SteveH230

Artie,

My wife experienced gradual weight loss that I chalked up to healthier diet and treatment side effects. I noticed on one of her scan reports that they noted “patient is widely cachetic.”. There is a common condition that occurs in over 50% of cancer patients called cachexia where eating more doesn’t necessarily stop the weight loss.

Article: http://www.lef.org/protocols/health-concerns/catabolic-wasting/page-01

Recently I have seen some articles about potential treatments for it. Dont mean to scare you or intrude, but it might be something to ask the doctor about next time.

Always in my prayers Artie-

Steve

Artie,

My wife experienced gradual weight loss that I chalked up to healthier diet and treatment side effects. I noticed on one of her scan reports that they noted “patient is widely cachetic.”. There is a common condition that occurs in over 50% of cancer patients called cachexia where eating more doesn’t necessarily stop the weight loss.

Article: http://www.lef.org/protocols/health-concerns/catabolic-wasting/page-01

Recently I have seen some articles about potential treatments for it. Dont mean to scare you or intrude, but it might be something to ask the doctor about next time.

Always in my prayers Artie-

Steve

Artie,

My wife experienced gradual weight loss that I chalked up to healthier diet and treatment side effects. I noticed on one of her scan reports that they noted “patient is widely cachetic.”. There is a common condition that occurs in over 50% of cancer patients called cachexia where eating more doesn’t necessarily stop the weight loss.

Article: http://www.lef.org/protocols/health-concerns/catabolic-wasting/page-01

Recently I have seen some articles about potential treatments for it. Dont mean to scare you or intrude, but it might be something to ask the doctor about next time.

Always in my prayers Artie-

Steve

Artie,

My wife experienced gradual weight loss that I chalked up to healthier diet and treatment side effects. I noticed on one of her scan reports that they noted “patient is widely cachetic.”. There is a common condition that occurs in over 50% of cancer patients called cachexia where eating more doesn’t necessarily stop the weight loss.

Article: http://www.lef.org/protocols/health-concerns/catabolic-wasting/page-01

Recently I have seen some articles about potential treatments for it. Dont mean to scare you or intrude, but it might be something to ask the doctor about next time.

Always in my prayers Artie-

Steve

Artie,

My wife experienced gradual weight loss that I chalked up to healthier diet and treatment side effects. I noticed on one of her scan reports that they noted “patient is widely cachetic.”. There is a common condition that occurs in over 50% of cancer patients called cachexia where eating more doesn’t necessarily stop the weight loss.

Article: http://www.lef.org/protocols/health-concerns/catabolic-wasting/page-01

Recently I have seen some articles about potential treatments for it. Dont mean to scare you or intrude, but it might be something to ask the doctor about next time.

Always in my prayers Artie-

Steve

Artie,

My wife experienced gradual weight loss that I chalked up to healthier diet and treatment side effects. I noticed on one of her scan reports that they noted “patient is widely cachetic.”. There is a common condition that occurs in over 50% of cancer patients called cachexia where eating more doesn’t necessarily stop the weight loss.

Article: http://www.lef.org/protocols/health-concerns/catabolic-wasting/page-01

Recently I have seen some articles about potential treatments for it. Dont mean to scare you or intrude, but it might be something to ask the doctor about next time.

Always in my prayers Artie-

Steve

My wife was treated there 2012-2013 by Dr. Lawson and his team after she became stage IV.  I can highly recommend him as a medical oncologist and melanoma specialist, as well as his team and all the nurses there.  Happy to answer questions you might have by email or private msg.

 

Steve

My wife was treated there 2012-2013 by Dr. Lawson and his team after she became stage IV.  I can highly recommend him as a medical oncologist and melanoma specialist, as well as his team and all the nurses there.  Happy to answer questions you might have by email or private msg.

 

Steve

My wife was treated there 2012-2013 by Dr. Lawson and his team after she became stage IV.  I can highly recommend him as a medical oncologist and melanoma specialist, as well as his team and all the nurses there.  Happy to answer questions you might have by email or private msg.

 

Steve

I wonder if you are talking about Amy? Sadly, she passed in February but her inspirational spirit lives on through her blog:

http://nashvegasmom.wordpress.com

I wonder if you are talking about Amy? Sadly, she passed in February but her inspirational spirit lives on through her blog:

http://nashvegasmom.wordpress.com

I wonder if you are talking about Amy? Sadly, she passed in February but her inspirational spirit lives on through her blog:

http://nashvegasmom.wordpress.com

I am not a doctor but this happened to my wife and having researched it a bit I have some undestanding of it. Everybody's case is different, so I would ask his doctor whats going on.  It could be treatment-related side effects that could be managed, for example.  Depression is a another very common but seldom talked about side effect of many of these treatments.  My understanding of cachexia in basic terms is that it happens very often (up to 80%) in late stage cancer patients, but theres not a definitive scientific reason why it occurs.  It seems as if the tumor cells eventually consume most of the energy and nutrients coming from food and eating more doesnt really help.  

