Alternative Treatment Hunt

A quick recap for those of you just joining us: when I was diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer in July of 2007, I was already at the point where Western medicine really had nothing to offer me. (And definitely nothing that could offer the hope of a cure.) They did offer two palliative treatments. One was hormone blockade therapy, which consists of Lupron shots that zero out my testosterone -- this starves the portion of the prostate cancer that thrives on testosterone. (Yes, this is the same shot that they give to sex offenders...and yes, it has the same scorched earth effect on my sex life.) The Lupron only works for a while...and for me that period ended sometime a few months ago, when my PSA started to skyrocket again.

The second Western palliative treatment I used was Zometa, an industrial solvent (!) that slows the growth of bone metastases. Every time I get my infusion, I have pain for a couple of days as the Zometa does its job. (I'm also taking strontium citrate, a non-radioactive natural supplement that supposedly halts metastases the same way that Zometa does.)

So, long story short: from the very first day of my diagnosis, I was forced to search for alternative treatments for my cancer if I really wanted to have an impact on it. I found a great ally in Dr. Ralph Moss, who has researched the cutting edge of both alternative and conventional treatments for the last thirty years, evaluating which ones work and which ones are hokum (and believe me, there's a lot of hokum in *both* camps!) It was his recommendation that led me to Dr. Thaller in Germany as my first treatment. This was successful, but mind-numbingly expensive ($80,000 for a combined 5 weeks of treatments over several months).

After a brief stretch on pancreatic enzymes and supplement-only therapy, I settled down to ayurvedic treatment this summer -- first at Mt. Diablo Institute in Pleasant Hill, and then at Center for Wellness in Aptos. I learned a lot, I received good care for the psychological and some of the physical aspects of my illness -- but it didn't hold the tide against the advance of the cancer. So I am dipping my toes back out in the world of researching alternative treatments to see what alternatives there might be for me.

On the Right Track!

Good news from the oncologist today. My bone scan from a couple of weeks ago came back, and most of the bone metastases have retreated considerably! My normally reserved oncologist broke into a rare use of positive phrases: "it's remarkable -- we almost never see the metastases diminish."

Also, at the end of December my PSA had declined again, to 1.6 (*almost* normal!)

Apparently most of the time, the "standard" treatment I'm on (the hormone blockage therapy that zeroes out my testosterone) merely slows the metastases down. (Or in the best case, brings it to a halt). The bone scan instead shows that the spots have almost disappeared -- the doctor says that some of what's left is evidence of arthritis rather than cancer (I'll take that choice any day!)

This confirms what the technician said a couple of weeks ago when she printed out the film of my scan and exclaimed -- 'wow, we never see that happen!"

Apparently all the effort (and expense) that we went to to get to Germany for the treatments by Dr. Thaller have paid off handsomely -- what he did had an amazing effect! Thanks to all of you who contributed for making this possible!

Now comes the hard part, which is keeping these gains intact, and continuing to work on the cancer that remains. Today is the start of my enzyme therapy treatment, which is a *lot* more labor-intensive, but reportedly very effective! (More on that in a later post.)

Researching the Next Step

OK, now that the last visit to the PraxisKlinik is under my belt, I can turn to the question at hand: what's the best way to continue my treatment going forward?

One option is to continue the visits to Dr. Thaller every 6 weeks or so. The three treatments I'll continue with would be the fevertherapy, the Newcastle Disease Virus injections, and the Dendritic Cell injections. (Alongside these there are the additional treatments of vitamin C and ozone infusions, and local hyperthermia).

Liz and I have 20 vials of the virus with us here in the States, so the injections with those will continue through January in any case.

A second option is to work with Dr. Pfeifer at the Aeskulap Klinik in Switzerland. He has a very interesting-sounding protocol for prostate cancer, which consists of high dosages of four different supplements. (I've already started taking one of these -- ProstaSol -- and my PSA went down by over 50% in one month! )

The third option is to go with the enzyme therapy that Dr. Gonzalez is known for. This is an intensive self-care program consisting of supplements (mainly pancreas enzymes), a strict diet, and detoxification procedures. I'm strangely drawn to this path, as it is a way that 1) I can take responsibility for controlling my own health, and 2) is something that I can maintain over the long term, as I manage this cancer as a chronic condition. (I don't imagine that there will be a sudden cure for what I have, and the costs of Thaller's treatment -- around $15,000 a visit -- make it extremely hard to envision continuing to do it over the long term!)

