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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       04-29-2019, 12:17 PM Reply   
The skin doc thinks I have basal cell carcinoma on my forehead, I am getting a punch biopsy next week. I have been doing a lot of reading about longevity, cancer and Alzheimer prevention before getting this diagnosis and have been intermittent fasting for 5 months. I've come across this new therapy which is starting to be used in cancer treatment called push/pulse. The idea is you put the cancer in a disadvantaged environment then you hit it with a traditional therapy, chemo, radiation etc. So I thought why not try the push therapy before the biopsy to shrink the tumor down before they cut it out. The less they have to cut out the better. So I thought I would document the process so if anyone else has the need they can see the process and if I make any difference with torturing myself.

So to be 100% clear to everyone THIS IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR TRADITIONAL CANCER MANAGEMENT, it is a technique you can use along with the normal stuff.

The push treatment for this type of tumor is water fasting. Most tumors are Glycolytic which means they use glycogen for energy, this is different from most other tissue which is metabolically flexible and use either Ketones,fats or carbs depending on whats available. This is know as the Warburg effect:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warburg_effect_(oncology)

The cancer I have is a (suspected) BCC. I have a sore on my head which has been a bit weapy for 4 months, it would develop a scab then fall off and bleed a bit then scab over again. I did a 5 day water fast about a month ago and it healed over for the first time and then a couple of weeks later I went in to the see the doc for my normal annual skin check.

The heart of the therapy is to manage your Glucose to Ketone ratio to starve the tumor of the fuel it needs and ideally give it such a kick in the balls that your normally healthy immune cells can gobble it up.

https://keto-mojo.com/pages/glucose-ketone-index-gki

The plan is to do Keto for a couple of days to ease the transition and then water fast for 5 days. For me 5 days seems to be a pretty good sweet spot where I can get the therapeutic benefits without loosing too much muscle mass. If want more therapy then I would do 5 days then recover my body weight then do another 5 days until I get the number of days I want. The main component is diet but I will be exercising for a couple reasons also. Gym work to help maintain muscle mass, aerobic exercise to drive down the blood glucose. The target is to get my GKI between 1&3 and maintain it for 3-4 days.

So this thread is a daily log of my amateurs metabolic therapy for BCC.
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       04-29-2019, 12:27 PM Reply   
Day -2 80kg
9:00 1&1/2hr mtb with the boss & dog. Low power easy pedal
12:00 1 tablespoon of MCT oil
12:30 Blood glucose 5.2 mmol/L (93.6 mg/dl) Ketones 0.4 mmol/L GKI 13
13:00 Bacon, eggs & avocado, flat white coffee
18:00 Salmon, chicken, broccoli

I've never eaten Keto before, it sucks balls.
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       04-29-2019, 12:49 PM Reply   
Day -1 79kg
7:30 3hr bike ride with the boys. Medium power 250w NP
11:30 Blood glucose 4.4 mmol/L (79.2 mg/dl) Ketones 1.5 mmol/L GKI 2.9
12:00 1 tablespoon of MCT oil, 100g of whipped cream, 20g whey protein, 1 tsp inulin, 1 tbs coco
13:00 Bacon, eggs & avocado, flat white coffee
14:00 Blood glucose 4.9 mmol/L (88.26 mg/dl) Ketones 0.8 mmol/L GKI 6.1
18:00 Salmon, cauliflower, broccoli
18:30 20 grams whey protein, 100grams of berries, 1 tbs MCT oil, 100g of whipped cream, 1 tsp inulin, 1 tbs coco
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Old     (pesos)      Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Texas       04-29-2019, 1:27 PM Reply   
Sorry to hear Ralph - hope treatment goes well!
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       04-29-2019, 3:06 PM Reply   
Cheers bro, its all good I'm not worried about it.
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       04-29-2019, 3:14 PM Reply   
Day 1 78.4 kg
1 black coffee & about 3 litres of water. No electrolytes or salt yet.
5:30 Gym session, chest and back. No loss in strength yet.
8:00 Blood glucose 4.3 mmol/L (77.4 mg/dl) Ketones 1.2 mmol/L GKI 3.5
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Old     (markj)      Join Date: Apr 2005       04-29-2019, 4:00 PM Reply   
Crap I can't find the pics I took of my basal cell C gettin butchered out. They were great pics too. Right on my cheek. Don't fear. Most of those are not malignant. It made me start wearing sunscreen.
Old     (grant_west)      Join Date: Jun 2005       04-30-2019, 3:30 AM Reply   
Ralph: sorry and hope treatment go’s well.
Old     (fly135)      Join Date: Jun 2004       04-30-2019, 3:48 AM Reply   
Doc took a small chuck out of me years ago. Turned out to be nothing.
Old     (DeltaHoosier)      Join Date: Mar 2018       04-30-2019, 5:26 AM Reply   
Get well Ralph. You have our support
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-01-2019, 12:55 PM Reply   
Awww, thanks guys, warms the cockles of my heart. I'll be very disappointed if you easy on me when I spout some liberal nonsense.
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-01-2019, 1:07 PM Reply   
Day 2 77.1 kg
6:00 Rode 60km with the boys, 225w nominal. Was about 10k's too long, felt cracked at the end.
7:30 Blood glucose 4.6 mmol/L (82.8 mg/dl) Ketones 2.7 mmol/L GKI 1.7
1 bottle of electrolytes (calorie free), 1 black coffee, 1 green tea & about 3 litres of water.
9:30 Blood glucose 3.9 mmol/L (70.2 mg/dl) Ketones 4.4 mmol/L GKI 0.9 <-- therapeutic zone achieved!
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-01-2019, 1:18 PM Reply   
Day 3 76.3 kg
7:30 Blood glucose 3.3 mmol/L (59.4 mg/dl) Ketones 5.7 mmol/L GKI 0.6 <-- technically hypoglycemic but seem functional enough
2 black coffee, 2 green tea & about 2 litres of water.
7:00 Blood glucose 4.2 mmol/L (75.6 mg/dl) Ketones 4.5 mmol/L GKI 0.9 <-- Not sure why glucose is coming up.
No exercise today, I was scheduled to do legs at the gym but got held up during the day. Walked 9,000 steps tho.

