CSF vs Marrow
6/17/2006
So his CSF numbers today were not encouraging, but not conclusive enough to change course,
...we'll wait until Friday's tap to make further decisions.
However - the 2% blasts that were showing up in his peripheral blood are now gone,
...hopefully that gives us a picture into his marrow without doing a marrow test.
Remember - we started new treatment (Salvage #2) on June 10:
-intrathecal (spinal) chemo (Toputecan) on the 10th, (skipped the 13th), and now the 17th.)
-IV chemo (2-CDA and Idarubacin) for five days - the 11th through the 15th.)
On another topic - my ongoing study of herbs / bioavailable anti-cancer agents is sort of mushrooming.
Even venerable M.D. Anderson agrees that "Fruits and Vegetables" are a potent source of anti-cancer substances.
You can follow my progress here.
A good example is FeverFew (Bachelor's Button) (parthenolide) (effective against AML stem cells?).
Check out the following links (lots of smart people / reputable studies)
#1 Blood: (The sesquiterpene lactone parthenolide induces apoptosis of human acute myelogenous leukemia stem and progenitor cells)
#2 Blood: (The long and winding road may be getting shorter)
#3 Blood: (An orally bioavailable parthenolide analog selectively eradicates acute myelogenous leukemia stem and progenitor cells)
#4 Blood: (Discovery of agents that eradicate leukemia stem cells using an in silico screen of public gene expression data)
#5 Blood: (Targeting LSCs: powering an old tool)
#6 Apoptosis: (Parthenolide-induced apoptosis in multiple myeloma cells involves reactive oxygen species generation and cell sensitivity depends on catalase activity.)
#7 Best Practice and Research Clinical Haematology: (The leukemic stem cell)
#8 Expert-Opin-Biol-Ther.: (Feverfew: weeding out the root of leukaemia.)
Now it's easy to buy this herb - for example you could (Order it here)
However - putting it in your stomach does not mean it is going to get parthenolide to your blood (plasma)
...in enough quantity to counteract "out of control" cancer.
See: Phase I dose escalation trial of feverfew with standardized doses of parthenolide in patients with cancer
So that is why medical teams have worked to make a "water soluable" version of parthenolide that can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream
Medical News: New Leukemia Drug Stems From Feverfew
And they are working rapidly towards a Clinical Trial (in England - only for consenting adults)
But I can't get DMAPT (dimethylamino-parthenolide) so I'm looking at studies about the "bio-availability" of this particular substance...
#1 Pre-Formulation Assessment and Formulation Development of a Herbal Product
#2 Transport of parthenolide across human intestinal cells (caco-2)
And, since this is pre-experimental (clinical trials just getting started) the doctors can not recommend this or specify dosage because of things like:
Problem (clotting reduction)
However, you should see the side-effects of the "regular" chemo and radiation.
And in 2006 when his liver failed - they used an "experimental" drug defibrotide that had the same "blood-thinning" problems.
So we wouldn't mind trading a little "blood thinning" for getting rid of the cancer.
Jaymun and I will just have to hold off on speeding around the halls (grin).
I am doing alot of praying about this, I'm studying things a bit over my head, but every time I think about relaxing for a second,
I think about my little boy who can't do this for himself.
The best docs work with a 5% hope now, and beating this may come down to a few thousand cells - a 1% margin.
...Hey little buddy - We're all praying and working hard to get that for you.
