Krocks In The Kitchen

[LeonorG]

also the obsession yesterday in talking about Elsie's diet etc. I found bizarre....it is one thing to raise a child on healthy food and I thought the discussion was extreme.

They are already planning the unborn child's diet? Hopefully it's just a discussion and they won't be too restrictive with their child's diet.

 

[Turaj]

The strongest scientifically supportable relationships between “food” and cancer are for processed meats and alcohol. The sugar thing is a common myth that arose out of the fact that faster growing cells, including cancer cells, absorb glucose faster. Do an internet search for “sugar cancer myth.”

My brother is on one of the GLP1 receptor agonists and has lost a lot of weight. I think he uses Ozempic. There are several of them now that have US FDA approval and I think one is available in pill form now (originally they all had to be injected.)

These meds work great but the process of your body adjusting to them is ROUGH. Brother had a bunch of bouts of violent vomiting at first. One of these drugs has recently been found to reduce sleep apnea. With the proven weight loss, improvement in Type 2 diabetes and the fact that they reduce risk of heart attacks, US medical insurance companies cannot get away with refusing to cover these new drugs.

My guess is that Brian Krock will either go on one of the GLP1 agonists or will get one of the surgeries like gastric sleeve. Even with the unpleasant side effects as the body gets used to them, I think the GLP1 agonists are probably less stressful for the body than the various gastric surgeries.

agree Brian is going to need something more than diet as I think it is clear that has not worked.....I am waiting to see if this is really cancer or something else going on. If it is cancer not sure there will be much demand for the Krocks' food channel. With two people this young getting cancer ...well a really big coincidence.

 

[Saydee]

Thanks for that. That's the difficult thing about feeling a connection to a YT life story, you wait anxiously for news. It is a reminder not to feel invested when you realise that what you've been waiting to hear is news that is actually long past, it just hasn't been shared yet. I should have learned that from TT. I appreciate that the Krocks don't need a lot of editing at least. No clickbait cliffhangers either.






Such great information you share @Saydee , you are sadly such an expert on this topic now. I have actually shared that smart patients website with someone, thank you for putting it out there some time ago. I had no idea I might ever need it, but it came to pass that an acquaintance of mine was diagnosed with cancer. I felt helpless and could only offer that portal that you had shared here and I had saved for no particular reason. It came in handy sooner than I had imagined. Thank you for giving so freely of your knowledge; I have quoted your posts so I can find them easily in my own history here.

You must be so helpful to those only just receiving a diagnosis, you could save someone so much time and confusion. If I were diagnosed with cancer, I would want contact with someone like you ASAP to help me navigate my way through. You are a wealth of knowledge.

If there are no tumour markers, so someone has to go for ongoing scans (of their entire body??) to maintain vigilence for metastases elsewhere? "NED" must bring cold comfort to patients, it unfortunately must bring a false sense of security to many.

He is 10 days post-surgery, is it unusual that he is still in a lot of pain? Of course, I don't know when this video was actually filmed...

Thank you for so much information. I hope you and your family are doing well. I really hope the Krocks peek in here and find your invaluable posts or others in need may stumble upon them.



Oh my!