I've never seen glucose so low and ketones so high before. Felt pretty good and had a busy day, seem pretty functional, a bit spacey in the head. The cancer site seems noticeably less dented in, might be delusional because of the personal investment int he project but I think it is doing something.
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-02-2019, 10:13 AM Reply   
Day 4 75.4 kg
7:00 1hr MTB ride easy
9:10 Blood glucose 4.6 mmol/L (82.8 mg/dl) Ketones 3.8 mmol/L GKI 1.2 <-- Big bump in glucose which knocked me out of the therapeutic zone, not sure why
1 black coffee, 1 green tea & about 3 litres of water.
7:30 Blood glucose 3.5 mmol/L (63.6 mg/dl) Ketones 3.9 mmol/L GKI 0.9 <-- Big drop in glucose, back in the zone
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-03-2019, 11:55 AM Reply   
Day 5 74.6 kg <-- Whoops, I told the boss I would quit if I dropped below 75kg...
8:14 Blood glucose 3.8 mmol/L (68.4 mg/dl) Ketones 4.9 mmol/L GKI 0.7 <-- Back well into the zone
1 black coffee, 1 green tea & about 3 litres of water.
4:00 Blood glucose 3.8 mmol/L (68.4 mg/dl) Ketones 5.8 mmol/L GKI 0.6 <-- Nice way to finish.

Broke fast at 4:30 with a lamb broth and some nuts. 1hr or so later a berry smoothy with protein powder, inulin and MCT oil.
Went to a 21st party after with "nibbles" and at myself into a stupor. Felt horrible, ate way too much.

The wound on the head has changed a lot over night. It is totally flat to the touch now and has developed a scab. Weird because yesterday it the skin looked totally healed. Either the cancer has been completely deconstructed and new skin has to be regrown or I've just made it angry. As far as body fat it concerned I'm at as low as I can go and stay healthy, muscles are flat as a pancake but I have rips and grooves I have never seen before, triceps are cross serrated for the for first time ever.
Time to reefed and put the weight back on. I'll keep updating until Tuesday when the biopsy gets done, hopefully its enough time for the skin to regrow and the scab to drop off.
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Last edited by ralph; 05-03-2019 at 11:58 AM.
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-04-2019, 5:11 PM Reply   
Day 5+1 75.5kg
Had an awesome spin with the wife, 2.5hrs 60km. Weather here is amazing at the moment, foggy and still followed by bright sun shine. The wound is pretty much healed with a bunch of new skin coming through. Looks and feels totally flat. Eating and stomach function back to normal. Feeling so good, Operating on a totally different level now.
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-05-2019, 12:43 PM Reply   
Day 2+1 76.5kg
Amazing 5hr ride with the boys. Legs felt incredibly strong at the end, notice improvement in fatigue resistance. Pretty much healed now, skin looks new but thin.
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-06-2019, 10:37 AM Reply   
Day 5+2 77.1kg
Biopsy day.
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-17-2019, 2:24 PM Reply   
1 week past post fast. Got a divot back thanks to the biposy (2 days ago). 1 stitch in there somewhere. Weight up to 78
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       05-17-2019, 2:30 PM Reply   
2 Weeks post fast. Biopsy results: Nodular basal cell carcinoma as expected. Fasting didn't get rid of it, booked in for Mohs surgery on 11th of June. Planning to do another 5 day fast around end of the month, want at least 7 days between breaking fast and the surgery to allow the skin to heal if it breaks out again during the fast. Crazy how fast the biopsy wound has healed, hard to see now. Weight up to 80.5kg. Getting Swole as, making crazy gains at the gym. Maybe the stem cell production after the fast is still kicking.
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       06-13-2019, 4:25 PM Reply   
So decided to do a third 5 days before the surgery. Didn't have an ideal prep with a massively busy schedule at work and shifted house at the same time. Followed the non eating schedule no problem but stress management wasn't as good and didn't get to exercise as regimented as the previous round. Didn't get into the therapeutic zone at all, glucose was always in the 4's and ketones didn't get much over 2. Not sure if it was because of the elevated stress or lack or exercise or just because I have fasted 15 days out of the last 60. On the plus side I didn't drop the same amount of weight and bounced back in a couple of days. Scar didn't change much at all but to be fair visually its practically fully healed now.
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       06-13-2019, 4:38 PM Reply   
So had the surgery, this particular technique is called MOH's surgery, it is very common for skin cancer treatment on the face, they cut a section out and then test it for clear margins before closing you up, if its not clear they cut again an retest, when you are clear then they sew you back up. It reduces the re occurrence and spares as much tissue as possible.

