Monday, May 27, 2013

An Aspirin a day keeps the colon cancer away



Folks it's been a few weeks since my last post and I thought I would just check in, submit a posting to let all of you know that I am still fighting the good fight, and give an update on my status.

I continue to adhere to a pretty clean diet - not perfect...but really trying to keep as balanced and healthy as I can while not completely sacrificing enjoyment out of life...and food.  Since my one-year post diagnosis surveillance tests last month and my meetings with my medical team - my GI, my Surgeon, my Oncologist - I have tried to lighten up just a little bit and enjoy the occasional indulgence...potato chips at the cottage, red wine wherever.  I still remember the words of my Surgeon at our last meeting.."have a steak and a beer".  After all, "if having the occasional steak and beer was to cause a recurrence of my cancer then we all have bigger fish to fry".  Essentially I was being told to live a little, that while a healthy diet and lifestyle are important for overall health it is important to not become so restrictive with the thoughts that my cancer can be defeated or kept at bay by what foods I ingest or a specific supplement I am taking.  Easier said than done I can tell you but with my specialists encouraging me to relax a bit and enjoy life's indulgences it has helped me to stop and focus on achieving overall balance and nutrition and not obsess.

I continue to take the supplements I have written about previously as part of a daily regimen...ritual if you will.  My daily ritual includes lemon water with Vitamin D, a probiotic, Vitamin C powder, Greens and Reds powder, with Curcumin (1000mg X 4 times a day).  I consume a tablespoon of Coconut oil twice daily.

But I have added daily aspirin therapy (2 X 325mg) along with a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) to minimize the gastric injury from the use of the aspirin.  Aspirin you may be asking?  You may have heard about its use for heart benefits particularly for those at increased risk to cardiac events but for cancer prevention / recurrence mitigation?  Really?




Actually there is some building evidence that suggests that daily aspirin may reduce the risk of recurrence of colon cancer for those at medium to high risk of recurrence - and that's me.  The evidence isn't entirely convincing and no conclusive (Phase III) trial, (randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled and all that jargon) has concluded that there is statistically significant evidence that daily aspirin reduces risk of recurrence.  And if so at what dose?  And for all tumour types or only those with specific tumour/gene types?  Daily or every other day?  And how would we determine that indeed it was the aspirin therapy that was to "blame" for the reduction in recurrence of colorectal?

Just a simple Google search for aspirin and colon cancer recurrence returns a plethora of results that suggest that there may be something beneficial here...

http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/summary/2002/aspirin0402
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120409164525.htm
http://www.rxpgnews.com/coloncancer/Aspirin_May_Reduce_Risk_of_Colon_Cancer_Recurrence_1480_1480.shtml
http://www.docguide.com/aspirin-may-prevent-colon-cancer-recurrence-presented-asco
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/ColonCancer/15480

Readers may recall that as recently as last year the media picked up on some promising research that suggested an aspirin a day could help prevent cancer making its way into the pages of the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/health/research/studies-link-aspirin-daily-use-to-reduced-cancer-risk.html?_r=0





I was in treatment when I heard of this "news" and immediately discussed with my Oncologist and medical team in the Clinic.  At that time we decided to defer until  some time after chemotherapy, to allow my body to recover from the drug therapy, to return to somewhat "normal", to have my GI system heal.  But with the passing of these months since the end of chemo and the distressing news of fellow colon cancer battlers who have not had the same positive news after surveillance tests as I had received, I returned to my mantra - that I would do whatever it takes to improve my prognosis, to increase my odds of survival...even if by just a few %.  During my meeting with my Oncologist I pushed for initiating the aspirin therapy.  And f$%^ the risk of gastric injury!!! - I will mitigate it as much as I can with the PPI and the healthy diet and probiotics...When faced with a decision between possible lower risk of cancer recurrence vs. increased risk of gastric bleeding / injury - it's not much  of a decision actually.  To steal the battle cry from a good friend and fellow battler Barb - Bring it on!!!

Quite frankly...although there is no convincing evidence...no one Trial or Study that we can point to that proves that aspirin is proven to significantly reduce the risk for recurrence of colon cancer, if it possibly could offer benefit, if it could reduce the risk of recurrence, if it does reduce the risk of metastases, if it could possibly help me KICK the CRAP out of COLON CANCER then I gladly add it to my regimen.

So the daily ritual now includes two aspirin.  And heck...I am reducing my risk of heart attack at the same time.