My mother has been in treatment for an extremely rare cancer for the last four years. She suffered a stroke at the onset, and her quality of life has yoyoed from so-so to awful. But for now, she's still alive in spite of everything.


Now, just last week, my husband's mother went into the hospital with some vague complaints. Now we know that she has the exact same rare cancer as my mother. WTF?!?!

They caught hers later so it's inoperable and can't be treated with radiation. They may be able to do chemotherapy, but she's still in bad shape from the surgery they performed to place a stent.

At the beginning of the month, she seemed a bit worn out and was having breathing issues, but nothing that suggested that she was this far along. And just two months earlier, she drove three hours on her own to come visit us. She appeared fully healthy, and there was nothing unusual in her medical tests.

I'm just incapable of processing this.

Tyson

Oh man, that's a lot to deal with. My mother was diagnosed with an astonishingly rare condition a little over a year ago and has spent the last year going through hell. She's pulled through and is doing much better, but we don't know what the future holds. He condition is in remission, but it's not curable.

I can only imagine what it is like for you with two people you love and care about going through such suffering.

I'm sorry, Tyson. That sounds horrible.

You too, DevEx. Best wishes to you both and to your families and other loved ones.

I don't have any wisdom to offer about the two different cases of cancer, but (forgive my short-sightedness, please) has your mother in law been tested for Covid?

The reason why this comes to immediate mind for me is that my husband (who died six days ago) was initially diagnosed with cancer, and he also did have Covid.

It was the Covid which killed him.

The "breathing issues" are, right now in our unfolding joint history, immediately considered as an indicator of possible Covid, and Covid needs to be immediately excluded as a possible source.

I am deeply, empathetically, sorry for what you, your husband, and your mother in law are going through. This is rough territory, and you have my best wishes all around.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2021 09:31PM by Tevai.

Great advice.

She was vaccinated with Moderna already, and she's been checked twice in the hospital, so fortunately, that's not part of the problem.

Tyson

That seems like an odd coincidence they both would have the same kind of rare cancer. I'm hoping for the best for your family.

I’m so sorry, Tyson.

I'm so sorry, Tyson. That sounds like a lot to have to deal with.

I am so sorry! Have they been told that cancer cells cannot live without sugar? I was surprised to hear it and it is all over medical sites and journals. A friend was given little hope since cancer spread. He removed all sugar from diet (didn’t leave much to eat but he was focused) . Nine months later tested clear of cancer. One year later still clear.his oncologist admitted he knew but never advised him of it.

I've never heard that before and so looked it up just now.

It appears that there is a connection between sugar and cancer but not the one you are indicating. All cells are fueled by sugars and there is no evidence that cancerous ones are more reliant upon them than normal cells are. So cutting out sugars will not differentially harm or reduce malignant tumors.

The connection that does exist is more prosaic: excessive consumption of sugars results in more body fat, and more body fat increases the odds of getting various cancers. So it comes down to body weight.

https://www.aicr.org/news/the-sugar-cancer-connection/

https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/cancer-education-center/newsfeed-post/sugars-role-in-cancer/

https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/FOH-cancer-love-sugar.h14-1589835.html

Thanks for the science, LW.

I don't actually believe the oncologist said he knew of a cure and didn't tell the patient. Something must be lost in the translation there. Or the patient misunderstood what was said.

For what earthly reason would an MD NOT inform a patient of a cure for a dread disease? And why wouldn't he be informing the world of it?

Seriously, we have to pay more attention to the smell tests on these things.

Yes. Imagine the scope for malpractice suits.

I am sorry, I did not say it was a cure even though it appeared to help my friend. Just that the cancer cells cannot live without sugar. The oncologist admitted that studies show that to be true. But at no time was it said to be a cure. Maybe I am saying it wrong. Was not trying to be unkind. I am sorry I mentioned it. But sugar made the difference with my friend. He had a tumor in a kidney and it spread to his liver and lungs. Then nine months with no sugar and he tested cancer free. I just passed on what worked for him. Maybe something else happened and it was a coincidence. Idk.