Its heartbreaking to go through this as a spouse and I know that scared and helpless feeling.  My Heather had a lot of mets & and did every treatment out there, some of which caused appetite and digestion issues.  She went thru IL-2 and IPI without losing much weight, though she did sleep more. The next 6 mos. she gradually lost weight, slept even more, and became increasingly anemic (doing chemo, whole brain & stereotactic radiation, & anti PD-1) as the cancer kept progressing.  

I just thought it was the treatments and anemia causing the weight loss all along until the radiologist noted that "the patient is diffusely cachetic" or something to that effect on her last scan.  She was starting a PD-1 trial at the time.  Then, between PD-1 infusions we worked on trying to get her protein levels up by mixing in protein powder with smoothies and even putting it on food she could eat like rice.  She wrote it all down and tracked her calories and usually exceeded the daily goal but it wasn't helping her gain weight.  She eventually become very frail and lost all interest in food over her last couple of days before passing away in November.  

I am sorry for the gloomy personal story, but I saw that no one had responded and wanted to give a real perspective from someone who has been through it.  I would recommend talking with his doctor and/or nurse about it and see what they suggest.  He may not have "cachexia" at all.  I hope and pray he regains his strength and responds to his whatever those next steps are.

Best,

Steve

I am not a doctor but this happened to my wife and having researched it a bit I have some undestanding of it. Everybody's case is different, so I would ask his doctor whats going on.  It could be treatment-related side effects that could be managed, for example.  Depression is a another very common but seldom talked about side effect of many of these treatments.  My understanding of cachexia in basic terms is that it happens very often (up to 80%) in late stage cancer patients, but theres not a definitive scientific reason why it occurs.  It seems as if the tumor cells eventually consume most of the energy and nutrients coming from food and eating more doesnt really help.  

Its heartbreaking to go through this as a spouse and I know that scared and helpless feeling.  My Heather had a lot of mets & and did every treatment out there, some of which caused appetite and digestion issues.  She went thru IL-2 and IPI without losing much weight, though she did sleep more. The next 6 mos. she gradually lost weight, slept even more, and became increasingly anemic (doing chemo, whole brain & stereotactic radiation, & anti PD-1) as the cancer kept progressing.  

I just thought it was the treatments and anemia causing the weight loss all along until the radiologist noted that "the patient is diffusely cachetic" or something to that effect on her last scan.  She was starting a PD-1 trial at the time.  Then, between PD-1 infusions we worked on trying to get her protein levels up by mixing in protein powder with smoothies and even putting it on food she could eat like rice.  She wrote it all down and tracked her calories and usually exceeded the daily goal but it wasn't helping her gain weight.  She eventually become very frail and lost all interest in food over her last couple of days before passing away in November.  

I am sorry for the gloomy personal story, but I saw that no one had responded and wanted to give a real perspective from someone who has been through it.  I would recommend talking with his doctor and/or nurse about it and see what they suggest.  He may not have "cachexia" at all.  I hope and pray he regains his strength and responds to his whatever those next steps are.

Best,

Steve

I am not a doctor but this happened to my wife and having researched it a bit I have some undestanding of it. Everybody's case is different, so I would ask his doctor whats going on.  It could be treatment-related side effects that could be managed, for example.  Depression is a another very common but seldom talked about side effect of many of these treatments.  My understanding of cachexia in basic terms is that it happens very often (up to 80%) in late stage cancer patients, but theres not a definitive scientific reason why it occurs.  It seems as if the tumor cells eventually consume most of the energy and nutrients coming from food and eating more doesnt really help.  

Its heartbreaking to go through this as a spouse and I know that scared and helpless feeling.  My Heather had a lot of mets & and did every treatment out there, some of which caused appetite and digestion issues.  She went thru IL-2 and IPI without losing much weight, though she did sleep more. The next 6 mos. she gradually lost weight, slept even more, and became increasingly anemic (doing chemo, whole brain & stereotactic radiation, & anti PD-1) as the cancer kept progressing.  

I just thought it was the treatments and anemia causing the weight loss all along until the radiologist noted that "the patient is diffusely cachetic" or something to that effect on her last scan.  She was starting a PD-1 trial at the time.  Then, between PD-1 infusions we worked on trying to get her protein levels up by mixing in protein powder with smoothies and even putting it on food she could eat like rice.  She wrote it all down and tracked her calories and usually exceeded the daily goal but it wasn't helping her gain weight.  She eventually become very frail and lost all interest in food over her last couple of days before passing away in November.  

I am sorry for the gloomy personal story, but I saw that no one had responded and wanted to give a real perspective from someone who has been through it.  I would recommend talking with his doctor and/or nurse about it and see what they suggest.  He may not have "cachexia" at all.  I hope and pray he regains his strength and responds to his whatever those next steps are.

Best,

Steve