This pizza looks as big as ME! ! ! I was out a couple of days ago with a good friend, Ruth...and we put a big dent into this...her 4 slices and a salad...me 3.
I love to eat. My dilemma, as my own caregiver (my partner of 42 years is more of a "body guard/moral support" type guy)....IS am I eating myself into a quicker grave than I need to? I also eat lots of healthy veggies, high fiber grains...and fruits (Especially avocados when in season here in South Florida and tomatoes and bananas --I have dozens of trees) and salads.
My weight has stayed consistent for 6 years of treatments with very little fluctuation (through Radiation, Chemo, Provenge, H.I.F.U., Lupron, Xtandi, Xgeva, etc. Through these years I have eaten (not only pizza, but ribeye steaks, hamburgers, sushi, prime rib, baby back ribs, fish, roasted chicken, fried chicken, eggs, milk, cheese(especially love gouda with truffles)....HOT DOGS(as I have posted pics of us eating at Costco)...I usually try to buy organic or at least no hormones and no nitrates...but NOT always.
Last visit with the oncologist's P.A. she told me to "cut back on the vegetables". Sounds like a plan (?). THE REASON: My Potassium level is back up again to 5.6. It keeps going from 5.1 to 6.1.....and I am supposed to watch potassium which is in EVERYTHING...especially healthy(?) fruits, veggies, etc. My PSA since all the treatments mentioned...and being on Lupron and Xtandi and Xgeva...has gradually inched up over the last couple of years from .88 to 5.34. My last Axumin Pet Scan did not seem as steady as previous ones...(I get it every 3 months). **as of last one...the bone mets, which were not too many, and lymph nodes, which were not too many, ...were ALL in the pelvic area. But this last time they showed some "upticks" or whatever they call it..and slight enlargement (as they have been mostly shrinking before this)
**other than my "numbers" I have felt pretty good considering I have apps 9 or 10 for my Testosterone number.....and Xtandi adds and extra wollop on top of that... Still walking twice a day(appx one mile each time --morning and later afternoon)...still doing cardio and weight lifting and lots of abs at the gym at least 2 times (or 3) a week...still doing EVERYTHING.
Since it seems like Xtandi (been on for appx 18 months) is NOT holding back my PSA...I wonder what "wonder" drug will be next. I've also done BIRM (it helped initially with Xtandi side effects) and Fenben(still doing) and take a handful of vitamins that I have deemed from reading on here are important.
What's a girl to do? (LOL)
gJohn
p.s. I feel amazed that I have kept my weight consistent (give or take 4 pounds) and my G.I. issues are non-existent...regular as hell. My only issues have been urinary(as many know) from having so much scar tissue left over after the radiation and then H.I.F.U. It has built up near my prostate and blocks the urethera at times.....a whole 'nuther story of emergency rooms and catheterizations...fun!
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My MO says eat everything in moderation. So it’s fruit vegetables, pizza, occasional lean steak, chicken, pasta fish etc. and ice cream every night after dinner. Going out with my wife and occasionally my adult children for a nice dinner is one of the few joys I have left.
Keep up the fight, you're an inspiration! Especially in the way you've kept maximizing your quality of life by eating well (i.e. whatever you enjoy within some limits
I like your attitude. It's a survival mechanism. You're able to take a step outside your body and look at it dispassionately, like "now what's it doing?" at the same time respect it immensely because after all, without a body, where are you? So you do your best to take care of it, which, along with Xtandi and dog dewormer, includes letting it enjoy the pleasures of the senses (especially, it seems, taste). And then laugh, cry, sigh, whatever, and move on - till the next time. It's like you don't identify yourself with this disease. There's your body that happens to be mucking about, and then there's you - not the same thing. Put the lime in the coconut drink it all up, put the lime in the coconut call me in the morning... Like I said, a terrific survival mechanism. All the best to you.
I have GFE in my DNA, aka Get Fat Easily genes, so its years and years since I ever ate a pizza. To maintain low weight I hafta cycle 220km a week, and eat no more than 1,200 calories a day.
