not sure what I'm asking for...maybe just support.

[bike2work]

Hi Tessa,

I know how upsetting it is when someone you love is diagnosed with cancer. :there: My father was diagnosed with bladder cancer eleven years ago and I was a wreck. But you know, he's just fine. People recover everyday.

I was trying to get you a link to wifezilla's blog; she has an interesting entry in there that explains that the Nobel prize was given in the 1930's to the scientist who discovered that cancer feeds on blood glucose. In other words, a low carb diet is one way of starving a cancerous tumor of food. Unfortunately, a technical glitch is preventing me from getting you that link right now.

Here is a link to a research study with similar results:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=354998&highlight=cancer

Go into advance search, type cancer into the key word box, underneath that choose "search titles only", and select LC Media/Research forum on the right-hand side. You will find a slew of research pointing to the established fact that cancerous tumors feed on sugar.

As for time to cook, nothing is easier than a roast or a roast chicken: you put some s & p on it, you pop it in the oven till it reaches the right temperature. Cooking steaks, pork chops, and chicken breast is easy too: season the meat, plop it in a preheated pan. Flip it after a while.

Salads: buy prewashed greens, toss with bottled dressing. Spinach and other greens: buy the boil-in-the-bag type without sauce (such as Cascadian Farms, available at Whole Foods), drop the bag in boiling water, set the timer for six minutes, drain and douse with butter.

You're right that you need support. Fortunately, you're in a support forum. You have a journal. Just do all your venting there and you will have visiting sympathisizers. ;) I promise.

[Squid]

Hi Tessa,

Wow, that sucks. I'm sorry to hear about your DH. I came through cancer myself last year, so I have an idea of how unreal and out of control everything probably feels right now.

I strongly suggest getting all the help you can from friends, family, a church if you go to one, your neighbors. It's amazing how much people will help when someone has cancer. Sometimes they don't offer because they don't know what's needed, but if you ask, I am sure you will get a lot of help. Don't hesitate to take it, you need it right now. Over 20 people helped me through my cancer. It was amazing.

As for low carb eating, that may be hard for your DH to do on chemo. Sure, it sounds like a good goal, but just eating anything can be hard enough. I gave up on the low carb and just ate anything during chemo. I never got sick, but my sense of taste changed and I couldn't stand the low carb things I used to like. Once chemo was over, I got back into low carb with lots of vegetables and it appears to be doing really good things for my health. My weight is normal now, my energy is great, and even though there isn't proof that low carb is a good way to go for my kind of cancer (breast), there's at least some theories out there that it should work. I'm betting on it.

Make sure you take care of yourself. Having cancer or being a caretaker for someone who does is really really stressful. It's almost surreal. One minute life is great and the next you're dumped on your head and trying to keep up with everything. If you need to, don't worry about putting off school or cleaning your house. Those things can wait.

Cooking low carb doesn't need to take any longer than cooking a standard diet. You might try making a big crock pot dish like a stew over the weekend when you have more time and eat it all week. Grilling some chicken, fish or beef and throwing it in a ready made salad works well too. Make enough for a few days at one time. As far as things your DH might want to eat, I think you'll just have to wait and see how his taste changes during chemo and what he can tolerate.

You WILL get through this. Feel free to message me if I can help.

Squid

[TessaR]

Thanks Ladies,
Allison I'm glad to hear that your Father is okay now and Squid I'm absolutely thrilled to know that you have come through.

It's not the cooking low carb that is the hard part...it's the cooking my low carb meals and cooking for dh during all of this. Like Squid said, low carb is good in theory, but just getting food that he can tolerate is my goal right now. I guess I need to give myslef some slack right now because I did manage to help my dh,take boards, and take all my finals (16 exams in one week). Now that I'm on spring break I can get more organized and put some freezer meals away for those hard times.

[Citruskiss]

Sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis - that's got to be stressful.

As for time for cooking and so on - how about a great book on low-carb crockpot recipes?

http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Low-Carb-Slow-Cooker-Cookbook/dp/1569244286

I got this book awhile ago, and it's an excellent book. Lots of things are just a matter of popping something into the crock with a few spices, turning the crockpot on and leaving it alone for the day. The recipes are divine.