The little spot visible on the surface which had healed up was just the tip of the iceburg, the tumor extended quite a long way under the skin. The doc had 3 goes at it before getting it all, the total amount cut out was about 1" x 1&1/2" and took about 4&1/2 hours total. The doc reckons its be growing in there for a few years before it made its way to the surface. It was grim as, your awake the whole time, there isn't any pain apart from the anesthetic top up but the noise of cutting through fibers is pretty gross. With a big hole to close up the doc has to make a big cut across the head to pull the skin around, about 2.5" in total. Looks like I fell head first into the Insinkerator. So long story short I don't think the fasting put much of a dent in it but the scalpel sure did. No regrets, it was an interesting experience and I will continue to do prolonged fasts a couple times a year for the longevity benefits.
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Old     (markj)      Join Date: Apr 2005       06-13-2019, 5:16 PM Reply   
Oh man, that’s pretty extensive. Heal fast!
Old     (DeltaHoosier)      Join Date: Mar 2018       06-14-2019, 5:50 AM Reply   
That's crazy. I am not sure 1" and 1&1/2" mean. I am on the metric system. ;0). Glad they were able to get it and glad you went in to do it. Get well.
Old     (fly135)      Join Date: Jun 2004       06-14-2019, 7:12 AM Reply   
Wow! Was it the biopsy that revealed they needed to do more digging? Cause the earlier pics hardly looked like anything. Sure hope they got it all cleaned up.
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       06-14-2019, 11:08 AM Reply   
Cheers for the support guys. The biopsy confirmed it was a BCC, the MOHs surgery shows where they need to keep digging, they keep you open while they test the skin they have taken out, its super grim because you are open for 4 hours but they spare the maximum amount of skin and are 100% sure they have got it all before closing you up.
Old     (95sn)      Join Date: Sep 2005       06-14-2019, 11:33 AM Reply   
100%sure, thats a blessing. Chicks dig scars!
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       06-30-2019, 3:32 PM Reply   
Quick update, 9 days post surgery stitches out today
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       06-30-2019, 3:33 PM Reply   
And now 1 week after stitches out. i'm using the micropore tape over the scare as it heals, supposed to make it flatter.
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Old     (markj)      Join Date: Apr 2005       06-30-2019, 4:01 PM Reply   
Wow that’s quite a crater, I must say. Most of it looks good. So weird how things heal. One week you look like hell and 2-5 weeks later it’s all good. I understand about keeping it flat too. When I had one removed, the end of the scar looked like I had a nipple protruding off of my cheek for a year until it laid down on its own. My brother (who did the surgery in his office) had to listen to me bitch about it and reassure me it would be alright for a year.

A few years from now, you’ll forget you ever had anything removed unless someone brings up the topic in general or you need another one removed.

You’re all good. Just stay the course and follow their instructions.
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       06-30-2019, 5:17 PM Reply   
Luckily I was way too pretty before the surgery.
Old     (markj)      Join Date: Apr 2005       06-30-2019, 7:32 PM Reply   
Indeed. Any woman would be proud to hang your picture above her mantle.
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       07-04-2019, 2:55 PM Reply   
1 week later, 2 weeks after stiches out. Holy crap the body is an awesome piece of kit.
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Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       07-10-2019, 9:39 AM Reply   
3 weeks post stitches. 1 more week of tape then dermatix and madge
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