I have not had any support person in my life for years and years and years, and when I did, during my ancient history, they liked my body but got bored, and departed to Lord Noze where.
I quite like being alive though, and still manage to be my own slave to get stuff done.
Hello Patrick, Have you considered time restricted feeding or intermittent fasting. I have used the former, eating only within an 6-8 hour window, to lose weight. I have not been able to lose weigh exercising, but it can help to maintain a desired weight. I exercise primarily for the other benefits such as bone density, muscle mass, psychological wellbeing, etc. Cheers, Phil
I have restricted eating 24/7, 365 days per year. 230km on bike at 21kph takes me 11 hours on 3 days or maybe 4 in any given week. I eat 1/2 what I see most other ppl eating. They are all heavier than they could be. I am 1.83M, 82Kg, so BMI is 24.4, waist < 95cm. I eat well right after a long ride with enough protein to allow muscle condition to become better, but I have very low amount of carbohydrates including the good carbs with low Glycaemic index, such as brown rice. I eat a lot of salads without much oil and never feel hungry between meals. Breakfast is 4 table spoons of dry rolled oats and some low fat milk. lunch on no-ride days is a vego sandwich.
During exercise, most energy comes from carbs stored in muscles, and it takes hours and hours to use those up enough to get our bodies to begin burning fats. So those who don't exercise enough for long enough time won't lose weight because exercise makes them hungry, then they eat and drink crap, and the energy in that is stored as fat because there's negligible depletion of muscle stores for energy.
The young elite cyclists who train for Olympics or ride professionally are naturally slim, but ride 1,000km a week in hilly terrain and can average 50kph in time trials. But at 72, what will they be doing? A very small number are keeping fit, many "run to fat" and the few who do stay fit have slowed right down. I'm slower than them because I just never had enough speed DNA, lower fat %, better VO2 max, etc. I could not care less about what elite sports ppl get up to. They are freaks.
Anyway, what I am doing now with diet is going well, bike speed is increasing, weight is going down 1Kg per month after a high of 85Kg last July when I found not cycling caused rapid weight increase, so I cut out carbs but still ate plenty, and weight stayed constant. I am getting faster on bike because with less weight I go up hills faster, and with less volume, I have less wind resistance, but main factor is more muscle power, and I should get back to a peak where I was before chemo last year.
I have a favourite 28km route I've been cycling since 2006, and in 2008 I could do that in exactly 1 hour. Hills and traffic and road crossings slow me down. So average speed was 28kph. This was before Pca and ADT et all. Last week I got 24.5 kph, and if I ever get 26kph then I'll consider myself to be in top form for my age and condition et all. At 40, I could average 33kph, and in some races we might average 37kph.
My cycling has always been a pastime away from what I did to earn a living and to maintain relationships et all. Some men will go fishing, play golf, but I prefer a bicycle. Part of me commands me to be a permanent athlete.
I don't have athletic genes that would ever allow me to win many prizes at master's competitive events. I don't like competition as I used to.
I just don't like rotting apart like I see so many others doing, because they do nothing. I thank Nature I can do more than nothing.
Quite impressive, actually. You have tailored a diet and lifestyle regimen that works for you. My hat is off to you! Mine has been time restricted feeding, low carb/low glycemic, semi-vegetarian and 5 - 6 hours of cardio and strength exercises. Cheers, Phil
But what is 5-6 hours exercise? it is just one day a week, or spread over a week?
I am mainly vegetarian, eat no pork, beef except in very small amounts to be sociable. I do eat eggs and fish but chicken, but nowhere near average national intake levels that are a shameful practice of gluttony, like so many other things common to western civilised countries.
