Gaelen
04-30-2006, 04:56 PM
In Feb. 2002, I started Protein Power weighing 212 lbs, with hypoglycemia, twice-a-month migraines, intermittent blood pressure spikes, and a lipid profile that could certainly use some improvement. I wasn't sure PP would work, but it made sense in theory and nothing else was getting results.
After 14 monts on plan (April, 2003), I weighed 174 (minus 38 lbs. and about 15% of body fat), and could do an intermediate Pilates machine routine on full resistance. I hadn't had a migraine except for one induced by a misdosed sinus medication for a year, and I had no more hypoglycemic episodes. But better yet, my fasting blood glucose was 89, and although my total cholesterol was technically 'high' 233, LDL= 143, HDL=61, triglycerides=81...and the ratios that predicted my cardiac risk were blowing my primary doctor and my neurologist away:
TTL/HDL (should be <4) = 3.7
LDL/HDL (should be <3) = 2.3
Trig/HDL (should be <1.8) = 1.3
Things went a little south during the April 2004 checkup, though. At 153 on April 30th, I'd almost made my goal weight--due to a sudden and rapid 15 lb weight loss in six weeks. My primary doc was still blown away by my lab results...but not because they were picture-perfect, as they'd been at my company physical in Dec. 2003. My results in April-2004 differed from that Dec-2003 bloodwork so dramatically that my doctor knew something was seriously wrong.
After some additional tests, the 'seriously wrong' turned out to be Stage IV colorectal cancer, with multiple tumors metastasized to my liver. Now, instead of semi-annual bloodwork, I have non-fasting complete blood panels run every two weeks. My medical team for the last two years has included multiple nurses, physicians' assistants, phlebotomists, and research fellows, my primary doc, a gynecologist, a social worker, a neurologist, three surgeons and two oncologists in two separate cities/hospitals, and a nutritionist. My food, BP, exercise and side effects logs are reviewed at least every two weeks.
Granted, there have been and are days during these two years of treatment when I didn't eat the way I prefer. Sometimes I can't eat at all; other times, smelling or preparing food means I won't be able to eat it. ;) There were two treatment regimens, two abdominal surgeries, and my results are NOT typical for either a low carber or a person with advanced CRC. But after the first three or four months of chemo, as treatment began to reduce, eliminate or substantially destroy most of the tumor cells, I started to crave protein again. My food log gradually began to look like a low-carber's journal again, at what is (for me) maintenance ECC levels that average 85g per day. My lipid profile gradually improved with treatment and the carb control I was able to manage to pre-diagnosis lipid levels and ratios.
Controlling carbs at maintenance levels, even taking them down to 55g ECC as I got stronger, wasn't quite enough to keep weight off when complicated by steroid doses that accompanied my chemo treatments. In January of this year, I weighed 216 lbs. again. I've lost 24 of those pounds since successful liver resection surgery on March 1st (and since the steroids were dramatically reduced.)
The liver is a cool organ. It took about a month for the healthy liver tissue remaining after the tumors were removed to re-build itself into a complete healthy liver. I'm in a final course of chemo to ensure 'no cancer cell left behind,' and my scans show that my body is NED--"no evidence of disease" in blood, organs, bones, brain cells or fatty tissue. My CEA, a typical indicator of the presence of cancer growth when over 3, is 1.3. And best of all, my newly grown liver is maintaining and continuing to improve toward the good bloodwork results I'd earned after a year on plan. Treatment plus controlling carbs and getting adequate protein were able to make to my April, 2004 bloodwork just a blip in my steady progress toward a better bloodwork profile. Today (April 30th) is the second anniversary of my diagnosis, and in February I began my fifth year of following Protein Power.
Here are the numbers...
