Doubts

When patients go from bad to worse, you become more paranoid and doubtful about your abilities as a healer. Mind you, as a healer not as a doctor. A doctor prescribes medicine and hopes that it will work and if not then lets try another.

A healer in my definition is someone who alleviates and cures illnesses, via drugs, herbs, or simply by counselling. I find it more hard to heal than to medicate.

My patient is definitely going down unless we do something drastic. Drastic meaning it may be a bit tricky and has risks involved. But at this point, where I feel that I have done everything within my abilities and powers, I have to be more aggressive and really pro-active in this patient's condition. The patient has already sought so many doctors, posing-to-be doctors, GOD-complexed physician as well as good-hearted healers (only they seem to be fewer in numbers than the aforementioned).

I am now praying that it will work or else, someone will become orphaned and widowed soon.

Cancer Stem Cells

Been reading a lot of medical journals lately and there have been not one or two, but several authors agreeing that there are cancer stem cells. These cells are pratically immortal and have no effects when treated with chemotherapeutic agents. In fact, as one of the authors suggested, they undergo further mutations when they come in contant with chemo drugs. 

I guess then that chemotherapeutic agents are only good against the cancer cells but useless on cancer stem cells. We must be able to come up with substances that are able to revert these stem cells back to normal.

Demolished in 1 day

Its sometimes so hard and disconcerting to discover and realize that one's work and patients' achievement can be suddenly wiped out in a matter of minutes.

This is exactly just what happened to my patient with breast cancer. After nursing her back to health, physically, mentally and emotionally; her sister-in-law who is also an MD comes into the "rescue" and advised her to do chemotherapy, and then changed her mind and told her to just enjoy the last few months of her short life.

I was angry, to see such a tactless person, telling someone that they have a few months left. And to think that these are doctors, they should encourage not discourage them.

I have to go back and build the walls back up again.

Technorati Tags: cancer, breast cancer, metastasis, cancer stories

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Breast Cancer

I took pictures of this patients before and after 3 weeks of treatment. I was taken aback at the speed at which the tumor has shrunk. Upon measuring this mass, it was at the beginning around 13cm, and at the time I took the second set of pictures, it was already around 6cm.

We did some iscador injections as well as Wobenzymes, EFAs (Budwig Diet) etc.

At present, even though there was really a big difference in the size, the family is now very adamant at chemotherapy, I won't interfere. I give them advice, I don't decide for my patients. Their paths must be carved by their own decisions rather than by others.

We, as an individual must be able to decide what is best for ourselves, provided we have all the information at hand. I want the patients to have the full satisfation and free from regret of what they are doing or have done. So that they won't be constantly looking back at their decisions if it was the right one or not.

Emotional Freedom Technique

A patient with panic attacks when she is stuck in traffic or too many people in 1 room, came to me for help. We did the EFTs and on the first try nothing happened, but she did recall herself when she was 6, where she had fear of going inside a movie theater because it was dark.

So we dealt with that issue. And when I asked her to rate her discomfort of anxiety when she was recalling that same event again, she just smiled and said "What I saw was a happy little girl in a dress and pony tail."

Wow, I was so much happy and felt that it had made my day. So even if I have financial difficulty, nothing still beats the knowledge and satisfaction that I have at least helped one soul seeking freedom and independence from their past painful experiences

Tighten my belt

got to admit it, my belt is now tightening a bit. My practice isn't really giving me back the financial rewards that I would wish to have. But its better than what my colleagues earn nowadays.

Whats so hard to balance is the amount of supplies I need to maintain to keep a decent clinic. I'm trying to buy as much as I can without sacrificing the quality that I need.

Supplements are a plenty but quality has a price, and I wouldn't want to sacrifice the quality of the supplements I have. I'm not really the type to buy all the supplements I need, only the ones that are not easily available on the market. And that alone is so hard to balance.

Arrggghhhhh

Metastatic Breast Cancer

After much discussions, my patient has decided to have the CT scan that I have requested. At first she was reluctant, wary of the dye for contrast CT scan.

I knew when she first consulted that her cancer has metastasized. She was still trying to deal with the pain of the tumor as well as the pressures from her family to do chemotherapy (which she was very adamant not to undergo).

After seeing regression in the tumor size, she has to come to the point of asking herself, if there are other concerns that need to be dealt with.

Tumor Regression

I had just m et my patient with liver cancer who had also lung metastasis. Good news always follows bad news, that's seems to be the pattern in my experiences.

Previously in my blog, I mentioned him to undergo a procedure to divert his bile due to the enlarging liv er tumor. Because of the procedure, he started having difficulty eating, he lost about 20 lbs in less than 2 weeks, which was very alarming. So we had to do something quickly to increase his food intake. He then, decided that its time to end his vegetarianism and started eating meat again. Good thing though, even if he was losing weight, his tumor did not grow larger as I had anticipated.

And then, he was introduced to a pranic healer, and I would say it has helped him a lot. You can see for yourself the change in size of the tumor.