I was once keen on Nathan Pritikin diet for 10% of calories from protein, 10% from fats, 80% from complex carbs. ZERO calories from poisonous sugars such as fructose, and no chocolate, alcohol and many other things. Nathan's diet was the diet of the Third World ppl in 1970s, and wherever you went in large parts of the poverty stricken world (by our standards) you never saw a fat person, and heart attacks and diabetes were rare. But now the number of fatties are equal to the thinnies, and rates of "lifestyle diseases" has increased wherever ppl have got more $$$ and begun eating more than they need, and begun eating junk food aka highly processed, aka value added, where a single food product is pulled apart by processing and the parts sold to ppl without having any vitamins. I hardly eat much bread because its not stone ground, where the wheat germ is also ground up and is in the flour. White bread is garbage, also potato chips fried in horrid fats, and fructose and fats and salt are added to addict ppl to junk.
If everyone was like me the food industry would go broke and thousands would have no job because I refuse to buy 98% of stuff in supermarkets. So if ppl changed to my diet, demand for clean fresh food without processing would increase so much the prices would go real high, so buying such food would become extremely expensive and some would starve. All the major meat producers and farmers would send a lynching mob to deal with me.
So net result would be mayhem until farmers switched over to new human eating habits. Food processers would get over being jailed and force fed a healthy diet. Heart specialists would have easy life, and not be able to buy a new BMW every 3 years. But no such food revolution is ever going to happen, and ppl can be told by marketers to eat a Shyte Sandwich and guess what? ppl say it tastes real good, and don't mind buying two sandwiches, and a bigger size of clothing.
I have always been reluctant to ever buy anything that is advertised, and despite saturation adverts for free-to-air TV, I have yet to watch all of any add for last 50 years. I need a remote control. I happily went many years of my life without a TV set. I don't have a mobile phone. I found FarcePuke was a terrible place for social connection. Were you Zuckered today? Not me.
See how utterly um-marriageable I was / am? If I don't put on the style and put on the agony, I am judged to be a weirdo.
But Nathan P got leukemia at 72 and died. It kinda ruined his credibility, but not for me because I read his book, and he was lucky to last that long.
I also didn't like girls in high heels and clothes that made them look sexually enticing, even at work. Wrong mental values. But the ones dressed in overalls and boots also had serious mental issues about nearly everything, and they resisted any attempt to talk about their reasons to live, marry, or work.
So I worked hard anyway, saved enough to buy a house by 37, pay off the small loan, double the size of house because I'd chosen to be a builder, then settle down without a wife.
I was OK compared to much of what went on in maybe half the houses up and down my street.
I was told when young, a girl will love you just as you are. Well, they did, until novelty wears off, then they get bored, cling to all their terrible habits like overeating and smoking and desires for other men and to travel and avoid any real work. Poof, they are gone. Love seems to be a very strange commodity.
The answer was to remain independent, and resist the whole pile of rotty habits of ppl everywhere I looked.
The habits of the Amish ppl in US do seem to look good at first, but then you see blokes with multiple wives and full of superstitious god beliefs, so I have more to offer myself than anyone has to offer me. I don't like the idea of needing a horse and buggy. I got a bicycle.
Patrick, I often look at the food I have put on the checkout belt at the local food store and compare with the stuff that the person ahead or behind me has put on the belt. I am often astounded at the difference. I cannot believe all the unhealthy packaged foods people eat.
It is obvious from your posts that you are a very independent minded guy (or should I say bloke?). Not following the herd and having a healthy skepticism of advertising and popular trends is needed these days. I am with you on much of say. Cheers, Phil
I'm bloke, guy, man, dude, old barstud, whatever, and was once was told I was "the man they could not root, shoot, or electrocute" and I replied "I'm flattered; it's quite a good way to be".....
I cannot follow any herd, but can't avoid being within the human herd, and somehow I have managed to avoid so many troubles other ppl get into. But Pca is likely to lay me low. I am not invincible like we all thought we were at 25.
Nice small cycle ride today, good hard ride tomorrow, see how fast I can do first 30km to coffee across town, on a quiet Sunday morning.