I got a nice crockpot from Wal-Mart, it's got a digital timer on it, and will switch over to a 'warm' setting once the cooktime is up:

http://housewares.about.com/od/smallappliances/gr/rival6smartpot.htm

(comes in black and in stainless steel as well - about $35-40 at Wal-Mart).

Just throwing out an idea that might help you out a bit during this extra-stressful time.

Hang in there, and best wishes for a super-speedy recovery for your husband.

[TessaR]

Thanks Citruskiss,
the crockpot is a good idea. I have one that maybe I should use some more. I'll have to check out that book :agree:

[Nancy LC]

I'd suggest that you rely on foods like rotisserie chickens from the supermarket, pre-washed bagged greens, frozen veggies. Things you can slam into the microwave and eat within a few minutes. Use the crockpot too and freeze leftovers for later. The diet might be more monotonous than you're used to but seems like a small trade-off for sticking to your diet and getting a little more time in your life.

I wish you and your husband an excellent outcome.

[RobinB]

Sorry to hear that!

We are waiting to hear right now about some tumors they just removed from my dh's bladder!! And I am a breast cancer survivor myself.

I have to tell you, it is a little tougher to eat low carb when you are hanging around waiting rooms and doc offices. Hospitals are a tough place to eat (unless you have one with a nice cafe)

I like the crockpot idea-- much less time in the kitchen.

It's so good to see so many people beating this thing!!

[remptynest]

Tessa,
I'm so very sorry to hear about your husband. I will tell you, I have added you both to our Home Fellowship prayer list...and will be keeping you in our prayers. I had a complete hyst. at age 29 due to ovarian cancer...praise the Lord, I've been fine.

As far as "pocket book grab foods"...try beef jerky (make your own or carefully purchase). Also, raw nuts to snack on...sunflower seeds...things like that.

As far as meals are concerned, crock pots are great as you just plop in the food, turn it on, and come home later and eat!

I wish you well...

[Wifezilla]

Keep in mind that carbs feed cancer cells, and cancer cells can't use fat for energy. It is more important now than ever to stick with low carb. (See my blog for articles about the carb/cancer connection...post listing by subject on the right)

I was pressed for time this morning so I made a coconut milk smoothie with frozen strawberries, Da Vinci syrup and chia seeds. Took me about 2 minutes to blend it all up and I put it in a big insulated mug. I will sip on that all morning and it will hold me until I can get home and cook.

[TessaR]

Thanks for the ideas everyone-

Robin, I hope you have good news with your dh! It's great to hear from all these survivors!

remptynest-thank you for the prayers-I'm glad you are okay!

Wifezilla, I will check out the articles...thanks. I just hope he can keep food down at the moment, but I am trying to have low carb foods on hand for him, but he's feeling pretty rough.
the crock pot idea may work for a while, but I'm afraid that food smells are already getting to my dh. I'm not sure how much longer he will be able to stand the smell of some foods. Not sure what I will do then....maybe buying the already cooked chicken will be a staple for me or something. I'm just hoping that he can eat something...carbs or not at this point.

[Wifezilla]

Make him smoothies with heavy cream. Whatever you do, do NOT feed him Ensure.

[TessaR]

interesting, but not much help if he won't eat at all. I am going to go some batch cooking and see if he will eat any of it.


1: Prostate. 2008 Jan 1;68(1):11-9.Click here to read Links
Carbohydrate restriction, prostate cancer growth, and the insulin-like growth factor axis.
Freedland SJ, Mavropoulos J, Wang A, Darshan M, Demark-Wahnefried W, Aronson WJ, Cohen P, Hwang D, Peterson B, Fields T, Pizzo SV, Isaacs WB.

