Acknowledgment:Permission to use this video without having to hide her identity is granted by the patient.
This is a bitter-sweet story of Le, a 37-year-old female from Indonesia. She came to us on 14 October 2011 after having been diagnosed with breast cancer that had probably spread to her lungs. She had undergone 106 radiation treatments besides taking a variety of supplements. She presented with aches and pains throughout her body, especially the joints. Bodily movements were difficult. She could not sleep well and she had coughs.
After four days here, how do you feel now? Le: Healthier. I feel better.
When you came here last Friday (four days ago), compared to to-day, do you feel you are better? Le: Yes. I can walk faster now. I have more energy. It is like I was before I had cancer. When I came here I was still tired and lethargic. But yesterday I could walk from the apartment to the market. My husband took the wrong turn and we missed the market. We had to walk up and down everywhere. But I was alright. I had no problem walking. And I also walked fast. Before I had to drag my feet when walking and my back was hunched.
What about your sleep? Le: Before I came here, I had to wake up five times a night to urinate. I coughed. So my sleep was not good and disturbed. I often had dreams of my loved ones who had died. They came to invite me to “go home”. After I took the herbs and did the e-Therapy I could sleep well. I had no more dreams.
In terms of bodily movements, are you more agile now? I realized the first day you were here, you had difficulty moving your hands, etc. Le: I am back to being a normal person now. I can do the following (demonstrate all the actions):
Raise my arms up high and straight up.
Put my hands behind my heads to tie my hair. Before when I had long hair my daughter had to tie my hair for me.
I can hold the broom and sweep the floor. I can swing my arms.
I can make my bed and fold the blanket.
I can bend down and touch the floor with my hands.
I can bend my wrists.
I can undress and wear the bra by myself.
I can fold my legs and cut my toe nails.
I can climb in bed right away without any having to slide in slowly.
I can fold my arms and use my little finger to clean my ear.
I can clap my hands – no pain.
I can use my hand to smack the mosquito – no pain. Before it was painful even to touch the skin.
I can snap my fingers and make this clicking sound.
I can grasp something and bend my fingers.
When I breathe deeply, there is no more tightness in my chest.
This morning I walked faster than my husband.
Now you seem to have regained your movements and quality of life. Are you happy? Le: Yes. This is what I have been hoping for. When I was unable to walk I told my pastor that I wanted to die. I have lost all hope. This is because
Movements were so difficult.
I can’t even scratch my buttock when I felt itchy. My husband had to help me scratch.
I could not button my trousers – my husband had to do this for me.
See now, I can twist my body to the right or left without any pain, I can stand on one leg and I can eat rice with my hand.
Now do you still want to die? Le: No, no more.
I really don’t know why I did what I did that Friday night (four days ago). Usually I would only ask you to take the herbs first for a few weeks or months before going into the e-Therapy. However, that night I sensed that you were having much difficulties and so we decided to put you on the e-Therapy right away. I did not know why I did that. Perhaps it was God who was helping you!
Okay, four days on the Therapy. Did you feel good? Le: Absolutely good.
Are you confident now? Le: Absolutely confident. When I came here, I knew that this is God’s answer to my prayers.
When you go home, take the herbs as instructed. Then you must take care of your diet as we have taught you. Exercise. Don’t think too much – relax and take it easy. Don’t stress yourself too much. What is important is to try to live a normal life. Le: My facial appearance looks good now. More “glow”.
Okay, I am real happy. Please take care when you are at home. Remember what we have told you. Do not do anything that is not right. And above all, remember that healing takes time. Have patience.
Acknowledgment:Permission to use this video without having to hide her identity is granted by the patient.
This is a bitter-sweet story of Le, a 37-year-old female from Indonesia. She came to us on 14 October 2011 after having been diagnosed with breast cancer that had probably spread to her lungs. She had undergone 106 radiation treatments besides taking a variety of supplements. She presented with aches and pains throughout her body, especially the joints. She could not bend her fingers. She could not sleep well and she had coughs.
My Dreams
Before I came here, I used to have dreams everyday when I slept. My sleep was not good and disturbed.
What did you dream about? Le: My relatives and loved ones who have died visited me. They told me they have already built a house for me there and invited me to come “home” with them.
Are you sure? Le: Yes. So according to religious belief, I would have to put flowers at the road junction to make peace with the spirits so that they don’t come back again. I did that.
You dreamt of your loved ones asking you to come “home” with them? Le: Yes. But I told them I didn’t want to go. We even sat down together to have a feast – eating together but I told them I did not want to stay there. In one dream, my husband and I visited the “Garden of Eden.” He was carrying a big luggage containing all my clothes.
Oh, it seems your time is not up yet! And after you came here, you took the herbs and did the e-Therapy for four days. Did you still dream? Le: I could sleep very well and soundly. I did not dream anymore.
My Near Death Experience
One night in March 2010, as I opened the dressing of my breast wound, blood suddenly “shot” out from the wound – one hole was on top of my breast and another below my breast. The blood spurt out rather far off. I had to use eight towels to soak up the blood. I tried to use ice to “cool” it down and stop the bleeding. It did not work. Then my son suggested that I only use the bandage and nothing else. I pressed on the wound and the bleeding stopped. My ears made a “hissing” sound and my vision became blurred and withdrawn. I started to float away – far, far away.
Like you went through a tunnel? Le: Yes, yes. Then I found myself on a white vehicle but there was driver. I was alone on the vehicle. It drove pass the clouds and I floated around, among these clouds. It was all white. I did not feel any pain or anything. It was just absolute emptiness – total blank with no feelings.
When or how did you come back? People around me were singing hymns. Then my daughter tugged my arm and said, “Mama, please do not leave me.” I then woke up. When I regained consciousness, I felt dizzy. My vision was blurred and I saw multiple images.
Acknowledgment:Permission to use this video without having to hide her identity is granted by the patient.
This is a bitter-sweet story of Le, a 37-year-old female from Indonesia. She came to us on 14 October 2011 after having been diagnosed with breast cancer that had probably spread to her lungs. She had undergone 106 radiation treatments besides taking a variety of supplements. She presented with aches and pains throughout her body, especially the joints. She could not bend her fingers. She could not sleep well and she had coughs.
You did radiotherapy – how many times of radiation did they give you? Le: One hundred and six.
Are you sure? Is that correct? Le: Sure, correct. I received 25 treatments on my left breast (a), then another 25 times below my collarbone (b). Another lump appeared on my right breast and I again had 25 treatments for my right breast (c). Then they radiated my ovaries – that was done for six times. The cancer spread again to my left breast and I again had 25 treatments (d). Actually I have just completed the 106th treatment a few days ago. Then I came here.
You got one treatment a day, so this means you have been going to the hospitals for at least 106 times then? Le: Yes.
Do you want some more radiation? Le: Oh no. I don’t want anymore. That is why I came here. Every time I went for radiation, I prayed, “O god please help me to stop this radiation treatment”.