Without giving too much away, I do volunteer work involving RCC. Yes no tumour markers for RCC. It used to be CT scans for 5 years but recently younger patients have been moved to 10 years. CT scans are standard Chest, Abdomen & Pelvis with contrast dye if their remaining kidney can tolerate contrast dye. Kidney function is checked before contrast is given. (Another reason for looking after the remaining kidney!) RCC does spread to the brain but unless a patient is showing concerning symptoms (slurred speech, headaches, limp) they don’t routinely scan the head. Usually it would spread to the lungs and neck lymph nodes before spreading to the brain.
Scan frequency is usually 3 monthly for a year, then 6 monthly for 2 years, then annually. If a patient presents with any symptoms or concerns, scans can be given sooner. At the 10 year point patients are discharged. Although I would insist on a private scan annually! Recently I met a man that had his kidney removed 17 years ago. He moved to South Africa to work and felt breathless on inclines. CT scan showed recurrence after 17 years but it’s widespread. His oncologist says it’s bee growing for a few years. RCC is often very slow growing averaging 1cm per year, but it’s quite resistant to treatments and becomes more aggressive the more that it spreads.
Pain after nephrectomy is very common. Most patients prefer to sleeper in a recliner for a few weeks because sleeping flat is very difficult. Also hugging a cushion or pillow when coughing. It is wise to get walking asap after surgery to reduce the risk of DVT, but to walk slowly. No heavy lifting for 6 weeks. Pain can be caused by constipation too due to the bowel being handled during surgery. A sensation many RCC patients experience is feeling a shaky movement internally. It is actually the bowel having more room to move! It can occupy the space where the kidney used to be.
Adrenal glands sit at the very top of our kidneys. Some surgeons remove the kidney with the adrenal gland and others preserve the adrenal gland and leave it behind. For those patients that lose the adrenal gland, they can feel fatigue due to the reduction in cortisol.
I imagine life for Brian feeling very strange. A carer/advocate and now he is the patient?

 

[riley123]

Brian posted an answer in their latest video.

@KrocksInTheKitchen
4 days ago
We are here. Just taking things easy while I recover. We'll be back soon.

 

[mayday mayday]

I actually don’t think anyone could have a strong dislike of either of them. Yes, both have some odd behaviours, but don’t we all.
I too hope neither find this thread.
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Any hope on the horizon for RCC patients? Disease becomes resistant very very quickly.

@Saydee, I rarely log into Facebook anymore but today I did to check in on the Icelandic volcano group that I belong to. Then a post came up from a breast cancer support group I joined in 2005 when I was DX. I thought this is great let's see how everyone is getting on. Oh dear it was not what I expected ... the moderator of the group has metastatic RCC which has gone to her pancreas. She mentioned drugs I've never heard of. I'll have to go back and see what she said. I was just too saddened to read much more beyond a few sentences. That breast support group was a lifeline for me after my diagnosis.

Honestly we don't see many metastatic RCC patients at work BUT just saw path report yesterday for one ... the biopsy of a mass on patient's FOOT was positive for clear cell RCC. I'll have to see what the treatment plan says once the workup is complete.

 

[TickTickTick]

These two seem even more bonkers than Tiffany. They've been gifted a baby. It won't know it's actual mother. It (sorry, she) will be brought up in a borrowed basement on rice "milk" by a couple where the Mom is only just NED with cancer, has bad mental health, and the Dad is unemployed?
WTF.
And are the dogs ok?

 

[LeonorG]

I think they are back on youtube because they will now really need extra funds. They have 100k subscribers and enough people watch them (+ the GFM and gifts) and they would be silly to not continue to be in the algorithm. I guess they could live off that + Jessica's job? They could be comfortable. I do not begrudge them doing this. Good for them. Their videos are usually good, they make an effort and they had lots of subscribers before cancer.

 

[PuzzlesAndWine]

I watched part of the live, Jessica was making me sea sick, she was rocking back and forth constantly, i don't remember her ever doing that before. Anyway, I hope they thought this through and didn't rush it. (it's their life, so just my opinion here). Like Turaj said, she mentioned the fear of the scans in 2 weeks. I mean what if they are bad?? I'm all for having hope and wishing for the best but you also have to think of the what if's, especially if you are bringing in a baby and don't have a home of your own or jobs? She has already said she had severe depression just recently. Just a lot of concerning details. I truly hope for and wish nothing but the best for them, she does seem fragile.

