Category: skin cancer

Adek is my cousin sister. Sometime in March 2020 she had a small blister with a white spot on her left eyebrow. When pressed pus mixed with blood oozed out of the blister. It caused a sharp pain once in a while. The lesion did not go away. Two months later, Adek went to consult a doctor at the university hospital.

On 20 May 2020, Adek underwent an out-patient surgery that lasted about two hours to remove the lump. Histopathology report confirmed it was a squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer.

After surgery, the doctor prescribed some medications and suggested that Adek undergo radiotherapy. She refused the treatment but took the medicine.

Initially after the surgery, Adek’s forehead  started to swell and it took about 10 months before the swelling subsided. The scar started to heal but once in a while she felt itchy. Apart from that her recovery was smooth.

During this recovery period, Adek suffered the following:

1. Cough. This came on and off and this was followed by a copious discharge of white-greenish phlem. The dischage of phlegm came after taking food.

2. A few days in a week she had difficulty breathing.

3.She felt breathless after walking some distance.

Adek went back to her doctor regualarly for check-up.

To monitor her progress a high-dose contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) was performed on 14 July 2021. The results were as follow:

1. Brain: There is irregular enhancing subcutaneous soft tissue thickening at the left frontal region.

2. Abdomen / Pelvis: Small non-enhancing hypodense lesion at upper pole of right kidney, upper and interpole of left kidney likely represent cysts.

3. Bone. No suspicious lytic or sclerotic lesion.

4. Neck/Thorax:  Multiple lung nodules seen bilaterally as below:

• Small subpleural nodule at apical segment of right upper lobe (Image: 41,43).
• Small subpleural nodule (Image 64, 71) and lung nodule at anterior segment of right upper lobe (Image 46, 68, 69, 84).
• Lung nodule at medial segment of right middle lobe measuring 0.4 cm x 0.3 cm (Image 142).
• Small subpleural nodule at superior segment of right lower lobe (Image 152, 171).
• The largest nodule at right horizontal fissure measuring 0.5 cm x 0.3 cm (Image 113).
• Small subpleural nodule (Image 60, 85) and lung nodule at anterior segment of left upper lobe (Image 72).
• The largest nodule at inferior segment measuring 0.5 cm x 0.3 cm (Image 155).

• Bronchiectatic changes with adjacent plate atelectasis at the medial segment of right middle lobe and superior segment of right lower lobe.
• Plate atelectatic changes in the inferior lingular segment.
• No pleural effusion bilaterally.

Note:

Bronchiectatic changes: Bronchiectasis is a long-term condition where the airways of the lungs become widened, leading to a build-up of excess mucus that can make the lungs more vulnerable to infection. The most common symptoms of bronchiectasis include:

• a persistent cough that
• usually brings up phlegm (sputum)
• shortness of breath.

Atelectatic changes. Atelectasis is a complete or partial collapse of the entire lung or area (lobe) of the lung. It occurs when the tiny air sacs (alveoli) within the lung become deflated or possibly filled with alveolar fluid. It results in the failure of the lung to expand (inflate) completely. It is sometimes referred to as collapsed lung.Large areas of atelectasis may be life threatening.The collapsed lung usually reinflates slowly if the airway blockage has been removed. But scarring or damage may remain.

The doctors suggested that Adek undergo chemotherapy, which she promptly rejected. And it was at this point that Adek called me to ask for help.

I subsequently prescribed her the following herbs:

• A, C & D, M.
• Herbal teas – Lung 1 + PLM and Lung 2 + SAP.

In addition to the herbs, Adek was told to take care of her diet. No sugar, no dairy  products, no fried food, no meat (or anything that walks!).

She followed my advice and declined any further medical treatment. Her doctor was not angry when Adek declined to undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy. She told the doctor that she is taking our herbs..

(You look healthy and prettier! Thank you for your permission to use your photos without having to close your face!)

 Did the herbs help her? YES, very much and Adek is happy.

1. She felt she was much healthier than before she had cancer.

2. Due to the change of diet she has lost much weight – from 76 kg down to 60 kg. I told her she looked much prettier now!

3. Since taking the herbs, she did not have any problem – no more cough, no more phlegm and no more breathing difficulty.

4. She could live a normal life without pain, with good appetite, good sleep and able to travel visiting family members.

During her routine check-up with her doctor Adek was prescribed the following medications.

• Wincardia – medication for prevention of heart attack which she did not take.
• Pills for cholesterol which she also did not take.
• Mecovit – vitamin B12, meant for vitamin B12 deficiency in people with anemia and nerve pain in hands.
• Hovasc – medication to treat high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases.

Comments

1. Skin cancer is rare in Malaysia. Skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma are rare in this part of the world although they are the most common type of cancers in advanced, Western world.