While undergoing radiation, you were told to take Tamoxifen? Le: Yes, before they radiated my right breast. Husband: About three months ago, around August 2011.
So in August 2011, you started taking Tamoxifen and at the same time had radiation? Le: Yes and ten days after taking Tamoxifen my left wrist swelled. It was a soft swelling – not hard. Then my right wrist also swelled. This was bigger than the one on my left wrist. I had pain when I bent my wrists.
Did you ask the doctor why this swelling? Le: The doctor said the cancer had spread to my wrists. Husband: No, the doctor said the cancer had spread to all her bones.
And you still continued to take the Tamoxifen? Le: Yes. Then within a month, I lost my strength. Husband: The swellings in her wrists were “hot”. Le: Every joint in my body felt “hot”. After a month of taking Tamoxifen I was not able to walk.
You couldn’t walk? Le: Yes, I could not walk (demonstrate her physical disability).
Before you took the Tamoxifen, were you able to walk? Le: Okay, no problem. I could exercise and do the “Thian Kung”. Husband: After taking Tamoxifen, she could not walk.
Then what did you do? Le: I took supplements and drank coconut water. The situation improved.
Did you become normal again physically? Le: No, not until I came here (CA Care Penang). After I took your herbs and did the e-Therapy, I can now stand up straight. Before this I could not do this.
Acknowledgment:Permission to use this video without having to hide her identity is granted by the patient.
This is a bitter-sweet story of Le, a 37-year-old female from Indonesia. She came to us on 14 October 2011 after having been diagnosed with breast cancer that had probably spread to her lungs. She presented with aches and pains throughout her body, especially the joints. She could not bend her fingers. She could not sleep well and she had coughs.
1. My 42-year-old friend with breast cancer died after chemotherapy
Le: My friend also had breast cancer like me. She died after two years. She went to Singapore to find the best medicine for her breast cancer. It started with just a tiny tumour. She had it removed and then underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She was okay. Then the cancer spread to her bones. They installed a chemo-port in her and she continued to receive more chemo. She took the best “bird nests” to help her cope with the side effects of chemo. After this chemo, there were spots all over her skin.
Are you sure? Was she you friend? Le: Yes. Even with such effects she continued to receive more chemos. In total she had 38 cycles of chemotherapy. After that she looked okay, okay but her nails were all dark. Then the cancer went to her backbone and spread to her brain. Then she continued with radiotherapy and more chemo in Surabaya. She died.
How old was she? Le: Forty-two.
I fully understand, I understand.
2. Four of my friends already died after medical treatments
Le: Four of my friends already died of cancer. Two of them had breast cancer, one had colon cancer and the other one had cancer of the uterus.
They were all your friends? Le: Yes, they died. They were all below their 50s. And they all had operation and chemotherapy.
They all died, and because of this you decided not to go for an operation and chemo? When did this happen – while you had your cancer? Le: When I had my breast cancer and they also had their cancers.
Oh, at the same time. They took a different road and you took a different path? Le: Yes, exactly.
I understand. I fully understand you. That is the reason why I did not want to push anybody who come here to go for chemo or radiation. The stories you have told me are being repeated over and over.
3. Uncle died after spending 6 Billion Rupiahs
Le: My uncle had lung cancer. He went to Singapore for treatment. In all, he spent 6 miliar (billion) rupiahs. He also died. After so many chemos, even the veins in his arm seemed to disappear. He did not take care of his diet. He ate anything he liked. At the same time, I also had my cancer. He told me to eat what I liked but I refused to listen to his advice.
And your uncle died? Le: Yes, died after three years.
And at the same time, you also had your cancer. And is it because of this that you did not want to go for medical treatment? Le: No, no. There is a feeling inside me wanting to reject chemo. These people did not die because of their cancers. They died because of their chemos. Their haemoglobin, platelets and white blood cells were all down and gone!
I understand you, I truly understand. But what I want to say is we should not totally reject medical treatments. At times we need the doctors to help us. We can use certain things that doctors do to help us. And we can reject those that are harmful to us. This is what I would tell patients.
4. See what happened to me now when I believed the doctor!
Le: I would agree to go to the doctors to check where my tumour is. But if they prescribe medication, I would not take it. See this is what happened to me – this is the evidence! This is the first time I believed the doctor and this is what I get (figures unable to bend and later unable to walk after taking Tamoxifen for a month).
Acknowledgment:Permission to use this video without having to hide her identity is granted by the patient.
This is a bitter-sweet story of Le, a 37-year-old female from Indonesia. She came to us on 14 October 2011 after having been diagnosed with breast cancer that had probably spread to her lungs. She presented with aches and pains throughout her body, especially the joints. She could not bend her fingers. She could not sleep well and she had coughs.
You found a tumour in your breast in February 2009. Did you ever felt the lump before that? Le: I went to the Cancer Organisation for a Pap smear in 2003. At the same time they also examined my breasts and told me to come back for check up a year later.
What did they say about your breasts? Le: There was a small lump in my breast but the doctor said it was not cancerous – only something suspicious. I was asked to come back to a reexamination after a year.
You did not go back to see them again? In 2004? In 2005 and 2006? Le: No, I did not go back to see them. I received a letter from the Cancer Organisation in 2007, reminding me to come for a check up. I also did not go back to see them.
What did you do in 2008? And what about 2009? Le: In 2008, I did nothing. In 2009, I felt a lump in my left breast while I was lying down in bed. I used to examine my breasts while bathing. I did not feel any lump.
Was there any retraction of the nipple? Any discharge? Any pain? Le: No, nothing.
What did you do after you found this lump? Le: I went to consult an oncologist. After an ultrasound he told me there was a 80 percent chance that the lump was a cancer. The possibility of it being a benign tumour was 20 percent. I was asked to do a biopsy. I refused to do anything at all.
You were told that the lump was cancerous and you declined medical treatment – then what did you do?
Husband: She started to take vitamins and supplements. Le: I took supplements and stopped eating meat but I still ate organic chicken.
Oh, chicken is not meat? Right? Le: (no reply, quiet and embarrassed).
After you took supplements, did the tumour not grow bigger and bigger? Husband: Yes, it grew as big as my fist.
When you discovered the lump, what was the size? Le: Size of my thumb.
Okay, after taking the supplements, and supplements and supplements … did the tumour grow bigger and bigger? Le: Yes. It grew to the size of a duck’s egg.
Oh, you took supplements and the tumour grew bigger – were you not afraid? Le: I was afraid. Husband: Afraid to die.
Le: In November 2009, I came to Kuala Lumpur for a check up. The oncologist told me he was 100 percent sure that the tumour was a cancer. He asked me to do a biopsy and then go for an operation. I refused and returned to Surabaya.
Why did you ever come to Kuala Lumpur in the first place if you didn’t want to follow the doctor’s advice? Le: I just went for a check up.