 

[riley123]

The latest video is Jessica asking Brian why he orders non-plant based or vegan meals when they go out to eat? It's so hard for her when he does that because Elsie might want to try Daddy's food and she wants Elsie to be plant based so Elsie has to sit near her in the restaurant. Brian says he wants to try different foods occasionally. At one point, in a roundabout way, she said they both need to order vegan to solve the problem although she doesn't want to tell him what to eat. And they admitted that overeating, even on a plant based diet, has led to being overweight.....Kyle Appleford???

 

[Daisychain4]

Maybe embryo donation? Would Tess volunteer again? Why isn't one child enough for those two?

That’s exactly what I’m thinking … Tess provides the egg and big boy provides the swimmer! Effectively Jess would be raising her second cousin … and their kids would be second cousins not blood siblings. That would be downright messy but that’s how this lot work and think ~ messy!
One would think they would be happy to call themselves ultra lucky and blessed to have the child they have. They are not out of the woods yet for their individual cancer diagnoses and they are both grossly overweight and unhealthy ~ yet their selfish and egotistical selves still continue to play the ‘it’s all about me’ game. Obviously their mirror isn’t wide enough and their combined IQ not high enough to apply common sense and logic to the double edged sword on which they are perched.
Sad for Elsie to obviously not be the centre of their universe. More more more and me me me appears to be the foundation from which these two operate. They are certainly a mixed up couple.

 

[Turaj]

Good we've have enough bad news from YouTubers lately.

agree nice to see a success story. It is tough to watch Jenny.

 

[LeonorG]

I think she seems more mature than Brian. In reading thru some of these posts with the details of her cancer and suspected spread etc. she has been thru a very rough year. She will be under surveillance of the rest of her life. I sure hope it does not come back.

And she also had to deal with the new hormonal situation brought on by the surgery. No wonder she fell apart. I appreciate the honesty she brought into her videos. And you can tell she is genuine.

 

[Idrisrex]

I don't know about causing cancer but being vegan obviously doesn't prevent it. I absolutely respect if people are vegan from a moral perspective but I'm not sure it's the healthy option? Humans are meant to be omnivores. We have the teeth and the digestive system for it and a lot of the nutrients we need can only come from meat. As other people have pointed out a lot of vegans just eat plant based junk food! IMHO.

Interesting, although a little older take on vegans and cancer,

When Vegans Get Cancer

The only thing that can make me forgive Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees for going over to the dark side (disco) in the late 1970s is the fact that he was a vegan—an “ardent vegan” no less, according to Wikipedia. Gibb, who was only 62, died last week of colon cancer. It’s unfair when anyone

www.theveganrd.com

 

[LeonorG]

I haven't watched it yet. I think this is that friend that they used to mention who had cancer at the same time as Jessica.

 

[girlwhowrites]

They actually follow a very strict plant based diet. No oils, sugar, heavily processed foods. They did so well for a long time but both of them and especially Jessica use food as a coping mechanism and go off plan and gain a lot of weight. They try their best but often it just doesn't work out.

Yeah they usually try to be strict, but when they start gaining weight it's usually because they've given in to guilty pleasure foods. In that video I mentioned where Jessica had a binging session, it was because she bought a box of chocolate peanut butter treats and ate the whole thing while Brian wasn't home. Brian's also mentioned buying snacks he usually wouldn't whenever he's struggling to keep the weight off.

 

[Turaj]

Very much. Thanks to that sleeping colon he was given that CT.

Wait a minute, so his stomach issues which started last July weren't because of the kidney cancer? They were caused by the inflammatory polyp?

The CT scan showed no other masses so hopefully no spread.

Stage 1 kidney cancer
The cancer is 7cm or smaller and is inside the kidney. It has not spread to the lymph nodes or other organs.

Stage 2 kidney cancer
The cancer is bigger than 7cm and is inside the kidney. It has not spread to the lymph nodes or other organs.

Stage 3 kidney cancer
The cancer is growing into the fat around the kidney, or into one of the major veins close to the kidney (the renal vein or the vena cava). It is not growing through the capsule that surrounds the kidney. It may or may not have spread to the lymph nodes.