Value..........Dec-03.....Apr-04.....Dec-04.....Dec-05.....Apr-06
TTL CHOL..........226.....253..........237........205. ......204
LDL...............153.....176..........125........ 111........119
HDL................59......41..........75......... .68..........62
Trigylcerides......70.....167..........183........ 130.......117
TTL//HDL <4....3.83.....6.17..........3.16........3.01...... .3.29
LDL/HDL <3.....2.59.....4.29..........1.67........1.63..... ...1.92
TRIG/HDL <1.8..1.19.....4.07..........2.44........1.91....1. 89
Blood Glucose.....102.....101..........98........101.... ....101
After 14 monts on plan (April, 2003), I weighed 174 (minus 38 lbs. and about 15% of body fat), and could do an intermediate Pilates machine routine on full resistance. I hadn't had a migraine except for one induced by a misdosed sinus medication for a year, and I had no more hypoglycemic episodes. But better yet, my fasting blood glucose was 89, and although my total cholesterol was technically 'high' 233, LDL= 143, HDL=61, triglycerides=81...and the ratios that predicted my cardiac risk were blowing my primary doctor and my neurologist away:
TTL/HDL (should be <4) = 3.7
LDL/HDL (should be <3) = 2.3
Trig/HDL (should be <1.8) = 1.3
Things went a little south during the April 2004 checkup, though. At 153 on April 30th, I'd almost made my goal weight--due to a sudden and rapid 15 lb weight loss in six weeks. My primary doc was still blown away by my lab results...but not because they were picture-perfect, as they'd been at my company physical in Dec. 2003. My results in April-2004 differed from that Dec-2003 bloodwork so dramatically that my doctor knew something was seriously wrong.
After some additional tests, the 'seriously wrong' turned out to be Stage IV colorectal cancer, with multiple tumors metastasized to my liver. Now, instead of semi-annual bloodwork, I have non-fasting complete blood panels run every two weeks. My medical team for the last two years has included multiple nurses, physicians' assistants, phlebotomists, and research fellows, my primary doc, a gynecologist, a social worker, a neurologist, three surgeons and two oncologists in two separate cities/hospitals, and a nutritionist. My food, BP, exercise and side effects logs are reviewed at least every two weeks.
Granted, there have been and are days during these two years of treatment when I didn't eat the way I prefer. Sometimes I can't eat at all; other times, smelling or preparing food means I won't be able to eat it. ;) There were two treatment regimens, two abdominal surgeries, and my results are NOT typical for either a low carber or a person with advanced CRC. But after the first three or four months of chemo, as treatment began to reduce, eliminate or substantially destroy most of the tumor cells, I started to crave protein again. My food log gradually began to look like a low-carber's journal again, at what is (for me) maintenance ECC levels that average 85g per day. My lipid profile gradually improved with treatment and the carb control I was able to manage to pre-diagnosis lipid levels and ratios.
Controlling carbs at maintenance levels, even taking them down to 55g ECC as I got stronger, wasn't quite enough to keep weight off when complicated by steroid doses that accompanied my chemo treatments. In January of this year, I weighed 216 lbs. again. I've lost 24 of those pounds since successful liver resection surgery on March 1st (and since the steroids were dramatically reduced.)
The liver is a cool organ. It took about a month for the healthy liver tissue remaining after the tumors were removed to re-build itself into a complete healthy liver. I'm in a final course of chemo to ensure 'no cancer cell left behind,' and my scans show that my body is NED--"no evidence of disease" in blood, organs, bones, brain cells or fatty tissue. My CEA, a typical indicator of the presence of cancer growth when over 3, is 1.3. And best of all, my newly grown liver is maintaining and continuing to improve toward the good bloodwork results I'd earned after a year on plan. Treatment plus controlling carbs and getting adequate protein were able to make to my April, 2004 bloodwork just a blip in my steady progress toward a better bloodwork profile. Today (April 30th) is the second anniversary of my diagnosis, and in February I began my fifth year of following Protein Power.
Here are the numbers...
Value..........Dec-03.....Apr-04.....Dec-04.....Dec-05.....Apr-06
TTL CHOL..........226.....253..........237........205. ......204
LDL...............153.....176..........125........ 111........119
HDL................59......41..........75......... .68..........62
Trigylcerides......70.....167..........183........ 130.......117
TTL//HDL <4....3.83.....6.17..........3.16........3.01...... .3.29
LDL/HDL <3.....2.59.....4.29..........1.67........1.63..... ...1.92
TRIG/HDL <1.8..1.19.....4.07..........2.44........1.91....1. 89
Blood Glucose.....102.....101..........98........101.... ....101