What is there to check up? In Surabaya you were told the lump was probably – 80 percent cancerous. And in Kuala Lumpur you were told it was probably 100 percent cancer. What is the whole idea of coming to KL? Waste of money? Le: In Februay 2011, I went to see an alternative practitioner. Husband: She also took other types of capsules besides the supplements.
What did the alternative practitioner do? Le: He tapped the area around my breast. He also gave me some herbs to drink. I did not know what these herbs were. After one month on his treatment, the tumour grew bigger and it eventually burst.
When he saw the tumour growing bigger, what did he say to you? Le: He asked me to go for radiation. But I refused.
Did he warn you that the tumour might just burst? Le: Yes, he did tell me that without radiation the tumour could burst. But I refused to go for radiation.
What happened after the tumour burst? Le: The alternative practitioner wrote me a referral letter to go to the hospital for radiotherapy.
And you still did not want to go for radiation? Le: This time I agreed for go for radiation.
Cost of Alternative Therapy
How much did you have to pay for all these alternative therapies? Le: A lot of money.
How much is a lot? Le: I took a lot of supplements. Husband: For taking this supplement alone it cost 700,000 rupiahs per bottle per day. Le: That is RM 250 per bottle per day.
How many bottles have you consumed? Le: Hundreds. Husband: She was taking this for about six months. Le: No, I took it for about a year. For one month this supplement cost me twenty-one million rupiahs.
You spent twenty-one million per month for this supplement and you took this for a year? Le: Yes.
Acknowledgment: Permission to use this video without having to hide her identity is granted by the patient.
It all began with a small lump in my left breast. I ignored it. Some years later, I went to see an oncologist. He asked me to undergo a biopsy and later operate. I declined. I opted for alternative therapy. I took all kinds of supplements (See Part 2: Alternative Therapies – My Twenty-One- Million-Rupiah Per Month Treatment).
The lump grew bigger and eventually burst. It was then that I went to see a radiologist and underwent radiotherapy. I had my first radiation treatment in November 2009. I received 25 treatments for my left breast. The tumour shrunk and eventually disappeared.
Three months later, another lump grew just below my neck. It grew bigger and bigger. I again received another 25 radiation treatments for this. The lump also disappeared after the treatment.
Four months later, two more tumours appeared, one on each of my breasts. I again received 25 radiation treatments for each of my left and right breasts.
I also received 6 radiation treatments for my ovaries.
While on radiotherapy, another lump appeared just below my left collar bone but this eventually disappeared after I completed the radiation treatment for my two breasts. However, now I have another lump in my abdomen.
While undergoing the later stage of radiotherapy, I took Tamoxifen. After two weeks on Tamoxifen my fingers became stiff and it was difficult and painful to bend them. After a month on Tamoxifen I was unable to walk. Also, my neck muscles became stiff. Before the Tamoxifen I was agile and had no mobility problems. I could exercise. I stopped taking Tamoxifen after a month. My doctor told me the cancer had gone to my bones.
Early this month, a good friend in Makassar called me. She advised that I have had too much radiation already and my body would not be able to accept it anymore. I should look for other alternative treatment. But all this while, I had been on alternative treatments. I took all kinds of supplements. My friend suggested that I go to Penang and meet a Chris Teo.
The above is a bitter-sweet story of Le, a 37-year-old female from Indonesia. She came to us on 14 October 2011 after having been diagnosed with breast cancer that had probably spread to her lungs. She presented with aches and pains throughout her body, especially the joints. She could not bend her fingers. She could not sleep well and she had coughs.
Le was prescribed Capsule A, Breast L and Breast M teas, Pain tea, Lung 1 and Lung 2 teas besides Cough # 10. She was put on the e-Therapy with Detox #2. That was on Friday evening.
On Sunday night (two days later), Le came back and reported as follows.
I went back to my apartment and slept through the night, from 7 pm to 6 am. I woke up just to eat and drink the herbal teas and then went back to sleep again.
Before this therapy, were you able to sleep? Le: Difficult.
On Saturday (no e-Therapy but only on herbs) did you sleep through the day? Le: Yes. I slept, woke up to eat and then went back to sleep again. I ate corn and fruits.
When you were at home, could you sleep like this? Le: No. At home when I woke up from sleep, I would feel pains. Now, I have no more pain. I could sleep in any position or posture, I had no pain. I was unable to do such a thing when I was at home.
Did you really sleep well – soundly? Le: Yes. I also passed out a lot of “gas” … boot, boot. I would walk to and fro from Kenny’s apartment to the market. I did not have any problem walking. I could not do such thing at home. I would become breathless if I walk like that.
Now, when you walk, did you become breathless? Le: No. Now, I can also hold the broom and sweep the floor. I can now make my bed and fold the blanket. I could not do that before. I could not even lift the blanket let alone fold it. This morning, I even “hit” the pillows.
Now, what other problems do you have? Le: Coughs. Before, I was not able to twist my body around – to the right or left. I would have muscle pull or cramp. Now, no more cramps. After taking the herbs for two days, there are no more body pains.
No more pain anywhere? Le: No more.
So, for the past two days, do you really feel well? Le: Yes. Strong (taking a deep breath).
Do you have any other problem? Le: Only cough now.
Acknowledgment: Permission to use these video clips without having to close the patient’s face is granted by the family.
The gist of our conversation:
1. Breast lump, ten years ago and she did nothing about it.
She discovered a lump in her breast more than ten years ago but did nothing about it. The lump grew bigger. In 2008, she went to Kuching, Malaysia for a full-body check up. At that time she did not experience any serious discomfort. However, the check up revealed a stage 4 breast cancer since it had probably spread to her bones.
Did she suffer any pains before the check up? Yes, she had pains around the shoulder blade. After a massage the pains disappeared.
2. Trips to China to find the cure.
The doctor in Kuching suggested chemotherapy. She refused. The family decided to bring her to China for medical treatment. She received treatments such as chemotherapy, cryoablation and radioactive seeding in the Chinese hospital.
She stayed about one to two weeks in China during each trip there. She returned home feeling “alright” only to go back to China again for more treatment each year.
Did they teach you to take care of her diet? No, she was told to eat anything she likes. They did not teach her anything about the diet.
3. A Minor Fall
In January 2011, she had a minor fall. This cause one of her legs to become swollen. But even before the fall, she always had pains in her legs. She consulted a doctor in Kuching about this problem and was told that nothing was wrong with her leg but she probably had cancer in her colon.
4. Leg Operation
Since February 2011, she was not unable to walk and remained immobilized at home. One of her leg was in pain and the other was swollen. She was unable to place her feet on the ground and stand up because of pains.
She went to Jakarta for further consultation. Subsequently she underwent a surgery intervention for both of her legs.
Two months after the surgery she was able to walk. There were no more pains in the foot when she stepped on the ground. But the pains in the lower parts of her legs persisted.