WOW!!! Ain't GOD so wonderful that at the very time we thought that things will go for the worst, it was the other way around!!!

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Radio talk show

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to talk about cancer prevention and nutrition on radio as invited by my boss at the UP college of medicine.

Wow, that's a first!

In Panic

I just had a talk with my patient who has breast cancer stage III but refuses to do any neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to surgery. Because of this dilemma, NO SURGEON would want to operate on such a large tumor due to bleeding and other post-op complications.



I had already informed her that at her current situation, surgery is still be the best option. However, since she doesn't want to have anything to do with chemotherapy, I had given her another option which was intra-tumoral injection of iscador. Tumor has visibly shrunk, no more pain and less heaviness on the tumor area.



But unfortunately, she had met a "healer," and without even asking for his medical opinion, he lightly touched her pulse (like TCM doctors do) and tells her that her tumor has metastasized to her spleen and liver.



After this meeting, she was very much shaken like everyone else at her situation. She started having dizziness, pain on the breast and all the things that one might associate with tumor metastasis.



I am incessantly shocked and angry, at this healer, who has no background on any medical or alternative therapies other than what he claims to have read off the books and internet. He has caused great damage not only to her physically bt most of all, the mental anguish of giving her the opinion of stage IV breast cancer, even without asking his opinion.



I just hope I can clear her mind soon.

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Humbling Experience

I just came from a lecture by a Chinese Prof. who has a cancer hospital in China (Fuda Cancer hospital). What is strange, was it didn't use therapies from China, but rather technologies from the USA. They have cryoablation, photodynamic therapies, dendritic cell vaccines, immunotherapy as well as chemoablation.

They claimed to have a very good success rate in increasing survival. Patients from all over have come to this hospital in Guangzhuo.

From the website, you will see some video clips of news programs about their successes especially on the patient with a large neurofibroma.

All I can say is, Prof. Xue is a brave man who will not back down on any case as long as he thinks its doable. I'm sure a lot of his colleagues would have disagreed with some of his decision to operate.

Dichloroacetate: a cheap but effective cancer drug?

This drug, Dichloroacetate (DCA) has been in the news for the past few weeks now, ever since its paper was published in the Cancer Cell journals. It showed that it can actually kill off the cancer cells by programmed cell death or apoptosis, without even harming the normal cells. A caveat though, its only been tested on mice with tumors.

However, DCA has been used for a long time now, treating patients with lactic acidosis. What is great and promising, is that this drug is cheap, and only the use of DCA AS A CHEMO DRUG has been patented by the primary investigator. The subtance itself is not.

In fact, in the Official website of the University of Alberta, they have already gotten funds for further research on humans, I presume. And of the countries that was mentioned to have given funds is my own country, the Philippines.

Wow!!! I wonder who those person/s are? I'm sure they are not doctors. :)

Cancer Survivors rides' of their lives

Often people and patients alike ask me the question of how the diagnosis of cancer will affect their lives. This question for me is one of the most important, since it will significantly affect likewise, how they will deal with it.

To make the answer as brief and as close to reality as possible, I make an analogy to it as a roller coaster ride. It is, literally a roller coaster ride! When we are sick and recovering, we climb up the rails slowly, and the steeper the angle, or sicker you are, the slower the recovery will be, and yet when you reach the plateau, you feel so good again, but its not too long. Then you get sick again, the fall is sometimes so quick, you didn't know what happened.

When patients hear this, sometimes they get so disconcerted, but like all roller coaster rides, it has to end. It is how we look at it, how we react and how we laugh or cry as we follow the troughs of life.

To some people, its a frightening adventure, and yet to some, they take it with courage and acceptance.

So who do you think will take the ride and get on with life?

Technorati Tags: cancer, roller coaster, cancer survivors, cancer stories

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Epoetin and cancer risk

Just got a mail that warned of FDA imposing a warning on the use of Epoetin alpha on patients with cancer. Epoetin and the other drugs of the same class are given to people with low RBCs, including patients with chronic renal disease as well as those undergoing chemotherapy.

These drugs increase the amount of RBCs which are important to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. However, with this warning, it will cause some apprehensions now on the part of patients and doctors alike. Chemotherapy and cancer itself, can lower your blood cells.

I' m sure a lot of doctors now will think twice before giving any of these drugs. I hope that the doctors and patients will now try to look at how to improve your anemia with nutrition which, IMHO, is the best way to go about it.

I use a lot of the "Wonderful but cheap" Malunggay! (Moringa oleifera) Its very much available here in the Philippines. I ask my patients to juice them, in fact when their RBCs go down, I immediately know that they are not taking them!

Our present national hero, Manny Pacquiao, eats it before a fight! That's how much the trust of Manny to the strength giving characteristics of malunggay.

Stem Cells

I just came across a product that is claimed to have stimulating effect on a body's own stem cells. This is not like other products that uses embryos, placental tissues or from other animals. Its from Spirulina.

This would definitely be good for vegetarians and those who are against embryo harvesting.

