My Christian faith has played a huge part in helping me navigate the challenges of living with Multiple Myeloma for the past 13 years, and I want to share some of what I have learned about the importance of diet, exercise, and supplements in managing my cancer.

This site is intended for fellow cancer patients (and advocates) working with their oncologist. I am not a doctor, and each person and cancer is different. It is very important for everyone to have regular blood tests and follow their own doctors’ orders. But diet enhances cancer treatments, and I offer recipes, specific exercises, and things to avoid — with notes on what has (or has not) worked for me. 

A brief history of my cancer journey starts with a routine blood test in April 2012 that revealed a dramatic loss in kidney function.  By the end of May, tests had led to a definitive diagnosis of stage 3 Multiple Myeloma and stage 4 Light Chain Deposition Disease, which had damaged my kidneys. I had a course of chemotherapy from my diagnosis until I went to Denver for 6 weeks for a bone marrow transplant in Nov 2012  I tell you this so you know that I followed my doctors orders exactly.  My diet & supplements were started about 2 years after I was diagnosed and after I had my bone marrow transplant.

My life is sweeter now than it was before I was diagnosed with cancer because my perspective of life is deeper and my walk with Jesus is closer because I need Him- He is critical to me every day.  But it has been a difficult journey.  Maybe this will help someone else on the path.

The following excerpt is directly from my diary after I was diagnosed May 31, 2012:

Part of the battle with cancer is facing fear of the unknown and feeling out of control.

Multiple Myeloma is an incurable cancer of the blood, and my cancerous cells break down into “Kappa Free Light Chains”.  These little fragments from the cancer cells were forming damaging structures in my kidneys – which is a second illness called Light Chain Deposition Disease.

75% of my kidneys were destroyed, I was already at stage 3 Multiple Myeloma and stage 4 Chronic Kidney disease by the time I was diagnosed.  Of course I looked on the internet (not a good idea to read prognosis on the internet)  and it said to expect to live about 27 months from stage 3 Multiple Myeloma.  2 years!!!  I had expected 25 years. I was stunned, numb – I kept trying to wrap my head around “2 years”.

 I was put on 40 mg dexamethasone per day for 4 days and then off for 4 days in cycles – it made me feel like I was a methamphetamine freak – I frantically cleaned my house and garage and was not able to sleep on my “speed days”- and my hands shook when I put on my makeup or wrote.   On the 4 days off the Dex  I would crash and hardly have the energy to move.  I would fall asleep in the chair at night.  I also got Velcade shots twice a week and took Thalidomide pills. After 2 1/2 months of that my beta 2 macroglobulin level was still very high.  If it is above 5.5 you are stage 3 Multiple Myeloma by the International Staging – I was still 8.45 in mid August 2012- not a good prognosis.

My husband and I went to the lake many weekends that summer and I would have tears running down my cheeks because the world was so beautiful and my mortality was always on my mind.  I would wake in the night and be so afraid of what the next treatment would be, but so comforted to reach out and touch my  husband.  I didn’t want to see people I loved because I was so sad to think of dying and leaving them.  Before that summer of 2012, thinking of heaven was like thinking of Hawaii for me – I had been a Christian about 30 years and taught in Sunday School 18 years. I taught that in heaven  we would see Jesus and have peace and no pain, but now I realized that when I went, I would not come back – and it would be much sooner than I had expected.  My faith in God was put to the test.  Did I believe what the Bible said?  Was heaven real? Was God still good?  Loving?

When I went to church, I felt the presence of God and just cried and cried.  I have heard that tears are a gift of God but I was embarrassed that I would cry so easily.  I did not want to answer questions about how I was doing for fear I would start crying.  Some people seem to glide effortlessly through their trials –I didn’t feel I was handling things very well.

God now seemed huge, distant and scary.  As if the One I had walked with all these years was completely different than I had thought. I told God how small and insignificant I felt and that I felt I was looking into death – a huge black pit – an abyss.  I accused Him of not knowing what it feels like to be a helpless person dreading pain and death.  Then as if in bright, vibrant neon lights, He brought to my mind – Jesus!

Jesus!!!   Oh, Yes!!!   Jesus knew what it was to be in pain and to dread pain and He even knew what it felt like to die.  When I was going through my hardest times, my thoughts would go to Jesus every few minutes.   1000 times a day I would ask, “Are you there? Will You catch me when I die?  Is this Your Will?” I always felt His reassuring presence – I felt His comforting & loving presence more strongly than any other time in my life.  Jesus was my constant companion.

I thought of how Jesus would leave His small group of disciples facing a big world – and His group didn’t look promising when He died.  He had to leave everything in His Father’s hands just as I would have to leave all the unfinished business of my life in His hands.  Jesus knew what it felt like to grieve and to be sad about having loved ones grieving for Him.  He wept at the tomb of Lazarus- even though He knew He would raise Lazarus from the dead.  I believe He cried to see the sadness of Lazarus’ sisters.  Jesus knew what I felt like.  He knew what it felt like to face death.