5. Did no return to China anymore
Did she go back to China again after this? No. We made a total of six trips to China. In 2008, she went to China thrice, in 2009, twice and in 2010 once. No use – at every visit they asked us to do PET scan, chemo, etc. She became tired, vomited, etc.
6.Hospitalization – September 2011
In late September 2011, she had pains in her abdomen and was unable to walk again. She had to be hospitalized. The oncologist suggested a PET scan to find out what was wrong with her. The family declined. By this time she was taking a variety of medications prescribed by the oncologist, bone specialist and neurologist.
3. CA Care Penang – 9 October 2011
She was wheel chair bound. She had to be carried up into the airplane. She was unable to stand up by herself.
She was unable to sleep and had pains in her legs throughout the day and night. After listening to her story that 9 October night, we could only say this to her family, I really don’t know what I can do to help you. But I shall try my best. It was indeed a hopeless and helpless case.
After five days on the e-Therapy and herbs, her conditions improved. The pains in her legs were almost gone. She was able to sleep and above all she was able to stand up by herself with minimal help.
Update: On 26 October 2011, her daughter-in-law called to say that patient (now at home in Jakarta) is able to walk by herself with the help of a walking stick. On the day when she returned home, she was able to slowly walk into the airplane – no need to be carried into the plane like the week before.
PG (M995) is a 50-year-old Indonesian. For the past ten years, she had been living with lumps in her right breast. She went for massage hoping the lumps would go away. They did not. The lumps grew bigger instead. In early 2011, PG had pulling sensation. She took medication from a Chinese sinseh. This did not help. She finally came to a private hospital in Penang.
USG of her right breast done on 5 July 2011 showed:
An irregular, 2.3 x 1.9 cm soft tissue mass at 8 o’clock position. Two small satellite lesions (0.4 cm and 0.9 x 0.3 cm) were noted adjacent to the mass.
An irregular, 1.5 x 1.3 cm mass at 10 o’clock position.
Two axillary nodes, 0.9 x 0.6cm and 1.3 x 0.7 cm.
Impression: Two irregular masses at 8 o’clock and 10 o’clock are suggestive of Ca breast.
PG came to seek our help on 8 July 2011. Watch this video.
Transcription of our conversation:
Chris: Your sister had similar problem – breast cancer?
PG: Yes, same problem.
C: She had lumps in her breast – did she go for operation?
PG: No. the lump burst. There was wound. It was painful. Then she had an operation.
C: That was a bit too late. What happened after the operation? Did any radiation or chemo?
PG: No. She died – today operate, tomorrow died.
C: So if you follow the same path that your sister took – you do not do anything now – your lump will also burst. You will have a lot of pain. That will be too late. Even if you operate after that, you will die like your sister. Do you understand what I am trying to tell you? What I am trying to tell you is – you have to remove the lumps in your breast before they grow bigger and burst. It is best that you remove the whole breast.
PG: You want to have it removed totally?
C: Yes, remove everything. There are many lumps in your breast. 1 + 2 + 1 lumps in the breast and 2 lumps in the arm pit. In total you have 6 lumps. I don’t believe that you can make them disappear by just taking herbs. Later, these lumps will grow bigger and bigger and then burst. If you come when that happens it will be too late. So if I were you, I would operate the whole breast now. You don’t die by removing you breast.
PG: When I operate, it will come back again?
C: Yes, for some people that can happen. That is why doctors ask you to do chemo and radiation. (Knowing that patients are scared of chemo or radiation. Chris added). Let me tell you this. After the operation, if you are afraid of chemo or radiation, you can come back and see me again. I shall teach you how to take care of yourself. You can take herbs, take care of your diet, etc. If you don’t want to do chemo, I am not going to force you to do it.
The reason why I ask you to go for operation is that I am afraid as the lumps start to grow bigger and bigger they will burst. There will be a hole in your breast. It is going to be difficult. Then you have to have it removed anyway. So why wait for this to happen? It would be too late if that happens.
Son: What if she does not the operation and just takes your herbs?
C: Oh, if I can do that, I would not have asked you to go for surgery! Everyone who comes here wants to do that. Better still – why not ask me to just “blow” on you and your lumps disappear? That is the best way! But I cannot make your lumps disappear. I am here not trying to mislead anybody. I am here to help you because I am afraid you will die if you don’t have the lumps removed. Many patients from Indonesia come to me. I ask all of them to go for surgery.
Son: Okay, after surgery, we shall tell the doctor that we don’t want any chemo or radiation.
C: You don’t have to talk much or go into such detail. The first thing to do is get it removed. The one who cuts you is not the same person who is going to give you the chemo or radiation. Take note of whatever suggestions your doctor gave but first thing is to get the breast removed. One or two weeks after surgery, you can come back and see me, if you like. Bring all the medical reports.
PG: I am going home to Indonesia tomorrow.
C: What do you want to do in Indonesia? If I were you, delay your return trip for a day or two. Go and consult these two doctors in the hospitals. Make preliminary preparation for your surgery. Ask them how much it would cost, etc. Then you go home. If the doctor insist that you do the operation immediately, let him know that you need to go home first to prepare your money for the treatment.
As it is now, you fly home tomorrow. Then you come back again? Ask around and then go home again? And then fly back again for the operation? Why not spend a day or two now to go to Lam Wah Ee Hospital and Loh Guan Lye Hospital and ask the doctors there about the cost of the operation and what else to do?
Comments: There is a saying, Only fools learn from experience, the wise learn from the experiences of others. Granted, by the way she presented herself, PG is not an “educated” woman. But a wise person need not be educated! Her sister suffered the same problem like her – and did PG ever learn anything from that tragedy? It is yet another tragedy if she does not.
Each of us lived our lives differently. Some see the glass half empty, while others see the glass half full. When faced with a problem, we have that choice to be negative or positive. If we want to do something, we have all the reasons to do so but if we don’t want to do something we can also find all the reason not to do it.
There is one mind-bogging fact that I learn when dealing some patients from Indonesia. Many of them come to Penang in search for a cure for their cancers. They checked into the hospitals and undergo scanning procedures, biopsies, etc. When all are done the doctors suggested a treatment regimen. They back out. They refuse surgery, chemo, radiotherapy or medication. The pack off and go home the next day! I often ask aloud – why spend all the money and time to go through all these preliminary investigations if you don’t want any treatment? PG went to see a doctor who did the preliminary investigation. Then she came to see us. The next morning she wanted to go home without wanting to do anything. What is the whole idea? It baffles me. And such case happens very often.
LP (H588) is a 34-year-old mother of two. During her second pregnancy (sometime in July 2009), she felt a lump in her left breast. She ignored it. She gave birth on 5 September 2009. She breast-fed her baby for a month. Her left breast produced little milk. The doctor thought it was due to infection and prescribed her antibiotics. The lump became more prominent. Her gynaecologist suggested removal of the lump.
