UPDATE: 4/6/12

Dear James,

Thank you for the reply. We are hoping to receive a more detailed reply from you, either through here or through e-mail, though I think that it will benefit anyone reading this greatly if you replied on this forum.

When you say that "The catheter only needs to be inserted just past the anal sphincter muscle, maybe a half inch so it does not slip out," we're not sure what the "sphincter muscle" is. Just so we're not making any mistakes, how many inches in should it ideally be from the opening?

We have another update. The pericardial effusion was malignant, as the surgical pathology report indicates:

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The immunohistochemical staining pattern is consistent with metastatic carcinoma of breast origin. Tumor cells are positive for HER-2.

HER-2 - Positive (3+)
Mammoglobin - Focally Positive
CEA(P) - Positive
CK7 - Positive
ER, PR, TTF-1, WT1, CK20, CDX2 - Negative

Pericardial fluid positive for malignant tumor cells, consistent with adenocarcinoma.

Pericardium showing focal infiltration by metastatic poorly differentiated carcinoma. A pericardial lymph node shows focal infiltration by metastatic poorly differentiated carcinoma.
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What is "focal infiltration"? I realize that the cancer spread to at least one pericardial lymph node.

Furthermore, we have a copy of the report of the CT scan that was done prior to the surgery, but on that same day. The technicians remarked that this was a suboptimal test due to the fact that my mom could not lie down completely straight (she was a bit upright) during it (the pericardial effusion was giving here tremendous pain in the heart area when she would try to lie flat).

You can find the late November PET scan here: //www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=1886246#i

And the August CT scan here: //www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=1845717#i


The test notes:

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--- 4 x 3 cm right breast mass
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There are no decimal places, so this may be a very rough estimate. The late November PET showed a mass of 5.8 x 2 x 4.4 cm. There is no height provided for the tumor, but if I just use the first two figures and get the area, the tumor is slightly larger (11.6 cm² vs 12 cm²). I do not know why the dimensions are shifting in this way, growing larger in one direction and smaller in the other.

--- Large pericardial effusion and a small right pleural effusion
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A pericardial window was made and the pericardial effusion was drained. She has no more symptoms associated with the effusion at the moment.

--- "16 x 10 mm ovoid density is seen posteriorly within the right pleural effusion"
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I'm not sure what this means. Can it be another tumor?

--- "Lung windows demonstrate a 4 x 4 mm pleural-based lateral right upper lobe pulmonary nodule on image 18, a 4 x 3 mm and a 3 x 2 mm pleural-based pulmonary nodule. In the superior segment of the right lower lobe on image 25 a 3 x 3 mm right lower lobe pulmonary nodule is seen on image 33 a 3 x 2 mm pleural-based right lower lobe nodule and a 4 x 3 mm right lower lobe pulmonary nodule are seen on image 35. Three different left lower lobe pulmonary nodules measuring are seen on images 28, 32 and 39."
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I'm assuming that these are the "lung nodules" that the previous scans talked about. They don't seem to have grown any larger, and may have in fact grown smaller, but the previous measurements were given in only one direction. In addition, not every single nodule was counted; only the most significant ones were measured, it seems. Some new ones may have developed or some old ones may have diminished without us knowing. Because they are all within the vicinity of the primary malignancy, would it be wise to assume that they are most likely malignant?

Also, please note the nodules on the left side as well, for which no measurements are given. The CT scan from August mentioned a left nodule measuring up to 9 mm, but the late November PET scan did not catch any nodules on the left, as far as I can remember.

--- "Subsegmental bibasilar atelectasis is seen greater on the left than the right"
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I'm not really sure what this means. I read that the lung is being squeezed to a less-than-normal size in relation to the term "bibasilar atelectasis." I'm assuming that this has to do with the pericardial effusion on the left side.

--- "Bone windows demonstrate an expansile lesion in the right 11 rib with an associated 2.5 x 1.4 cm soft tissue mass is seen in the inferior most image CT scan."
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The PET scan from late November mentioned a hypermetabolic lesion at the 11th rib with a "minor soft tissue component," but did not provide a size, maybe because it was too small to do so. This time, they provided a size, perhaps because it grew in size.

I do not see anything mentioned about the liver, even though the oncologist said that the CT suggests that there is metastasis to the liver. I'm assuming that she's referring to the right 11th rib, unless she saw something on the actual scans that were not remarked on in the report. Is the 11th rib right next to the liver? I'm also assuming that, given all of the other findings, that this mass is malignant.

--- "IMPRESSION: Large pericardial effusion, pulmonary nodules, right pleural effusion with a probable posterior right pleural mass and the expansile right 11th rib lesion with associated soft tissue mass are all highly suspcious for metastatic disease.

Right breast mass and skin thickening likely represent the primary malignancy."
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Would this "right pleural mass" be the primary tumor? Or is it something else? I'm assuming that it is another tumor, as there are two main masses mentioned in the breast/lung area: 4 x 3 cm in the right and breast and 16 x 10 mm "ovoid density" within the posterior of the right pleural effusion.

My reading of this last CT scan is as follows:
1. The primary tumor did not get bigger or smaller by much, though no height is provided.
2. The cancer spread to the pericardial tissue and likely to the lung tissue (pleural effusion on both sides).
3. A pericardial lymph node is positive for cancer.
4. The rib mass got larger.
5. Adenocarcinoma -- not quite sure what this is, though, and whether or not this is a new finding.
5. Some bone lesions that were mentioned in the PET are not mentioned here, so perhaps some healed, but the CT scan was suboptimal.
6. The lung nodules in the left and right are malignant, especially since the pericardial effusion is, and most likely the pleural effusion as well.
7. There is an additional mass, likely malignant, called a "16 x 10 mm "ovoid density"" within the right pleural mass.