Yes, on the positive side, we and other members have learned to live with cancer (though there are some down days) and appreciate life much more than we would without the Emperor of All Maladies. I keep telling myself that I am still walking, one step at a time, and that is wonderful. Cheers, Phil
Who are you trying to fool Philip? Of course we all would love a live free from the Emperor of all Maladies. I'd be one to love life more if the darn Emperor pissed off and stayed a very long way from anyone. But also all other diseases. Then we'd just have old age to deal with. Now if everyone was granted an extra 100 years by Nature, then society would become mainly a lot of really old ppl, all of them becoming fervent procrastinators, so, a man aged 185 would continue to be very surly with a son of 165 who wanted dad to downsize to an apartment so he could live in das house. But then there are a line of living relatives of about 6 possible generations. But not if men and women could breed easily at say 70, so they could put off having kids for 70 years and maybe pay off part of the house mortgage loan which would escalate very high because house prices would be far higher than now. If all ppl lived a long life it can bring many problems. But not a worry in Middle Ages of our history. Parents tended to die early, and the Plague carried off millions, leaving behind their properties which benefited the young.
If ppl lived to 185 but could not work after 65, the pensions for 120 years would ruin the most robust of any economies.
The design of DNA is a marvel, but suffers from random defects, some caused by cosmic particles traveling through our bodies constantly and near speed of light, and in vast numbers, and occasionally crashing into DNA molecules to change what that bit of DNA controls. I don't see how double life expectancy of a few ppl could be included into most DNA of most ppl by natural selection. But maybe by genetic modification it could be, even though millions of changes may have to be made. There may be a limit to how much we could correct DNA where it had become defective because while correcting it other parts of DNA becomes faulty, so a balance exists. All systems drift toward chaos over time. The chaos increases with time, so to stop chaos and permit more time alive without chaos may involve ever increasing anti-chaos techniques with increasing difficulty, expense, and effectiveness. Nobody seems to have found a way to eternal life, or for anything to last forever. Ancient Egyptians went to extreme lengths to get human remains and possessions of those humans to last forever, because they believed there was life after death.
But not once has anyone popped up anywhere and said "Hi folks, I was born 3,500 years ago, and I've been having a fine old time in afterlife retirement"
Maybe while searching for the DNA for longer life, we might find how to alter DNA to prevent any ugly Emperor visiting our person. That would be progress much welcomed, I am sure.
No fooling intended. Just a different perspective when dealing with an incurable disease. A cousin of mine, who had been suffering from kidney failure and its serious sequelae for almost 30 years, once floored me when he said he would not change a thing because he had experienced and learned much. He was the most courageous person I knew.
I just want to live at least as long as my father did (I am 65, he was 72). I have an 8 month grandson and another one is coming in 9 months. I want to have a relationship with these children. It is questionable whether I will reach my fathers milestone, but I am doing my damnedest to keep the Emporer down, down.
Thank you for the interesting dissertation. I think it will soon be possible to fix damaged DNA, germline or somatic. I agree that extending life too long would not be good for human society and the other non human inhabitants of Earth. Cheers, Phil
I am without any desire to relate to grand kids because I did not get around to having any kids. But I have outlived my dad by 12 years, but mum was 98 when she died in 2015 from old age.
Its natural to fight. If you go far back into history of evolution, living things soon began to fight each other and life was a matter of kill or be killed. No polite democratic deals. The very primitive life did well to eat other things to make use of their protein and whatever else aided them.
We still do, hence the meat industry. But the animals don't fight back.
But if someone inserted high IQ genes into most animals, they'd be a comin to get us without mercy.
Long life of say 200years might make it difficult for those who are younger. So there would be less of them. Its a very difficult question to discuss extreme longevity. But no matter how long we live, there's a time we have to go, regardless of how much we enjoy relationships of younger generations. But many will have minds that have gone, while the body lives on for years.....
Anyway, make the most of what life you can have.
No need to show off or get rich, just try to be a good person is enough.
I neglected to mention that I exercise (with stretching exercises) for 30 minutes every other morning. I do 20 - 30 minutes of intense work on an elliptical bike most days, use a stepper and elastic bands 2 - 3 times a week. I climb stairs with a 20 lb vest a couple of times a week. I also walk and hike as much as I can when weather permits (green woods are very soothing to the mind). This winter I will be doing cross country skiing a couple of times a month after snow falls at a small park up the street (I live in Canada). So far, this appears to be working for me. I don't live in the country so cycling is less attractive because of traffic. Cheers,
Most ppl of the world don't have the fabulous cycling facilities I use in my city of Canberra, and where traffic congestion is minimal compared to bigger Oz cities like Sydney or Melbourne where cyclists on roads do not understand that they are in suicide mode.