I had never realized what a comfort it is to suffering people that Jesus suffered!

A scripture I clung to was John 3:16: When I was afraid I would repeat, “God so  loved the world”, and I would feel peace. Another time I would feel anxious, I would focus on the promise “that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever should believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.”

I had been a Christian 30 years and finally truly appreciated the gift of Jesus dying on the cross so I could have a future in heaven.  He gave me eternal life –He had walked through these 30 years with me, but the amazing promise of the Bible is that my relationship with Jesus will never end. He will NEVER leave me or forsake me.”

You can read more from my diary is in the tab “2012” – now I will skip ahead and describe how I discovered the ketogenic diet & how well it has worked for me.

2013 – Unfortunately, my cancer returned within a few months after my bone marrow transplant, and I relied on chemo to keep my kappa/lambda ratio as close to normal as possible.  (10 -15 mg Revlamid every other day) until I asked my oncologist in March 2014 if cutting out sugar would help slow my cancer. My oncologist said, “Yes, but it is not just the sugar you eat. You need to keep your blood sugar low and steady.”  He suggested I find a good diabetic diet, and after reading 2 books by Dr Bernstein:  “Diabetes Diet” and “Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars” (1997; rev. 2011), I decided I would follow Dr. Bernstein’s diet to normalize my blood glucose.  Normalizing my blood glucose has been a key to managing my cancer since my oncologist told me that in March 2014.

Dr Bernstein said a person could normalize their blood glucose by avoiding carbs and he suggested his patients test their blood glucose about 5 times per day by pricking their finger to get feedback to make sure they were keeping glucose low. (summary of what to eat under tab “diet, the foundation” & “#2 Quick Start”) 

I then read Thomas Siegfried’s book, “Cancer as a Metabolic Disease “ (2012), which gave evidence that a ketogenic diet (similar to what was described in “Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution”) can be effective against cancer. Thus, I continued to prick my finger and test my blood glucose 5 times per day. Later I cut back to just pricking my finger once a day and wrote my daily ketone and glucose reading on my calendar every night. (Ketones are acids in the blood that indicate your body is burning fats instead of glucose, which denies cancer cells their preferred source of energy). By seeing how different foods and supplements affected my lab readings (I had blood tests every 8 weeks for the first 10 years after my bone marrow transplant), I could adjust my supplements and was encouraged to continue my diet.

I followed that discipline for many years and was able to stabilize my blood glucose and as I kept my blood glucose low and stable, my cancer stabilized and my kidney function improved dramatically.

But I after many years I quit pricking my finger – and my blood glucose rose a bit without my careful monitoring.

After my oncologist retired in early 2023, his replacement scheduled my blood tests for every 6 months. I felt nervous about the lack of feedback and went in to get a blood test at a local clinic after 3 months.  It showed my hemoglobin A1c (blood glucose reading) was 5.4.  This indicated my blood glucose for previous 3 months averaged 108 –  higher than I thought it was. I want a blood glucose low and steady between 70-90.  Dr Bernstein said that the ideal blood glucose is 84 which would correspond to an A1c below 5.

You can look online for chart of A1c & corresponding blood glucose.  The A1c is my way to monitor my blood glucose in between the oncologist blood tests that measure my actual cancer markers (kappa/lambda ratio).

       A1c                                                             glucose for 3 months

• 5                                                                  97
• 5.1                                                               100
• 5.2                                                              103
• 5.3                                                              105
• 5.4                                                              108

Continuous Glucose Monitor

In 2023, I acquired a Continuous Glucose Monitor that has made this process of keeping blood glucose low and steady more efficient and effective (this wearable device automatically estimates your blood sugar levels throughout the day and night, providing data in real time; for more detail, see below).

My continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is a great help to monitoring my blood glucose. It requires a prescription (my prescription was from my General Practitioner), and my insurance does not cover it.  It would cost $470 every month, but Good Rx (which is free at my Walmart Pharmacy) brings my price down to $180 per month.  If you cannot afford that, the glucose monitors which require pricking your finger work!  I did that for about 11 years.  Your insurance might pay for a CGM – my insurance doesn’t cover my CGM, but it is so helpful to me that I am willing to spend $180 per month.

I got my first Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) in May 2023 — a Dexcom 6 — and took an online course, “Ketone Continuum” on bozmd.com. But that model required me to look at the monitor many times a day – several times after I ate something, and I have been much happier with the Dexcom 7.

My continuous glucose monitor (CGM) — Dexcom 7 — connects to my iPhone, with a 24-hour chart on the app. (a real “game changer” for me)

Every evening, I take about 10 minutes to look on iPhone Dex 7 chart . You can set it for 3, 6, 12 or 24 hours.  I set it for 24 hours and put my finger on the black line of the graph. It then tells the exact blood glucose reading at a particular time.  I record my hourly blood glucose readings in a small daily planner, highlight any glucose reading over 100, and make a note of what I ate that caused my blood glucose to spike at that time.