LP was referred to a breast surgeon. A excision biopsy was performed on 26 October 2009. The specimen revealed features of an invasive ductal carcinoma. Lymphatic invasion was noted. The tumour was less than 1 mm from the surgical margins. The tumour was negative for oestrogen and progesterone receptors but strongly positive for C-erb-2. DNA Probe Kit detection confirmed HER-2/neu gene amplification. The surgery cost RM 6,000.
In view of the above, a mastectomy was recommended but LP refused. She, however, agreed to a second surgical intervention to remove more margin and the lymph nodes. A report on 12 November 2009 indicated that all the margins were free of cancer. All the left 26 axillary lymph nodes were free of metastasis. At the same time, her right hookwired breast lump specimen showed lactating adenoma. A chemo-port was installed on the right side above the breast. The entire surgical procedure cost RM 20,000.
A CT of her thorax, abdomen and pelvis on 11 November 2009 showed NO metastasis in the chest, abdomen or pelvis. A total body bone scan on 12 November 2009 showed no evidence to suggest any osseous metastasis.
LP subsequently underwent chemotherapy. The first three cycles was with FEC (5-FU, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide). This three-cycle treatment cost RM 12,000. The fourth, fifth and sixth cycles consisted of Taxol plus Herceptin. The total cost of these three cycles was RM 46,000. The last chemo-treatment was in May 2010.
From June 2010 to August 2010, LP received thirty sessions of radiotherapy. She was “well” after that.
Unfortunately, a whole body PET-CT scan done on 29 December 2010, showed a solitary liver metastasis. The lesion was 3.4 x 3.0 x 3.0 cm in size. There were also multiple non-specific uptake of FDG in the vertebrae but no bone destruction was seen in the CT.
LP was asked to undergo surgery for her liver metastasis. She declined. Desperate, LP took Tian Xian Liquid for a month. The she and her husband went to Cambodia to undergo a treatment using Marijuana oil (MO). She stayed in Cambodia for two months.
An ultrasound on 11 March 2011 however showed that the right lobe liver lesion increased in size from 3 cm a few months ago to 7 cm. In addition, the radiologist report indicated: “there is suggestion of a small lesion adjacent to this measuring 9 mm and ? another lesion in the left lobe measuring 8.5 mm.” Impression: liver metastasis increasing in size and number.
An ultrasound done on 15 April 2011 showed multiple liver metastases with progression of disease. The radiologist report said: “The previously seen metastatic lesion in the right lobe was significantly larger measuring 12.3 x 7.5 cm occupying almost half of the right lobe. In the left lobe there are at least 4 – 5 lesions, the largest measuring approximately 1 cm.”
Figure 1: Ultrasound and PET scan showing the liver tumour
LP again took Tian Xian Liquid – this time it was the Super variety with triple dosage costing about RM 12,000 per month. Not satisfied, LP and her husband came to seek our help on 21 April 2011.
After hearing her story, we proceed to read her meridians using the AcuGraph 4. We then prescribed LP Capsule A and B, Liver 1 and Liver 2 teas, Breast M and LL-teas. Due to her low Spleen meridian energy we also asked LP to take A-Sp-7 herbs.
LP came back to see us again on 23 May 2011, i.e. after a month. According to LP, she did not feel any change in herself after taking the herbs. Below is a comparison of her AcuGraph readings (Figure 2 and 3).
Figure 2: First visit, 21 April 2011
Figure 3: Second visit, 23 May 2011
During her first visit on 21 April 2011, her meridians showed disharmonies of the LU, PC, SI, SP, LR, KI and BL meridians. After being on herbs for a month, her meridian reading was very much improved. Only SI, SP, KI and ST meridian showed disharmonies.
Comments
This is indeed a sad and tragic case. Before we ask some hard, searching questions, let’s listen to the conversation we had on 21 April 2011.
Journey to Disaster
Like most patients, LP and her husband totally believed in medical science. Doctors are the “experts” and what they advised, LP and her husband followed without a slightest sense of doubt. After the surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, LP was apparently well for a while. She went back to her old way of life – and eating everything “under the sun.” This was what her doctor told her she could do – “Eat anything and everything you like!” As her husband said: “We would only listen to the doctor’s advice.”
When LP was asked to undergo surgery, she did not ask her doctor if surgery would cure her breast cancer. There is no reason to ask such question. Because she and her husband had total confidence in the doctors – they will do the right thing and cure LP!
Can chemo cure her cancer? LP did not ask her oncologist that very important question either. Her husband said: “We were given the impression by undergoing chemotherapy all her problems would be settled – using the best chemo drugs, etc. In fact the doctor said LP would be better off if she would continue receiving Herceptin for another two years! Take note, LP paid about RM 15,000 for a cycle of Taxol and Herceptin. Perhaps if LP could afford the Herceptin treatment for two more years she would have done it not realizing that Herceptin does not cure anything!
Asking the Hard Questions
I asked LP: “What was your health like before and after treatment? Which one was healthier? The husband replied: “Before receiving all the treatments.” LP said: “With a large tumour in my liver, I am not any better at all.” In simple language, by going to the hospital and spending all the money and receiving all the so-called “scientifically proven” treatments, LP was worse off in health than if she were to do nothing. That was the impression I got from the replies of LP and her husband. Is this not a tragedy?
Let me zero down on the CT scan report dated 11 November 2009. This was the CT scan done before LP underwent chemotherapy. It said: “The liver is enhancing homogeneously with a few small cysts within less than 5 mm in diameter. Impression: No metastasis in the chest, abdomen or pelvis.”
From this report, as far as the oncologist was concerned, the cancer had not spread to her liver or any other parts of the body. A few months after LP had chemotherapy and radiotherapy, a 3-cm tumour was found in her liver. What had gone wrong? What had caused that tumour to appear so soon?
I proposed two possibilities – you decide which possibility makes sense.
The CT scan done in November 2009 somehow was wrong somewhere! The scan did not detect the tumour in LP’s liver. Alternatively, could the person who interpreted the CT scan was incompetent or negligent? Could it be that the “few small cyst within less than 5 mm in diameter” were actually metastases? That is to say, the cancer had already spread and this was misinterpreted? If you disagree with this proposal then what about another possibility?
Could it be that the treatments – FEC, Taxol and Herceptin or radiotherapy – might have caused the cancer to appear in LP’s liver? Meaning, the treatment itself was the cause of her liver cancer. LP paid a hefty sum for her chemo and radiation treatments and she ended up with a liver metastasis.
Some important questions to ask: Oncologists tell patients that after surgery, chemo is necessary to “mop up” all the remaining bad cells left behind floating in the blood stream. As a result LP was given 5-FU, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide, Taxol and Herceptin. If the cancer cells were already in the liver, obviously these expensive drugs did nothing at all! If the cancer cells were not yet in the liver before the chemotherapy, did it not imply that the liver was weakened or damaged to the extent that cancer cells were able to make a new home in her liver? For the radiation treatment, the fact is obvious. The radiologist used the “gun and fire power” but they aimed “blindly” at the breast while the cancer cells might have already been in the liver! Target missed.