But you are doing well where you are, and I'd not mind living in Canada, but my ankle would disagree with hiking in the woods. But within 5 minutes of leaving home on my bike I am in rural scene, and not much further puts me into bushland. We don't have a lot of lush green forest here, its mainly dry straggly eucalypt trees than dominate our huge dry country. But its all beautiful where it has not been trashed by 'Homo Wrectus' - the species that goes around to stuff up everywhere he goes in SUVs, ands swears at the cyclists who get in his way.
Its been another good spring day here, and before lunch I cycled across town 26km from my suburb Watson, named after a dull politician from maybe 1925 to the suburb of Tuggeranong, aka Tug Her Along.
This suburb was formerly a farmed area well known for being in the middle of nowhere, and the first white bloke who went there to begin farming in about 1850 had to tug his wife along because she didn't want to go there, but began to like it, and make babies.
Today I managed this trip in 1:01 and average speed was 25.6kph, taking the shortest route on roads, but unable to dodge the hill in the middle and about 15 sets of traffic lights, with more than 1/2 being red, forcing me to stop. There was no wind, but its the best average speed I have produced for a year. Then I went to Thawa, a bit further down the road and got 25kph for about 38km. Maybe Thawa is short for Tha Water! because when you get there you cross the Murrumbidgee river over a bridge. The river's name comes from the natives who lived there, and I have no clue what it means.
I slowed on way home to café for lunch near home but managed 23.9kph for 82km round trip, which is 2kph increase in speed in 1 week. Deliberate weight loss is going fine. Mid winter I was 85Kg+. Now its 80.5Kg this am. Its like something has snapped, and let good things happen.
What is 5Kg? its 11 pounds, or 22 x 1/2 pound packs of butter. Its got a volume of 6.25Litres, so about 7% of my body volume at 85Kg. A 4 litre can of olive oil is about 3.3Kg, and feels heavy when you pick it up in the supermarket. If I have to cycle up hills with 1.5 cans of olive oil in a light back-pack, then I will obviously be slower. But wind resistance on a bicycle is the major hurdle to going faster, and it increases at rate of speed increase squared, so if your top speed on a flat road is 30kph, and you want to increase that to 40kph, then the power you generate must increase by 1.8 times, or double, with added rolling resistance. But if we lived on the Moon or Mars without much atmosphere we could get around at 80kph on a bike. There are no nice cafes at either celestial place, or smooth tarred roads, or good oncologists, or wi-fi so I don't want to ever go there.
When in recovery mode from previous cancer treatments I believe a lot of unknown biological parameters are sub-optimal but gradually return to optimal, often pushed and shoved to be optimal by significant amount of exercise, and regardless of age.
So I've had a good day today, and will continue with Xtandi, and low carb diet. I am also eating about 2 times normal Vitamin C tablets spread through day. There's a lot in my diet, but a little more won't hurt, and there's a man here called Dave from Sth Africa who said Xtandi plus intravenously injected vitamin C has been good to keep his Pca under control, and he does not need to take so much Xtandi, and its very expensive where he lives, so he's not taking all 4 daily tablets.
I've cycled 260km this week, which is about 1.7 hours a day and while doing it I could not have talked with anyone - breathing too hard. And surprisingly today I had no dry mouth that has happened before while cycling and all due to Lu177.
HR has recovered to 60BPM at 3 hours after cycle ride. I found there was little else other than cycling that could get my heart working hard, but for millions of years our species has had to chase animals we wanted for food, or away from a predator, or from a prehistoric sheila we didn't want, or chase after one we did want. And with bare feet. Nobody owned a chair. So it is natural to move a lot, and unnatural not to move a lot.