Department of Surgery, Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. steve.freedland~duke.edu

BACKGROUND: Recent evidence suggests carbohydrate intake may influence prostate cancer biology. We tested whether a no-carbohydrate ketogenic diet (NCKD) would delay prostate cancer growth relative to Western and low-fat diets in a xenograft model. METHODS: Seventy-five male SCID mice were fed a NCKD (84% fat-0% carbohydrate-16% protein kcal), low-fat (12% fat-72% carbohydrate-16% protein kcal), or Western diet (40% fat-44% carbohydrate-16% protein kcal). Low-fat mice were fed ad libitum and the other arms fed via a modified-paired feeding protocol. After 24 days, all mice were injected with LAPC-4 cells and sacrificed when tumors approached 1,000 mm(3). RESULTS: Despite consuming equal calories, NCKD-fed mice lost weight (up to 15% body weight) relative to low-fat and Western diet-fed mice and required additional kcal to equalize body weight. Fifty-one days after injection, NCKD mice tumor volumes were 33% smaller than Western mice (rank-sum, P = 0.009). There were no differences in tumor volume between low-fat and NCKD mice. Dietary treatment was significantly associated with survival (log-rank, P = 0.006), with the longest survival among the NCKD mice, followed by the low-fat mice. Serum IGFBP-3 was highest and IGF-1:IGFBP-3 ratio was lowest among NCKD mice while serum insulin and IGF-1 levels were highest in Western mice. NCKD mice had significantly decreased hepatic fatty infiltration relative to the other arms. CONCLUSIONS: In this xenograft model, despite consuming more calories, NCKD-fed mice had significantly reduced tumor growth and prolonged survival relative to Western mice and was associated with favorable changes in serum insulin and IGF axis hormones relative to low-fat or Western diet. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PMID: 17999389 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Nancy LC]

the crock pot idea may work for a while, but I'm afraid that food smells are already getting to my dh. I'm not sure how much longer he will be able to stand the smell of some foods. Not sure what I will do then....maybe buying the already cooked chicken will be a staple for me or something. I'm just hoping that he can eat something...carbs or not at this point.
When I've wanted to avoid food smells from the crockpot I put it in the garage on on the patio. :)

[RobinB]

Thanks for the ideas everyone-

Robin, I hope you have good news with your dh! It's great to hear from all these survivors!
t.


Thanks Tessa! :wave:

[LarryAJ]

I had a positive Prostate biopsy in June 2002 after my 2001 annual physical came back with my PSA at 5.0 and a retest two weeks was 5.6. 7% in one of the six cores, Gleason score 3+3. Just by chance I had started following PP/PPLP in Feb. 2002, mostly to get better triglyceride readings.

Since it took a half a year to get the biopsy, I asked for a new PSA test. It came back at 5.2 - ?? it should have gone up not down. Well down it went, 3.7 a month later. So, here is my PSA graph. (http://www.intergate.com/~berts8nford7/PCa/PSAgraph_w_BiopsyAp'07.JPG) My DRE's have always been negative - get one every year at physical.

I once did an estimate of the change in carbohydrates I was eating. It was like only 20% of what I had been eating before I started PP/PPLP. Besides the low carb diet, when I got the positive report I started taking a bunch of supplements, several found by searching on pubmed.gov. Here is an OLD list of what I was taking (http://www.intergate.com/~berts8nford7/PCa/PCaVitaminList.TXT)

NOTE: I have NOT had ANY treatment by any doctor for my cancer. And now at five years, and counting, there is no indication that it is growing at all, if it still exists.

[TessaR]

That's great news Larry! I was not able to see the supplement list (it came back as the prostate specific antigen graph again). As for the Gleason sores...if I remember my pathology classes well enough a combined score of 4 or less is BPH, right? Still, it's good news none the less :agree:

[LarryAJ]

That's great news Larry! I was not able to see the supplement list (it came back as the prostate specific antigen graph again). Sorry, I had trouble composing that post for some reason or another. I have now fixed it. As for the Gleason sores...if I remember my pathology classes well enough a combined score of 4 or less is BPH, right? Still, it's good news none the less :agree: Gleason score ranges from 1 to 5 where 1 is still cancer, but very early stage. 5 is late stage where the cell is hardly recognizable as a prostate cell. They then take the highest grade cell in the slide and the "average" grade of the cells in the slide and add them up. So you will see the Gleason score quoted as something like 3 + 4 or 3 + 3. The total is then used to "rate" how bad the cancer is. 1 to 5 is low grade, 6 & 7 are medium and over 8 is considered an aggressive cancer needing immediate intervention. I don't remember which score goes first, single cell or average, but that information seems to not have much use. Most of the guys that come to the USTwo support meetings I go to have numbers in the 3 and 4 range. Cannot remember of ever hearing of a 2 in the score pair, nor do I remember ever hearing a 5, but some have 4 + 4 and those often then do hormone therapy because their PSAs are high - over 100 typically. We have one guy that had a PSA in the 2,000+ range.