Stage 4 kidney cancer
The cancer has grown through the capsule that surrounds the kidney and into nearby areas. Or the cancer has spread to other parts of the body further away from the kidney.

he mentioned 6cm so I think he is stage 1. I do think that in order to have things function well with the one kidney he will be forced to lose weight. I think he may take one of the drugs. I think with his body weight it would be too much stress on one kidney. Lots of changes for Brian.I don't think the stomach issues or any of those symptoms were due to the RCC. I hear this kind of story often...go in for one thing and find another. CT scans are a great diagnostic tool.

 

[Saydee]

So far I haven’t seen anyone who seems to have a strong dislike for the Krocks. I think we’re just interested in having people to talk to about what’s going on with them since there doesn’t seem to be any other place to do so.

Hopefully nobody makes them aware of this thread. They don’t strike me as the type of people who Google themselves or have Google alerts set up for their name, so if nobody brings their attention to it they might not ever know it exists.

I actually don’t think anyone could have a strong dislike of either of them. Yes, both have some odd behaviours, but don’t we all.
I too hope neither find this thread.
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Hi all I didnt watch many of the K videos but I was really impressed with how Brian explained what was happening, he read aloud the actual path reports (which can be kinda daunting to folks not familiar with medical terminology) and at least once showed the actual radiology images. While I understand why they went for a second opinion at Mayo, what I don't understand is why they chose to receive the chemo there. I thought at first that Mayo had offered them a novel treatment (maybe some new drug that had recently been approved by the FDA) or heck ... had a clinical trial that Jessica was eligible to enroll in. But no, she received carbo/taxol which is the garden variety standard of care. Any medical oncologist in the St Louis area could have treated her with carbo/taxol, with the gyne onc at Mayo kept informed of her progress towards the planned surgery at Mayo. Why make those long drives to Mayo while accruing all of the extra expenses? At the time I didn't know that Brian had lost his job ... which makes any extra spending more questionable. [At work we recently had a 30- something patient dx with a widespread Stage 4 colon cancer. The patient received chemo with us then had surgery and HIPEC at a hospital on the other side of the country). So it can be done. Maybe I should see if this person has a YT channel, I'm only half joking . Jeez at some point this could happen...I'll see one of our actual patients on the YT.

Any hope on the horizon for RCC patients? Disease becomes resistant very very quickly.

 

[Turaj]

The more I see, the more I'm convinced there's something really off about this couple, especially Jessica. Her latest comments about needing to give embryos a chance at life are off the rails. And her stuffed animal that she treats as if it were a living thing. Sorry, but she is freaky and weird to me.

I agree. There is something very childlike with the two of them. Her thinking about the embryos is dangerous and I think driven by Brian's religious zeal. Again Brian had the cancer surgery what...about 6-7 months ago? Morbidly obese and one kidney having been told by the docs that he HAS to lose the weight? Now moaning on the show about wanting to eat good stuff and order what he wants? Jessica having her scans more often than 3 months as they are watching something...but now that Jessica has spoke more honestly in the comments than on the show you can see what is motivating this and for me it is irrational.

 

[Turaj]

I was like... hmmmm, I've had several colonoscopies but they never mentioned my kidneys.

I have/had colon cancer and read a lot about colons in my past but never heard anything about mega long colons like Brian's. He's an interesting dude.

They did find benign cysts on my kidneys during my frequent CT scans.

I was sort of thinking all along that it would be benign...but when Mayo says 85% chance it is not I have to think it may well be cancer.

 

[mcl92]

It is concerning that as of May 2 she says she has major depression.

I also have been challenged with anxiety and depression for over 40 years. The transition from peri menopause to menopause was the darkest period of my life. I had to go on hormone replacement therapy despite the risks. I am now the healthiest I have ever been. I can only imagine what Jen is going through and I don’t know if HRT is an option. People have commented she is fragile. I think she is very strong.