I cut back on or cut out anything that pushes my blood glucose over 100. This even helped me realize that some of my supplements had Maltodextrin – so I threw those away.  Remember my oncologist in March 2014 told me to keep my blood glucose low and steady?  I can do that more accurately with the continuous glucose monitor and as I keep my blood glucose low and steady, my kidneys and other organs continue to heal –  my e GFR was up to 52 in August 2024 (kidneys working at 52%!!!) 

I turn my phone off at night, and when I turn it back on in the morning, the Dexcom 7 has memory of hourly blood glucose readings during the night. This is nearly instant feedback on what to eat.

Here is general summary of my current diet: (more detail in  tab “Diet – the foundation” & “#2 Quick start”)

• I make good, very low carb dinners for my husband and me, sometimes adding carbs for him. I make steak, chicken, salmon, hamburger etc & vegetables for dinner (I have many recipes on this website) If I make chicken enchiladas, I save a couple of portions for myself of the filling alone, prepare his with tortillas, and serve both with grated cheese on top and a green vegetable or salad on the side. We have leftovers for lunch the next day.
• I skip breakfast about four days per week and just drink coffee with 1 tsp MCT oil,  organic heavy cream and a bit of liquid stevia or monk fruit. I have some raw pecans, walnuts, cheese or other low-carb snack at about 11:00 a.m. (Healthy snacks for me include celery with cream cheese, artichoke hearts, avocadoes, etc.)
• I eat eggs and bacon or sausage with my husband on weekends, at the same time making English Muffins and hash browns for him (you do not want to force your family to follow the keto diet).
• I eat only carbs from vegetables, nuts, & cheese with 2 oz. of protein (meat or fish) per meal along with fats like olive oil, butter, cream, sour cream, etc. But I must stress that this is a plan I have devised to meet my personal health profile. Each person should find what works for them. For instance, most men and young people should eat more protein and carbs than I do.
• To keep my blood sugar low and steady, I get roughly 70% of my calories from fats (avocados, nuts, cream cheese, etc.). On a plane with my daughter and granddaughter I could not find much that I could eat – so I ate a couple of pats of butter – they were amused :-).
• Even the world-renowned M.D. Anderson Cancer Clinic in Houston now recommends a ketogenic diet, so I think it is worth trying it out and adjusting your diet accordingly .

I now have blood tests with my oncologist every 6 months which tests for my cancer markers (described below). And I now also get a blood test at local clinic between visits to my oncologist.  That cannot test for my cancer markers, but I see my A1c, insulin, Vitamin D, kidney function etc.  This is essential feedback to see how I am managing my blood glucose. Cancer is complicated, and I also take quite a few supplements that I adjust if my bloodwork indicates.

Among the wonderful surprises of following a ketogenic diet:

• According to my oncologist, I have lived significantly longer than any of his Multiple Myeloma patients!
• My transplant coordinator said I could expect to live only 2-5 years after my bone marrow transplant in 2012, and I have lived over 13 years!
• I have also maintained better health than is normal for Myeloma patients — despite taking no chemotherapy medication for nearly the entire 11 years since I started the ketogenic diet!
• My cholesterol is good enough for me! Dividing triglycerides by HDL, the ratio should be under 2, and my latest ratio was 81/78 = 1.03. A ketogenic diet dramatically lowers insulin, which could otherwise cause problems with cholesterol. I also use olive oil and coconut oil, which are far healthier than vegetable oils.
• My kidneys have radically improved! In fact, they have healed from about 20% functional to about 52 % functional! None of my doctors expected this! Medical journals say it is not possible for kidneys to heal to such a degree.
• My liver, vitamin D, and thyroid numbers have all improved, which is likely a result of having low steady blood glucose, more vegetables, enough fat to support my hormones, and good supplements.
• I weigh roughly what I weighed in high school.

 

Cancer Markers

While cancer markers are different for different people and different cancers, my personal markers are measured as a kappa/lambda ratio, comparing two types of proteins produced by plasma cells in the blood. The normal range is between 0.26 and 1.65.

My  cancer markers bounce around and when my cancer markers get worse, it prompts me to cling to the Lord more closely and remember that while I ask Him for healing and good years, my goal is not  just to live a long life, but to live close to Him whether on earth or heaven.  And, I want His Will for my life – He knows how long I will live, I don’t.  

Cancer has changed me –  I am closer to the Lord and try to keep my focus on the eternal.  I have peace knowing that we are all travelers passing through this world.  As Christians, our ultimate hope lies in heaven and we can have peace if we focus our gaze on the Lord and His promises and not our circumstances.

My current Bible study is “For the Love of God – A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word – by DA Carson. It guides you through the Bible in 2 years.

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