In any case, I'm going to be getting some help in sorting these issues out -- I'll be doing another phone consultation next week with Dr. Ralph Moss, the über-researcher that keeps his finger on the pulse of all the new cancer therapies that are being tried.

Farewell for Now

Today's the last day of this visit to the PraxisKlinik. I try the fevertherapy this morning, and there's some lower back pain (strange…), but otherwise it's very light.

I get an injection of Newcastle Disease Virus in the prostate this morning, which is always exciting and fun. ;-)

I work out the bill with Christine, and happily hand her a check for 10,000 Euros -- nearly $15,000. Thanks to all the gifts and generous help from everyone, we were able to make this visit happen. If we're able to come again in January for the next visit, it will cost a bit more, nearly 15,000 Euros.

Around noon, Dr. Thaller comes upstairs to say goodbye to all of us, as he is leaving early in the day to go to a wedding. He shakes everyone's hands, says a few words, and starts to head off for downstairs. At the last moment he turns around and heads back toward my bed at the back of the room. He folds his hands at his heart and bows slightly to me, very reverently -- and I do the same in return. I feel honored by his salutation, and almost instantly I have the strong sense that this may be the last time I see him.

So a grand thank you to Herr Dr. Thaller and Christine and Michael and Tanya -- you have all been so very wonderful!

More Treatments On the Way -- Thanks to You!!

We've done the math, and we now have enough to start the next week of treatments at the PraxisKlinik Arno Thaller in Germany. (we won't have enough to get the full set of treatments that are available, but we can get the dendritic cell vaccine, which is the most important part to continue.)

All of this is possible because of your generous contributions -- thank you all so much!!

Dr. Thaller has recommended at least two more rounds of the dendritic cell vaccine after this one, and each visit will be another $18,000 -- but we have another few weeks to solve that problem.

Why did we decide to continue with Dr. Thaller's treatments after the doubts that I expressed in my earlier post? The simple answer is that I don't want to leave any stone unturned in getting healed, and Dr. Thaller's treatments have been very highly recommended. What's more, doing the treatments at his clinic *doesn't preclude* any other treatments that might do me some good later on. As long as I'm on the "symptom-free window" provided by the hormone therapy (which will last between several months and a few years), I'll be in good shape to receive additional treatments.

So Liz and I leave for Germany this Thursday -- wish us luck!

Come to the Sluggo!Ball in Austin!

This evening there's going to be a benefit to help with my medical expenses. It's the "Sluggo! Halloween Ball" (named after a fanzine I put out here in Austin back in 1979-80), and it's at Emo's starting at 10pm. If you're in town come down and say hi!

I'm extremely grateful to all my friends that have worked so hard to put this together, including Grand Magister Phil Lenihan, Jane Dowling, Rick Turner and all the rest. You can see details of the Ball here.

Last Day in Markt Berolzheim

I had one last intense fever therapy session today. The shivering was intense (over 30 minutes!), and the fever got up to 104.4°. Also local hyperthermia on my scapula.

Kristina packed up the supplies we'll need to continue injections of the Newcastle Disease Virus until we return to the PraxisKlinik in six weeks. Tanya and Kristina and I had a long "conversation" (them in German, me in English) about my flight times and the time difference with Texas to determine if we had enough dry ice to protect the virus for the whole trip. It doesn't seem like it will be a problem.

Then came "die Rechnung", the bill for the past two weeks. Because of the start of the dendritic cell therapy, this will be our most expensive trip here: the total was $24,887. Yow! Liz wryly noted that this would be a down payment on an apartment in the South Bronx…but then, I'd still have cancer, and I'd be stuck in the South Bronx!

All in all a really great trip. Herr Doktor Thaller gave me the highlights of my laboratory results from this week: my liver functions have *dramatically* improved since the last visit. And my PSA is down to 4.2, less than half of what it was the previous visit. Yippee!!