I'm sorry, wondering. I didn't mean to be abrupt. I think I misread what you wrote. I thought you meant the cancer went away (a cure) and the MD said he knew avoiding sugar would be a cure but just didn't tell the patient.

OK, so it makes more sense now.

Apologies.

Hey, wondering. I didn't think anything you said was inappropriate or offensive. I thought it was an interesting idea and looked it up.

Apologies if I was insensitive.

I think Nightingale and Lot's Wife have covered problems pretty well.

Glucose is taken up more strongly by any cell with a high metabolic rate, and science actually exploits this fact in PET scans.


Fluorodeoxyglucose (18F) is a modified form of glucose in which a radioactive isotope of fluorine is substituted for a hydroxyl group in normal glucose. In a PET scan for malignant tumors, radiologists inject FDG-18F into the body. The chemical is taken up more by malignant cells than by other cells.

After it enters the cells, FDG-18F is converted by phosphorylation to FDG-phosphate, which can't leave the cell again until the radioactive fluorine undergoes radioactive decay. The decay event can be detected by a PET scanner. The higher concentration of decay events allows the malignant tumor to be visualized.


All of this said, reducing sugar intake to starve cancers is not practical because the body can't choose to only feed non-cancerous cells and the cellular metabolism of all cells depends on glucose.

I appreciate you wanting to help though.

Tyson

Thanks for digging into that Ty. I knew you would, it's what you do.

Sorry to hear about your MIL. That sucks. It has been one thing after the other for both of us the last few years. We just lost my SIL a couple of weeks ago to lung cancer. We thought it would happen the end of the year but Hubs had to go ASAP and only had a couple of days with her. I hope things go better for you and you have more time with both of your mothers. Don't get too overwhelmed.

Sorry about everyone's losses. Please take time with those we still have. Every day is a gift.

I'm sorry to hear of your family illnesses. I wish you strength in the coming days and months. However long you need it.

Cancer is a horrible, formidable foe. My Dad sang a duet with my Mom in the choir around June 20th. A few days later, he was feeling rather constipated and had some stomach pains.

An ultrasound showed that he had pancreatic cancer. He was gone by July 9th. It was shocking. When they diagnosed him on June 26th, my Dad said, "But I was fine two weeks ago."

And then he went downhill so quickly that he was gone in less than two weeks from that diagnosis. When it's over, your brain sort of goes, "What just happened?" You don't even have time to process it.

Oh Greyfort, I'm so sorry!

I am also so sorry, Greyfort.

I wish you and your family all the best.

I'm so sorry for everyone's losses. It was tough to lose my parents within 2 months of each other. I still miss them.

I have/had a cousin who is 3 days older than I am. She got a rare lung cancer at age 36 and died 6 months later at 37. Her husband now has the same rare cancer at 64. They have more things to treat it now and he has lasted a year so far.

Thank you for the kind thoughts. It was not this month though. It was four years ago this month. My Dad was the most wonderful person. I was so upset that it happened to him. But I am still dealing with the shock of how quickly it all happened, four years later. He kept asking, "What's the treatment," and we couldn't bring ourselves to tell him that this was it. We just had no idea how quickly it would progress. The doctors didn't even think it would happen that quickly. That was the shock.

My sympathies to you and your husband too, Tyson.

Things are looking worse today on both fronts.

We lost both our fathers in the summer of 2019, and we thought my husband's mother was in good health. The cancer was silent, until it wasn't, and now it's setting off klaxons in all her systems.

I'm holding up for my husband, but just barely.

Tyson

Tyson, my thought is that they may have been exposed to some trigger/toxin for this in their environments. Do your moms live in proximity?

And I’m concerned for your and your husbands health.

My mother-in-law and my mother live about 400 road miles or about 340 air miles apart.

They have never met except at the dinner before our wedding and at the wedding/reception itself. That's all.

I believe I still have the receipts from the pre-wedding dinner (at a "fancy" [rolling my eyes] restaurant) and from the reception dinner (at the wedding venue) and can look up what they ate when I return home.

Obviously, I hope that neither venue has an environmental issue.

Tyson



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2021 10:42AM by Tyson Dunn.

That was my first thought. But if they don't live anywhere near each other, it would not be likely, I wouldn't think.