When the PET-CT scan in December 2010 showed a 3.4 x 3.0 x 3.0 cm lesion in the liver, the doctor advised surgery to remove it – only surgery, no chemotherapy was indicated. LP refused. I asked her why she refused to follow her doctor’s advice this time. She and her husband had lost faith in her doctor.
Unfortunately, LP and her husband had learned a bitter lesson the hard way – and probably a bit too late.
A Romanian proverb said this: “Only the foolish learn from experience — the wise learn from the experience of others.”
I recall what my dear friend, the late Mr. Chew, said: “I went to the oncologist. I saw so many people doing chemotherapy, and so many people doing radiotherapy. In my mind, this must be the correct way. So I went back to the oncologist and asked him to do chemo for me. Later, when I suffered a recurrence and the tumour grew in size, I then realized that I was on the wrong track.”
I told LP this: “Don’t worry – we will do our best to help you. You are not the only one who got into such a mess. Many others are like you too. So take it easy.” I said these words because I understand that spiritually all of us are here on Earth to learn certain experiences. In this learning process, we do make mistakes. At the end of it all, whether we do it right or wrong, we still die.
Seeking Alternative Therapies
CA Care was started in 1995 – we’ve been around for sixteen years now. Almost all people who came to seek our help were medically written off or were in a similar situation like LP – where medical treatments had failed them. Our experience showed that there are two types of people. One, the desperate but sincere ones who came to seek another avenue out of their predicament – like my good friend Chew mentioned above or for that matter, LP. After talking to her and her husband I felt she was the kind of patient we like to work with. Unfortunately, there is another group of people who come “shopping” for instant “magic bullets’. In spite of the fact that they have spent thousands and thousands of dollars paying their medical bills, they want healing on their own terms. Our statistics showed that 70 percent of those who come to us fall into this category. We find it extremely hard to help this group of people.
What we teach our patients about diet is in direct collision course with what oncologists tell their patients. We have written numerous articles about this matter and you can read some of our articles by clicking this link: http://ejtcm.com/category/dietnutrition/
In his book: Weather warfare – the military’s plan to draft Mother Nature, Jerry Smith wrote: “In order to change, science (and individual scientists) must admit fallibility – something that most people of education are reluctant to do. Who wants to admit they were wrong? How much harder would it be to admit being wrong if advancing your career depended on your being right? Also, position within the scientific community (and grant money) does not go to mavericks. This institutionalized resistance to new theories has resulted in it routinely taking from 50 to 100 years for new discoveries to move from ridiculed “nonsense” to revered facts.”
In spite of the thousands and thousands of research showing that diet plays a vital role in cancer cure, doctors are telling their patients to eat anything they like! Perhaps it will take another 50 to 100 years more for the medical community to fully appreciate this fact and come to terms with it. For now we need to be content with the voices of some brave souls who dare to speak up.
Russell Baylock, neurosurgeon and clinical assistant professor at the Medical University of Mississippi wrote:
During my four years in medical school we did not have a single class on nutrition.
In fact, to provide your patients with nutritional supplements opened up to ridicule from your colleagues.
Oncologists HARM their patients by giving them cancer-promoting nutritional advice.
In his book, Alive and well, Dr. Philip Binzel Jr. wrote:
There is nothing in surgery that will prevent the spread of cancer.
There is nothing in radiation that will prevent the spread of the disease.
There is nothing in chemotherapy that will prevent the disease spreading.
The only thing known to mankind today that will prevent the spread of cancer within the body is for the body’s defense mechanisms to once again function normally. That is what nutritional therapy does – it treats the defense mechanism, not the tumour.
A Sad Update
Hi Chris,
I would like to informed u that my wife has pass away yesterday night. I would like to thank u for all the valuable advices and help.
Dr. Barbara is a woman, mother, medical doctor and breast cancer survivor. Let us quote what she wrote in the Introduction of her book.
After the initial shockwaves of my cancer diagnosis subsided, I began to truly live for the first time in my life. Deep inside I knew it was the beginning of a journey into the unexplored parts of my soul.
My journey began … as I opened to my long-buried emotions … years of unexpressed anger fueled its growth.
I recovered from Stage 3 breast cancer using a combination of conventional medical care and complementary modalities. The conventional care included six months of chemotherapy (cytoxan, 5-FU and novantrone) before my lumpectomy … followed by radiotherapy and an additional three months of chemotherapy followed by surgery, until my body finally rebelled and said NO MORE.
The complementary modalities I used included counseling, support group therapy, nutritional education (sorely lacking from my medical training), an organic whole foods plant-based nondairy diet, supplements, visualization, affirmation, meditation and prayer, selected readings, workshops, exercise and unconditional self-love.
Healing is a process which I actively take part in on a daily basis. I attribute my ability to go through the conventional treatments … to be a result of the complementary approaches that I made use of then and continue to utilize today.
How many of you feel grateful? (For getting cancer? You must be joking??)
It is through our pain and our struggles that our lives ever deepen. Breast cancer was the opportunity to turn my life around … it brought up the issues of my lifetime, the reality of my mortality, the unexpressed grief of my childhood and the emptiness of our techno-crazed world … breast cancer brought into focus … the gap between the pharmaceutical bandaids that I utilized as a practising obstestrician-gynecologist and what my patients and I were really seeking.
I realised now how profoundly confused women are about the crisis of breast cancer. We need to exercise our right to make informed choices with the help but not the DOMINANCE OF HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS. We need to acknowledge the limitations of conventional medicine without giving up the best it has to offer.
The lack of clear cut answers in my own treatment decisions and the dismal cure rate gave me the incentive to make our own choices.
I have searched for the truth … I’ve discovered that much of the helpful data I’ve found is not really new but readily accessible information that has been either DOWNPLAYED or IGNORED by the medical profession.
I know that for learning to take place there has to be readiness. For me the pain of a breast cancer diagnosis opened my eyes and set the stage for my own readiness.
I have come to become aware that there is no greater way to impact the health of the planet than through our daily food choices. We have all been profoundly affected by our early education (ha, eat more meat, drink milk, take eggs, etc, etc.) It is hard to put aside these out-dated beliefs and to find new ones to put in their place. It is difficult to associate the foods that we grew up with … with the growing epidemic of breast cancer. Today’s convenience foods may ultimately not be very convenient. We cannot continue to eat devitalized, contaminated foods and expect to maintain our health and vitality.
The animals that provide the standard American diet live in abnormally close quarters and are pumped up with antibiotics to both treat and prevent infections. We ingest these antibiotics as we ingest these animals. And if that isn’t bad enough, hormones are now injected into cattle (also poultry, pigs, etc) either to increase milk production or to increase the weight of the soon-to-be-slaughtered animals for no other reason than TO ADD TO PROFITS. Research shows that Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) may very well increase the risk of breast cancer.