One thing that you hear in the support group is that you MUST become educated about PCa and be your OWN advocate - take charge of your treatment, working with the doctor, not just a passive patient like a dog or cat would be.

What were you husband’s statistics? Important is his PSA relative to any past tests - so do you know what those were - I hope that he has been getting tested. One of the newer gages of how aggressive the cancer is is the PSA velocity. The time it takes for the PSA to double. This number can range from years to days. Obviously one that is less than half a year is growing fast and less than a month is very aggressive.

I am using my "travel" laptop (LONG story as to why!) so I don't have all the references/web sites on it that I have on my home computer. I will pull them off so I can post them for you here. May be a day or so.

[feelskinny]

Tessa I'm so sorry to hear that!
There's been a lot of cancer in my DH's family. I'm very familiar with upheaval it causes.

Take time everyday for yourself-even if it's just a 10 min walk to clear your mind and feed your spirit. Try not to stress about food persay. You know how to eat LC so just stick to the basics when grocery shopping.
Your energy will be needed for your DH, not mega hours in the kitchen.

I'd suggest searching the recipe section of the forum and making a weekly list of easy, quick recipies that you can multiply, store and freeze for easy access. Perhaps an afternoon/wk to prepare a lot of LC food for the week.
Keep a container of boiled eggs, mixed veggies and cooked cubed meat in the fridge for quick grabbage.

All the best to you and yours during this hard time!

:there:

[TessaR]

Larry,
my dh has tonsil cancer....sorry about the confusion. Wrong end of the body ;)

feelskinny, thanks for the advice. I am trying to take time for me when I can. The first week is down and today is a good day. I do need to spend some time in the kitchen making my food because in a week I go back to my studies(I'm going to be a physician). We have gathered friends and family around us to offer some help and support. We will get through this.

Thank you to everyone who has offered their kind words and support,

Tessa

[JAnn]

I don't have any words of wisdom--just wanted you to know that I know something of what you're going through--I went through it with my son. The best thing I can say is make sure you take care of yourself or you may end up ill, too.

[KiaKaha]

I fully support lo-carb eating but maybe you shouldnt worry too much about it at this point.

I dont mean give up but I am thinking - let yourself slide back to say 60 -70 carbs/day (whatever the maintenance level is) so that you dont gain weight but have enough carbs to make a variety of choices depending on your circumstances.

You dont need the extra stress right now and if it was me, I know I would try hard but after a couple of off plan eating episodes, I would probably give up the whole thing on the basis thats its all too much to cope with Therefore an easier but not undermining regime might be a more realistic goal.

Maybe get in some lo-carb bread (store it in the freezer) and if you end up coming home wiped out, have some cheese or eggs on toast or something easy like that with some chopped tomatoes &/0r lettuce. Make some lo-carb muffins and take them to the hospital with you (easy to make and filling 3 - 4C each)

As long as you can get it within your carb allowance. You need less pressure at the moment. Also make sure you are getting plenty of vitamin C and a good dose of B12.

[feelskinny]

Larry,
my dh has tonsil cancer....sorry about the confusion. Wrong end of the body ;)

feelskinny, thanks for the advice. I am trying to take time for me when I can. The first week is down and today is a good day. I do need to spend some time in the kitchen making my food because in a week I go back to my studies(I'm going to be a physician). We have gathered friends and family around us to offer some help and support. We will get through this.

Thank you to everyone who has offered their kind words and support,

Tessa

My heart truly goes out to you!

Just remember; your needs through all this; I've seen cancer destroy too many people. It's not just about the cancer victim but the family members as well.

Don't forget you [as caregiver]!
Not just diet-wise but spirit, mental, physical wise.

Again, my heart so goes out to you!

Keep us posted; feel free to pm me.
xoxo