The question remains, is that if it really does what it claims to do. There is only one study on the effect on this product among healthy volunteers. I would love to see if it can do the same for sick persons. And secondly, if it really can help improve the condition of a sick person.

I'm a bit skeptic until proven otherwise. But I would love it if this thing works. Its definitely cheaper and a better alternative

Anti-angiogenesis

I've been doing research lately on the effect of anti-angiogenesis on cancer growth. I'm sure there are a lot of studies on it, specfically for the VEGF inhibitors for lung and colorectal cancers. But that's not the only thing that is out there.

There are a lot of herbs that also seem to arrest tumor growth by killing off the arteries that feed it. One of them is the shark cartilage. The pioneer in this field is Dr. Folkman who even wrote a chapter in the the Harrison's textbook of Medicine.

I feel sorry for the sharks but the cartilage of sharks do have anti-angiogenic factors. We just need to come up with a good way of extracting it and using it for real patients not just on cells and animals. I guess you can't patent something like that until you make a synthethic version of it.

Spilling the Beans

Yesterday, I just had a chat with a patient of mine who had stage 4 liver cancer. Like all the other conversations I had, it was just about what they were doing and what do they plan to do in the near future. I always ask this question, especially to  very ill patients, in order for them to focus on something other than their illness.

But suddenly, the conversation shifted to his problem of sleep. He stated that he wouldn't be able to sleep and that he would somehow get memories of his past. Like a movie playing at an accelerated rate, it recounted his past life ever since he could remember.

I was a bit happy for him, for this is part of the healing. The healing of the past hurts in his life, which was I would definitely say, very traumatic for anyone. Being left an orphan from a well-to-do family, he was "sold" to his second family. It was very painful for him more since he could distinctively remember he had a sister, who he has never seen again.

And yet... I was sad. For patients to be having "life reviews," it will definitely mean either they  get well or move on to the next life.
I've seen it already a few times, and this one is no exception. I just hope he will be liberated from these pains soon. Its the emotional pain that will not go away or be dulled by any pain killer.

Bravery: Women vs Men

I recently had a Breast Cancer patient with an already oozing lesion on the nipple area. She was advised to have chemotherapy prior to surgery. She refused to do the chemo, feeling that it will hasten her poor health.

Instead, she opted to have all those Vit C, B17 injections. Lost and unable to express what she really wanted to do. Unfortunately, all the MDs who told her to do this and that did not inform her that her tumor will not shrink that fast with those procedures. When she came to me for help, I explained to her, the REAL condition, and still adamant against the chemotherapy.

I see great courage when I see this kind of persons. They will hold on to their belief even if their family and friends have advised otherwise. She is the 3rd patient to refuse chemotherapy altogether without even trying one session.

I salute them for their courage, though only God will know if their beliefs will be their folly. My first patient also breast cancer, refused all conventional treatments. Her tumor was bigger than a watermelon but disappeared completely, only to metastasize to her lungs 2 years later. It was a sad moment for me. She held on that belief until the very end.

My second patient, also breast cancer, held that firm belief. Only this time, the tumor actually shrunk from 4cm to almost 0.5 cm at this time. I am quite certain that the tumour will disappear completely with her treatments, and she will not develop any metastasis anytime soon though.

This just exemplifies the courage of these extraordinary women. I have yet to encounter that same courage in men. In fact, men are less inclined to hold on a belief or principle when they are sick, and seem to be more passive with their choosing of treatment options.

Experience is the Best

When I was just a "new, out-of-the box, ready to take the world" doctor, I felt that I know whatever there is to learn about medicine and taking care of people. I expected and felt that I can be as good, and maybe "even better" than other doctors (how stupid and arrogant).

Everything there is to learn is in the books, journals, websites and all the places that doctors read to be abreast with the current medical practices.

Until, finally with only more than 7 years of practive and a few hundreds of patients, I realized what I have not learned in the books, lecture halls, workshops, and dissections.
The human face of medicine and treating patients. It's not about science, it about art. Merging the science with the art of "healing patients."

That's what you don't learn and what they don't teach you in school.

Before I use to wonder, how come this doctor has so many patients when you look at their academic and clinical skills, it is at par with everyone else, and yet another doctor who has had several papers he authored appeared in prestigious journals, have flies as his regular patients?

Last few days, I somehow felt that now I know what it was that separated the good doctors from the "popular doctors". The art of talking, reassuring and making sure patients are satisfied with all their concerns while at the same time, using the science of medicine in alleviating the problems patients have,and expecting the troubles ahead of time.

Lighter Side of Life

I was explaining to my patients the downside of drinking Coke, specifically how much acidic it is and how much sugar it contains. To further prove my point and make it clear that it is not healthy to drinking this stuff, I told him about how a can of Coke can literally digest the teeth and nails when these are soaked. Moreover, that a can of Coke can unclog pipes.

His reply was: "Wow, that Coke thing is real scary, good thing I drink Pepsi!"