Pesticides are found in the breast milk of women with breast cancer in higher levels than in women without cancer. Toxic pesticides outlawed in this country (USA) are being sold to third-world nations (so, Malaysia may well be the dumping ground!) … this is not new information. But we do need to hear it.
Medicine has been run too long … by the model that says: WE can find a cure for breast cancer: let’s just look a little deeper into the cells. This MECHANISTIC MODEL IS SERIOUSLY FLAWED. In this model, breast cancer needs only to be eradicated; however for true healing to take place the patient must be transformed … breast cancer is a different disease in every woman. Medicine forgets that breast cancer mirrors our emotional lives… TRUE HEALING MUST ADDRESS THESE ISSUES.
Mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of breast cancer are no less important than the physical. The physical is only one dimension of our complex reality…We each need to find balance in the mind, heart and spirit as well as in our body and to learn what areas need to be looked into …
Breast cancer can be the vehicle that transforms pain into compassion. Allowing me to feel the compassion flow was the healing. As I continue to develop this compassionate self-acceptance, the pain of my childhood and my present life is easier to bear and the anger that hides the pain continues to dissolve.
We all have the power to lead healthier lives – it is simply a matter of choice. We must all do our personal work.
The emotions that prevent us from making the healthier choices must be processed and healed over time.
If we approach the pain in our lives with an open heart, the work of caring ourselves deeply will lead us to … our healing abilities.
Before my diagnosis I was disconnected from my inner wisdom. (Now Dr. Barbara knows that) it was okay to trust my intuitions regarding all phases of … my entire breast cancer experience. I sensed that we often can’t see the full picture, that we see what we need to see and must trust the rest. What a relief, I don’t have to know everything!
Intellectually, we can’t always know the reasons. Scientific PROOF IS A MISNOMER. We are all BRAINWASHED to some extent in this culture about the power of scientific studies, all the while knowing that statistics CAN BE MANIPULATED TO PROVE JUST ABOUT ANYTHING.
Throughout the 1980s the Cancer and Steriod Hormones Study (CASH) based in Atlanta published analyses that found no excess risk of breast cancer regardless of the age of exposure to birth control pills. A few years later reanalyses turned around the reassuring CASH studies, supporting a link between oral contraceptives and breast cancer in younger women. (Now, the same story is repeated. This time it is with HRT … and tamoxifen (the proven cancer-causing drug!!! You buy that??).
I believe that intuition is far more powerful than intellect.
Jia (M534) is a 55-year-old female. She had breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. It was an infiltrating ductal carcinoma with metastases in twenty-one (21/22) out of the twenty-two lymph nodes. Jia was asked to undergo chemotherapy but she opted for herbs instead. Barely a year later, her blood test indicated elevated CEA (6.5) and CA 15.3 (309.0). Liver function values were: AST = 64, ALT = 28, GGT = 54. USG of the abdomen on 15 March 2010 indicated fatty liver changes and multiple hypoechoic lesions scattered in both lobes of the liver ranging from 1 to 9 cm. The largest nodule, in the right lobe measures 9 x 7 x 9 cm.
In addition to herbs, Jia also underwent e-therapy. Her condition improved after the treatment.
NAM (T225) was 49 years old when she discovered a lump in her left breast. A tru-cut biopsy in April 2005 indicated invasive ductal carcinoma, Grade 2. She subsequently underwent a surgery at a government hospital. The HPE confirmed infiltrating ductal carcinoma. One of the axillary lymph node was positive for cancer.
On 25 May 2005, NAM underwent one cycle of chemotherapy using FEC (5-FU, Epirubicin and Cyclophosphamide). She suffered total hair loss. Her heart beat was rapid and this caused breathing difficulty. Her stomach was uncomfortably “gassy.”
NAM came to seek our help on 3 June 2005. She presented with:
Pulling pains on her head.
Stomach uncomfortable due to wind.
At times, breathing was not comfortable.
Nails were dark, black circles under the eyes.
About five weeks on the herbs, NAM came back and said that the pulling pains were gone. She informed us that she had decided not to continue with the chemotherapy. She had only done one cycle and was supposed to do six.
Blood test done on 8 August 2005 showed elevated liver function values. She was prescribed liver herbs in addition to the herbs for her breast cancer. So in all, NAM had to take: Capsule A and B, LL-tea, Breast M and Liver-1 teas.
8 Apr 05
Before chemo
8 Aug 05
5 Oct 05
7 Dec 05
23 Feb 06
ESR
8
35 H
28 H
24 H
31 H
RBC
4.5
4.0
4.5
4.3
4.2
Haemoglobin
13.4
9.9 L
11.3
11.6
11.9
Platelets
265
312
281
252
292
WBC
4.6
3.8 L
4.0
3.9 L
4.2
Alkaline phosphatase
68
93
119 H
125 H
98
AST
25
157 H
45 H
28
31
ALT
33
170 H
44
25
25
GGT
63 H
57 H
87 H
74 H
51 H
Alpha-fetoprotein
3.6
5.6
n/a
n/a
n/a
CEA
0.5
1.2
n/a
n/a
n/a
CA 15.3
14.1
6.0
n/a
6.9
5.1
CA 125
81.3 H
13.9
n/a
n/a
19.0
On 14 January 2011, NAM came back to see us and reported that she has been doing well. She looked good and had put on weight. For some time she lived in Kuala Lumpur, baby-sitting her two grandchildren.
Looking at her records over the past five plus years, there are only two significant events.
On 11 December 2005, NAM suffered from hot flashes – one of the symptoms of menopause. Her menses had stopped since May 2005 after her first cycle of chemotherapy. NAM was prescribed Menopause Pills and her problem resolved.
On 31 March 2006, NAM reported that she had her menses – the first since May 2005.
Comments
NAM has survived more than five years. Patients tell us that their doctors say if they survive five years, they are considered cured. Some patients also tell us that they spent sleepless nights looking forward to crossing this “cure-cut-off-point.” After they cross this point, some become reckless.
How wrong these people can be. Experience tells us that cancer can recur even after five years. Our auntie had lung metastasis (from cancer of cervix) after 13 years. A breast cancer survivor in our church had brain metastasis after nine years. According to Dr. Karrison, patients need to survive for 20 to 25 years before we can say they are cured (J. Nat. Cancer Inst. 91:80-85).
So, what is this idea about five years as being a cure? Know that the number five is just an arbitrary figure. There is no scientific basis for choosing this number. Dr. David Johnson, deputy director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center explained it this way: The five-year benchmark becomes a balm for doctors and patients who find the unpredictability of their situations intolerable. Physicians are reluctant to say you might recur, so they would rather use these terms like: “OK, in five years, you’ll be cured.”
So, in reality, to say that medicine cannot cure cancer is unthinkable. And to ask patients to wait 20 to 25 years before being considered cure is far too long a wait. Surely, these truths, if revealed, would be bad for business!