Please let us know if I am correct in some of my assumptions.
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Now, a more positive update:

The lymphedema in our mom's right arm seems to be leaving. The puffiness is only a fraction of what it was just two weeks ago. For the first time since last summer, she is actually able to raise it about half-way and no longer has to keep it perpendicular against her stomach.

We suspect that this has to do with our change in ozone protocols. As mentioned in the previous post, the catheter is no longer inserted 6 inches deep, but closer to 2. The catheters were aslo cut down to have just a hole in the top and no holes at the sides. though we're not really sure if it's better to use them as they are (two holes towards the top on the sides) or if we should be cutting them down to have only one hole at the top. We have also increased the number of rectal insufflations to 4, and 1 ear insufflation a day, plus cupping on the breast, spine/neck, liver, and right armpit areas. My brother believes that the ozone cupping on the right arm is helping her lymphedema symptoms to improve. She has also been drinking ozonated water several times a day and eating much healthier.

Her skin on the affected right breast also seems to have improved a bit. A bit less redness, no blood or pus. No milk from the other breast. We're not sure if the Antibiotic IV at the hospital alleviated some of these symptoms, but we doubt it, and are attributing it to the ozone. (Last time her right breast seemed to have been healing, it was about a month and a half after 4 days of antiboitic IV treatment, with little improvement right after the IV.)

Even in these last two weeks, our ozone protocol was not fully complete or correct, it seems. We just got an oxygen tank and pediatric regulator (settings 0, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, etc., with no in-between) from Longevity, instead of our DevilBliss oxygen concentrator. (Industrial 540 valve and regulator, so we do not need a prescription.) When using Longevity's water flask for ozonating water (a special stone-like diffuser is dipped into the flask) with the oxygen concentrator, it did not seem to produce enough pressure to formulate those fine bubbles, or any bubbles at all, really. (After speaking with Longevity over the phone about this issue, this is what they said.) With the tank and regulator, the bubbles are fine and the ozonated water taste is very strong, unlike the water ozonated using oxygen from the concentrator. Also, when our mom started doing 1/8 (up from 1/10, or whatever we were doing earlier, as we could not really tell except by counting bubbles in water - not very exact) with the tank, she could not handle the full 20 minutes and felt like defecating every time. Now, she's defecating all the time, probably due to the increased pressure, and without suppositories or enemas, which is probably a good thing. At the very least, we think that it may be a sign that something was not quite right with our protocols, which probably explains why she has been doing ozone for months with advancing metastatic disease, which differs from your experience of recovering patients after administering ozone for a fraction of the time in which we've been struggling with her therapy.

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A less positive update:

Her head and neck pain still persists, though she gets those powerful bursts of pain/spasms less frequently and the pain is generally less severe than before. This is accompanied by a feeling of tightness of the throat, and the feeling that she is being strangled. She has difficulty swallowing to the point in which she says that she sometimes cannot swallow her own saliva. Reading up on it, many people with anxiety and stress experience these same exact symptoms in the throat. Her pain doctor believes that this abrupt pain in the neck/head that started the day she was being discharged is not due to cancer, but nerves and stress, and may be due to muscle spasms. Again, she woke up screaming during surgery because insufficient morphine was administered, and it was never communicated properly to them that she is very morphine-tolerant, even though I told the anesthesiologist exactly what doses of what medicine she has been taking right before she was wheeled away, awake, into the operating room. They were still cutting into her as she was awake, claiming that any more morphine would have "killed her." Obviously, this was not the case. Anyway, my mom says that she is positive that her head and neck pain is linked to her throat issues, as they happened at exactly the same time, and we very much doubt that two tumors sprung up at the same time and began to press on two different areas at the same time. When her neck and head is better, so is her throat. If both are symptoms of anxiety disorders or stress, it can very much be that as well. Please keep in mind, however, that she was not thinking about her experience in the operating room when the pain struck her. The surgery took place a few days earlier and she was in a good mood, without much pain, and ready to go home when it happened all of a sudden.

Now, she also had tonsilitis when she was a kid, but did not get her tonsils removed as the doctors suggested. She thinks that it may also be that. Some of the symptoms are similar, but I tell her that the ozone would have been taking care of the infection, and that the pain would have built up gradually like any kind of infection, not abruptly.

What does this sound like to you? The pain travels around different parts of the top and back of the head, is very sharp, and is more extreme than any other pain she's ever experienced. Her neck is immobile, though sometimes a bit more mobile now. (When my brother did quantum touch on her twice, she was actually able to move it more twice, but it gets worse after the effect wears off.) Excedrin helps her, as does Valium, but not oxycodone or Fentanyl (she dropped the Fentanyl after severe nausea two days after leaving the hospital). This is always accompanied by the aforementioned throat tightness, strangling feeling, and difficulty swallowing. She also says that she has pain in the back of the throat, which also sounds a little like tonsilitis. (It gets better when her head gets better, though.) Another doctor suggested that it is probably a pinched nerve and that acupuncture on the arm will take care of it. We told her to take magnesium and a herb (I need to ask my brother which one) to relax muscles if it is that (since Valium helps, and it is not a pain medicine, but a muscle relaxant, among other things). What are your thoughts or suggestions?

Is ozone good at penetrating pleural and pericardial effusions to get into the lung and pericardium tissues? There is malignancy on the right as well as the left, and possible spread of cancer to the lungs (pulmonary nodules, malignant pericardial effusion and most likely malignant pleural effusion).

Thank you for all of your help.