Month: August 2017

They went for chemo and they died

  1. Bile duct cancer

Dear Dr. Teo,

My dad (aged 75) has been diagnosed with bile duct cancer – advanced stage. He has Hepatitis B, so the liver is functioning at only 20% of normal capacity. The oncologist has suggested chemo as the only option and it is scheduled on the 14th of June. My family and I are trying to explore other options, or at the very least, want him to be nourished and protect the body from the ill-effects of chemo.

Would you be able to help? I am based in London, but I am heading back to Kuching early next week. Looking forward to hearing from you. Best regards.

( No news after this!)

Dear Dr. Teo,

I hope this finds you well. I got in touch with you earlier about my dad. Sadly he lost the battle with cancer. He went down the chemo route and we lost him pretty soon after.

A friend of mine who is based in America (HK Chinese born in the UK) is wondering if you are able to help her friend who has just been diagnosed with stomach cancer stage 1b. This will be reconfirmed soon after a laparoscopy surgery which is scheduled to take place soon. My friend is now in HK to sort out a few personal thing and is wondering she could visit you in Penang in the next week or so to get some help for her friend (based in the US). She has all the relevant information with her including medical records. Please could you assist? Blessings.

  1. Sarcoma

Hi, think you should know this. My cousin sister’s husband just passed away two days ago. His condition deteriorated after chemo, How I wish he didn’t undergo any chemo…..Thanks

More details …..

Aug 23, 2017 Dear Dr Chris,

Good day! My cousin sister’s husband who is only 32 years old is suffering from sarcoma, final stage. He was diagnosed with it in late March (due to coughing non-stop) and is now in final stage. They just got married last year and my cousin sister just gave born to a baby boy (one month old).

He has undergone treatment (previously surgery done in China) and chemotherapy (for 1 time) only in GMC. His condition deteriorate after the chemo while my cousin was in confinement. He couldn’t walk now due to edema.

I came across your blog and I am impressed with your ideology, probably we can alleviate the condition by using herbs. I myself believe herbs can create miracles. There must be something which can help to suppress the development of sarcoma or even reduce the extension of it.

It’s sad to see a good family in bad shape. Hope to receive your feedback. Thanks.

Dear Dr Chris,

I myself believe in herbs. I would like to ask can he take both, meaning undergoes chemo and take herbs at the same time?

Reply: Go and do all the chemos first …. no need to take my herbs

Which means you only help those who don’t do or has stopped chemo?

Reply: Better… anything wrong they all blame me not the chemo.

Hmmm…… Understood

Comment

Many people write to ask me if they should undergo chemotherapy or not. No, I cannot and would not answer such question.

Read what chemo is all about and you make your decision. In this way, if there is something wrong, you or others around you, cannot blame me.

Read this ….

 

 

Cancer of the pancreas-liver-lung: Surgery and chemo failed. She came to CA Care

Mei (not real name) is 53-year-old lady who flew to Penang with her husband from Australia. They were desperately in need of help. According to her doctors, Mei would not live long — it is a month to month case and Mei would probably not survive to celebrate Christmas 2017 (5 more months!).

Mei’s problem started in March 2016, when she had problem swallowing food or even water. Both her hands and legs itch. Her GP did a blood test and found her liver function enzymes were elevated. This could be due to obstructive jaundice. She was then referred to a specialist.

CT and MRI showed tumour in the head of the pancreas. In early April 2016, Mei underwent a Whipples resection in which part of the pancreas, intestine, bile duct, gallbladder, omentum and 8 lymph nodes were removed.

After the surgery, Mei received 6 cycles of chemotherapy. 

Chris: Did you ask if the chemo was going to cure you? There  is no clear cut answer to this question. According to Mei, she was given the impression that everything would be okay after completing the chemo.

Did you suffer from the chemo? Yes. Listen to our conversation. It was 5 months of hell.

 

 

Unfortunately too, after the fifth chemo, Mei was told that the cancer had spread to her liver. There were “innumerable foci throughout all segments of the liver.” Mei was also told that there was a spot in her lung.

Mei had to undergo more chemo. Mei received 4 more cycles of chemo. On two occasions she had to be hospitalized due to breathing difficulties. She decided to give up chemotherapy.

The oncologist and Mei’s husband came to a compromise — Mei would go on a “drug holiday” for 2 months and then resume chemo again. When the 2 months were up, Mei told the oncologist she would not want to continue with her chemotherapy any more. The oncologist said he hoped Mei could make it to December.

Comments

Many people have written about chemotherapy and its devastating effects on patients. Reflect on these quotations.

 

For more go to Part 2.

 

Skin Cancer That Spread to Her Lungs: Severe headache and numbness of face and jaw gone!

Su (not real name) is a 42-year-old Indonesian lady. Some years ago, she was told she had endometriosis and was given hormone medication. Then in 2013, she came to a private hospital in Penang and had her uterus removed. She was told nothing else was wrong and she did not need any medication.

A year later, 2014, she developed a lump, the size of a mole, on her head. Once a while this lump became painful. She did not consult any doctor and ignored the problem.

In September 2015, Su came to Penang again to seek the help of a doctor in a private hospital. This was because the swelling over her scalp had grown bigger, burst and was bleeding. It was something like 6 to 8 cm in size. This was after she was using some herbs for the lump.

A biopsy was done and confirmed as squamous cell carcinoma.

Su went to another doctor in another hospital to remove the lump. After the “successful” surgery, nothing else was done. Su came back once a while for follow up. Everything was okay!

The operation scar after a big lump was removed from the back of her head.

A year later, Su had a whole body check up. A CT scan showed 3 tiny spots in her lungs. The doctor was not sure what these were. She was told to come back after 3 months for another scan.

After 3 months, Su was told to go for a PET scan. She refused.

Su went to consult another specialist in another hospital. A CT of chest was done and showed multiple well defined nodules in both lungs. The largest of these is 16 mm in size. Conclusion: Lung metastasis.

Su was told to consult an oncologist. She refused. She went home and searched the internet. She found Keladi Tikus (not from CA Care) and started to take this together with other herbs.

Three months later, she came back to the doctor who did the surgery for her. A CT scan showed multiple bilateral lung metastases. The metastatic lung lesions are progressively increased in size and number.

 

Su was told to go and see an oncologist. She came to seek our help instead.

I prescribed her: Capsule A, C, D and M sides Lung 1 and Lung 2. We don’t have any specific herbal tea for skin cancer.

After 3 months on the herbs, Su said she got better — of course, far from being cured. We are glad that she look well, feel well and has no pain. Her severe headache which occurred for the past 3 to 4 months started to subside after a week on the herbs and eventually disappeared totally. Su said besides the headache which lasted from 2 or 3 p.m. until dinner time, she also had pain and numbness of her face and jaw. These too were gone after taking the herbs.

Listen to her conversation.

Comment

Melanoma or skin cancer is very rare. But fortunately, we have helped two melanoma cases with great success before. See here: https://cancercaremalaysia.com/category/melanoma/.

When Su came to see us, we were hopeful that we could help her as well. On the onset Su seems to be responding to our therapy very positively. She is leading a normal, pain-free life. That is a great blessing enough. My only advice I have for Su is to continue doing what she is doing. Unfortunately, my experience showed me that when a patient gets well, she/he will forget what we told them!