Cancer on My Mind

Part 7 – Battle Scars and The Devil’s Node – January 9, 2013

More than seven months have passed since I was diagnosed with esophageal/gastric cancer. I feel somewhat like the man who steps off a ten story building, free-falls several flights, hasn’t reached bottom, but thinks the view is great and all’s well… so far.

I continue to feel fine, have plenty of energy and maintain a stable weight. I’ve been a vegan four and a half months, lost ten pounds in the first six weeks, but have stayed a consistent 185 since. I eat all I want, and that’s a bonus of being vegan – no calorie counting. I prepare about one meal a day, spending time cutting vegetables or choosing spices, and often freeze a quart from some of the pots: beans, vegetable soup, etc. Snacking is my favorite mode of eating though – a cup of beans, a celery stalk, carrots, then a handful of nuts followed by a small bowl of dried fruit. I graze all day and through the night.

After completing chemo and radiation therapies, and rejecting surgery, I had the dilemma of deciding my next move. I’ve reached my limit for radiation, at least of the stomach, and I consider chemo as a poison that will eventually wear me down as it slowly destroys my blood and immune systems. Cancer cannot be cured, not by the present array of medical treatments. Doctors shoot cancer with radiation, poison it with Chemicals, or cut it out surgically, but that doesn’t cure it – It too often pops up in new places. And while the doctors are shooting at my cancer, they are hitting me. I therefore decided to try an alternate path in the treatment of my cancer.

Primarily I switched from an animal based food diet to a plant based diet – I became a vegan. I also continued to take a daily regimen of multi-vitamins and minerals, along with additional doses of vitamins C and E because they are both powerful anti-oxidants. I chose four specific supplements to help fight the cancer: Turmeric, glutamine, IP6 (inositol hexophosphate), and beta-Glucan. Modern medical science has shown an ever increasing interest in the four, and numerous research studies can be found on the Internet.

I was due for another CT scan in December. The question entered my mind as to why I should even bother with more tests. The surgeon would want another scan, but I wasn’t going to be cut, and I would be hard pressed to submit to any more traditional treatments – no matter what the tests showed. But I was curious about what might be found and how it could help me make informed decisions.

My oncologist, Dr. Verneeda Spencer, scheduled a CT scan for December 5th and a meeting on the fourteenth to discuss the results. The good news: the tumor was gone, replaced by a patch of scar tissue. The bad news: a couple of nodes have enlarged. Dr. Spencer read parts of the report. My first impression was that it was rather vague – nothing definitive other than the tumor was gone.

The more troublesome finding: One of the lymph nodes in the left Supraclavicular fossa, close to the base of my neck was enlarged. She examined the area but could sense nothings more than “maybe” a bit of swelling. She offered three options: 1. Do nothing for the time being and have another scan in two months; 2. Biopsy the lymph node in the Supraclavicular fossa, and if malignant; 3. shoot the “Bomb”, Herceptin. She said the radiologist was conservative in his approach and if he didn’t think the biopsy could be done then option number one (wait) would be our default. I told her that I had to think about it. Later that evening she left the message that the biopsy could be done, and wondered how I wanted to proceed. I didn’t want to be hurried. I returned her call after the weekend and told her I had decided to wait three months, have another CT scan and then decide.

I received a copy of the report a few days later and perused it (with the aid of a dictionary) to decide my next move. The Supraclavicular fossa is that triangular depression at the base of the neck, behind the clavicle. Its lymph node is called Virchow’s Node. Virchow's Node takes its supply from the abdominal lymph nodes, and is also described as "the seat of the devil". One that is enlarged and palpably hard (a condition referred to as Troisier's sign) is regarded as a signal of gastric cancer. Mine was enlarged but not hardened, and finding the enlarged node was no surprise. I already knew I had a gastric tumor; radiation had obliterated it. The doctor was not able to feel any sign of a palpably hard object, and I run my fingers over it several times a day and cannot feel anything either. So what does all that mean? Has the cancer metastasized? I’ve read of other causes for swollen lymph nodes – a cold, the flu, infection. It’s not an uncommon phenomenon, but then again, I do have cancer.
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