Our mainly hairless bodies made it possible to stay cool with sweating, and gave us the ability to run after something with fur for 20km and the furry animal slowed due to heat exhaustion. I doubt obesity was ever a problem in the year 200,000BC, somewhere in Africa, from where ppl emigrated, because they didn't like crowds, and liked places that didn't have other ppl living there. Nobody felt any need to build a city.
No men grew old enough to get Pca, which happens well after baby making efforts are completed. So the tendency to get Pca was not bred out of any population group by natural selection. If men got Pca at 20, then they'd have died early before mating, so their genes for Pca would not be passed on. The same goes for Brca, it usually happens well after breeding is done. Nature allowed long life after breeding because old ppl were good at cave-keeping, or hut-keeping, and peace keeping and cooking, cleaning, child minding, and that favoured the genes for old age. The better any society looks after its young, the better the middle aged and old survive.
You asked "what's next?" Well, in my edxperience the answer is "whatever you didn't predict of express."
Lol...I’m on a really strict diet...but pizza? I sneak a slice now and then And I feel so happy when I eat it! In my opinion, being happy is just as important as a good diet.
I love your outlook. I changed my diet after my surgery along with my wife's help. Lots of fruit & vegetables (ugh) quinoa, salads, no red meat or fried food and consequently I lost 25 lbs in about 8 months even being on Lupron! And I was relatively thin to begin with. So, I have decided to eat more real food in moderation. Pasta, pizza, sub sandwiches, a french fry or 4 once in awhile, a cookie or ice cream here and there and a piece or 2 of chocolate after dinner. I have gained about 5 lbs back. I still eat a handful of broccoli before dinner with mustard. I eat it before dinner so it does not ruin my meal!! Overall, much happier!
Hello GreatJohn, Great photo. Have you considered conducting a self directed trial with the COC protocol (metformin+statin+antibiotic+antihelmenthic). I will be starting the protocol in December-January. I will report on the results at the end of January, Cheers, Phil
I am actually doing that...with the metformin+Statin+Antibiotic and I am also am doing Fenben(hookworm med) 3 days on 4 days off... I'm grasping at a few straws. I was also taking BIRM but have dropped it for the time being. Got tired of the cost (and the taste)...yuck.
Good. We can compare notes in the new year. I am also considering a couple of courses of intravenous vitamin C after a month on the COC protocol (I will test the PSA before and after). If the PSA declines to a low value after the COC/IVVC, then I will stop the COC for a period and wait for the PSA to rise again before resuming - intermittent dosing may be better than continuous. Cheers, Phil
Lulu, the dosage of intravenous vitamin C can range from 15 grams to 75+ grams. Were you tested for Glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency? Cheers, Phil
My natropath won’t give me a high dose vitamin C unless I did G6PH test first. If you have a deficiency in this enzyme, then you could have a bad reaction with high dose vitamin C.
I did it for a solid year and a half with no adverse affects . My naturalpathic May have given me that test . I’ve forgotten .. It helped me thru a scarey time .. urologically ..
Please Philip Google my guy Dr. Michael Uzick of Genesis medicine in Tucson Az ?...He lives to kill cancer .. and knows his stuff . I wouldn’t be here today in as good shape as I am if I hadn’t made total dietary and nutritional changes . My uro gave me such a poor outlook to survival ...Dr Uzick set me on a healthy path and gave me hope .. My wife is holistic and adamantly pushed me then and now into organic healthy food . We met two years before dx. She wed me with a foley and tubes out of my back . If not for her ,there would be no me. .. I Thank God for giving me such love ..for the first time ,when I needed it the most ...................................cool buildings behind that gull.. We had a great day today . Chalk one up to the good side . Peace and health to you Sir . Scott🌵
I think you are doing great! Enjoy life. Lupron drives up the cholesterol, per my MO, and for the first time in my life I crossed that magic 200 number in October. OK, I will cut back on red meat but go to full Med diet or vegetarian...not for me.
Hey guy . I don’t understand cutting back on veggies . Why friend?
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14 year journey 
Confused why one must continue Lupron since it shows it's not working?