In fact squamous cell carcinoma that Adek had is the first case that I ever encountered. In my 27 years of helping cancer patients, I have only encountered 3 patients with melanoma. Although my experience is limited, I learned from my experience that herbal therapy is effective and helpful for patients with skin cancer.

From the medical literature we know that squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) are not as dangerous as melanoma. When surgically removed the cure rate for SCC and BCC is about 95%.

However, relapse of SCC is rather common, with the cumulative relapse rate of about 29% within 1-year of treatment.

It is also reported that about 2% of  SCC will eventually spread to other parts of the body, such as the lung (21%), bone (18%), central nervous system (6%) and liver (4%). Distant metastasis is of course associated with a poor prognosis.

2. Live to fight with your cancer? Adek is now 76 years old. She underwent a 2-hour surgery which helped her. The procedure did not carry much risk. To me, she did the right thing by agreeing to the surgical removal of the cancerous lump on her eyebrow.

Unfortunately a year later, CT scan showed the cancer had spread to her lungs. This commonly happen to most patients. The only option that doctors can offer her  is radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. In more crude words – this is to declare war on her cancer. Fight the cancer cells to the end with toxic drugs and radiation. Adek refused these modalities  which I believe many people would think is a foolish decision – not to fight and kill the cancer cells.

I posed these questions to Adek.

• Are you willing to undergo radiotherapy which is directed at your eyebrow? My guess is that you could or might be rendered blind because of the radiation. Are prepared to accept that outcome? Her answer was NO.

I have seen patients who underwent surgery for their brain cancer. This was followed by radiotherapy. They ended up totally blind after the treatment.

• Adek had seen what chemo did to cancer patients. No, she was not willing to accept the side effects. At her age of 76, what would chemotherapy do to her quality of life?  It is hard to guess but it is surely not going to be like a nice walk in the park. Take a pause and reflect on the following quotations:

3. Learn to live with your cancer! You like war? In this part of the world, we Asians don’t like war.  Look at what happened to Vietnam, Iraq and now Ukraine. The ordinary folks suffered miserably and you see destruction everywhere! The only people who are happy are the manufactures of weapons!

Since the past 27 years, at CA Care, we teach our patients to learn how to live with their cancer. Let us not fight but let us take a holistic approach to heal our cancer.  This is what we did in the case of Adek.

1. Let us face reality that all of us will have to die one day. So death is not something we should fear. But what is most important is when we are still alive, let us live a happy life free of sufferings. Don’t suffer because of the treatments and then die! That is meaningless.

2. Know your inner feelings. If you wish to follow the “alternative path” of healing, you must believe in what you are going to do and be fully committed to that path. There is no half measure here.

3. Take care of your diet. Eat healthy and rightly.

4. Lead a stress-free life. Change your mental attitude and your old lifestyle.

5. Seek the help of Spirituality. Pray.

6. Take herbal teas to help the body restore the harmony within and heal itself.

It has been more than a year now and Adek is doing fine. Every day she is able to move around or travel without problem. There is no pain. She is not breathless. She eats and sleeps well. She does not suffer any side effects from taking the herbs every day. So to Adek, life is good. 

What else do you want?

Let me end by sharing one case of melanoma (which is more serious) which I encountered many years ago.

Guat was a 53 year-old-lady. In October 2007, she was diagnosed with skin cancer that had spread to her lungs. The doctor told Guat this was a serious disease and in my15 years of experience, this is the only case that I have seen.  Guat had fiery feeling in her chest almost every day. She had headache and was unable to sleep. She felt breathless when walking.

The doctor suggested that she start treatment with radiation immediately. Without radiotherapy the cancer might spread to her brain. Guat refused radiotherapy and came to seek our help on 2 November 2007. She was started on our therapy.

Note: According to medical literature, the 5-year survival for this type of cancer is 2% to 3%. With lung metastasis, medial survival is 11 months.

After One Year On Our Therapy

Chris: It has been more than a year since you first came.

Guat:  It is about one year now. There was always this fear. Do I need to go and have a scan?

C: No, there is no need to. What is the point? If the tumour were smaller, you would still need to continue taking the herbs. If it were bigger, what do you want to do? Still continue taking the herbs. The important thing is this. How do you feel now compared to one year ago when you came to see me?

G: Better.

Five Years Later: 9 August 2013

Guat: More than 5 years now. I am doing fine. My friends were asking why I don’t die yet!

Ten Years Later: December 2017                                                                                        (https://cancercaremalaysia.com/2017/12/18/one-glorious-morning-our-stage-4th-melanoma-lung-cancer-is-still-doing-fine/)

A gentleman walked into our centre one morning in December 2017. I could not recognise him. He reminded me that he is Guat’s husband. He told me Guat is doing fine. The last time I met Guat was 4 years ago –  in August 2013. After that Guat was out of our radar, not until this morning when her husband suddenly appeared!

Chris: How many years already?

Husband: Since, 2007. Already 10 years.

C: Aiyo, you are very lucky – very lucky, ha, ha.