NAM had her first cycle of chemotherapy. She suffered badly. Her liver functions were derailed. She decided to stop further chemotherapy. And even without chemotherapy she survived. The herbs and healthy diet helped her.
According to normal protocol, in a case like NAM’s, in addition to six cycles of chemotherapy, she would probably have to undergo radiation plus consuming Tamoxifen, knowing that one of her lymph was positive for cancer. Let us pose this question: What could have happened if NAM were to continue with her six cycles of chemotherapy or undergo all those treatments? Would she be around today? Probably yes, or probably not. Or, even if she is around, could she have collected more cancer in other parts of her body, such as bone, liver or lung? Or even brain? Read what we wrote about the many failed medical treatment for breast cancer.
The most important message of this case is not about who wins or who loses; who is right or who is better. Take note that even if NAM has so far survived her breast cancer, we did warn her not to be complacent. She would have to continue doing what she has been doing all these years. Do not deviate from this healing path. Keep going and be happy.
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 24, 2011): The chairman of the Committee to Promote Inter-Religious Understanding and Harmony, Datuk Ilani Isahak, died today after fighting against breast cancer for the past five years. Ilani, 58, breathed her last at about 6 a.m. at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (PPUKM). Source: http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=57980
On 2 March 2011, I received an e-mail from Dr. Amir Farid. I requested Dr. Amir’s permission to reproduce his e-mail (minus his name of course). This was his reply: “Yes you can quote me, with my name. That will provide credibility compared to an anonymous quote.” So here it goes, his e-mail to me. Salam, Thanks for the sharing, and also the many articles which you have written that have been invaluable resource for me. My articles to the Star are censored when it comes to criticizing chemotherapy. Fortunately they cannot censor everything, so some still get thru. I am especially upset because my own sister Dato Hajjah Ilani just died last week after undergoing three years of chemo. She followed everything the oncologist prescribed. Each time, after discussing with me, she would decide “no more chemo”, but after the next visit with the oncologist, she would tell me “the oncologist said it is absolutely necessary that I go for the chemo, so I agreed”. In three years she had many courses of chemo. She also had many doses of Herceptin, which was wrongly given because they later told her that her report was wrong. She had several doses of Avastin, which was withdrawn for use in breast cancer by US FDA in Dec 2010 because the damage outweighed any potential good. You can imagine what devastation all these did to her body. She had chemo till Dec 2010. Only when she was in bad shape in Jan 2011 did she decide no more chemo. By that time the oncologists also decided that she was a hopeless case and good for palliative care only. At her death bed, she told me “learn from my mistake, do not go for chemo”. Do you think Star will ever print if I relate this? No way. Unfortunately, many more will be convinced by their oncologists that chemo is “absolutely necessary”.
Dr Amir
(Note: Dr. Amir Farid Isahak is a senior medical consultant/gynecologist. He is also a Qigong Master and Reiki Master. He was the Founding President of Guolin Qigong Association Malaysia and was also the Vice-President of the Malaysian Reiki Association).
A RESPONSE FROM A READER
Dear Dr Amir, Sorry to hear about your sister Ilani’s passing. Having also lost a sister to breast cancer (helped by chemotherapy, of course) I can imagine how you feel … all I can tell you is that it will not be easy for you from now on, especially from your “privileged” position as a doctor who believes in complementary medicine. And because we are in the “bizness of helping people with cancer” be prepared for being quizzed … How come, you couldn’t help your own sister uh? Welcome to the club. Personally, I learned a lot from my sister’s experience which I use freely to motivate other cancer patients. I guess you will be doing the same with your sister’s “amanat”. They have moved on from their sojourn here on earth and may Allah bless their souls and grant them peace. K
COMMENTS
Thanks Doc. for sharing with us. Dato Hajjah Ilani was not the only person who died after a failed war. There were (and are going to be) many more patients like her. My only response to this episode is to lift up my hands in despair. But of course, I am not going to give up! Dato Illani’s message was: Learn from my mistake, do not go for chemo. And we are going to tell the world just that! But first let me say this loud and clear: It is not for me or CA Care to tell you, cancer patient, what to do – to go or not to go for chemo. It has to be your own decision. Our responsibility is to provide you with credible information. Read them and then make your own decision. It is your life and it is you and only you who will benefit or suffer from the decision that you have made. This is what it looks like if a chemo-drug spills onto your unprotected hand. What happens when a bottleful of this drug is pumped into your body?
This is what it looks like if doctors “messed” you up.
Picture below: Seventy-three-year-old Indonesia underwent a mastectomy. Three months (not years!) later her cancer recurred. She underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The treatments were stopped half way because she was weak and was unable to walk. Is this the so-called scientifically proven method? Better than snake oil? What if you just DO NOTHING?
Some of you may tell me: “But you are biased. You only write about the bad things … what about the good side of chemo? “Perhaps you may be right! After all the patients who come and see me are generally the failed cases – after the chemo or radiation could not save them anymore! The successful patients do not come and see me anyway. Excuse me, I get to see only the ugly side of medical treatments.
However, my question is: “Why are there so many bad cases?” Can’t the so-called scientific medicine do better than that? Then again I want to ask: “How wrong or skewed am I – if at all I am biased?”
Then read books about breast cancer. Let us start off with the following:
In my book, CA Care Experience with BREAST CANCER, I have answered this most important question:How effective is chemotherapy? Let me quote what I wrote:
Graeme Morgan & Associates (Clinical Oncology 16:549-560; 2004) wrote:
The overall contribution of curative and adjuvant chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adults was estimated to be 2.3% in Australia and 2.1% in the USA.
In Australia, of the 10,661 people who had breast cancer only 164 people survived 5 years due to chemotherapy. This works out to 1.5% contribution of chemotherapy to survival.
Eva Segelov in an editorial (Australian Presciber 29:2-3; 2006) suggested that:
Chemotherapy has been oversold. Chemotherapy has improved survival by less than 3% in adults with cancer.
M. Veroort & Associates (British J Cancer 19:242-247; 204) concluded that:
Breast cancer mortality reduction caused by present-day practice of adjuvant tamoxifen and chemotherapy is 7%.
Guy Faguet (The War on Cancer: An anatomy of failure …) wrote:
An objective analysis of cancer chemotherapy outcomes over the last three decades reveals that, despite vast human and financial expenditures, the cell-killing paradigm had failed to achieve its objective … and the conquest of cancer remains a distant and elusive goal.
Chemotherapy for cancer is based on flawed premises with an unattainable goal, cytotoxic chemotherapy in its present form will neither eradicate cancer not alleviate suffering.
In my book, Understanding Cancer War and Cure, I quoted the following experts:
Dr. John Lee, author of What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer, wrote:
Chemotherapy is an attempt to poison the body just short of death in the hope of killing the cancer before the entire body is killed.
Most of the time it doesn’t work.
Alan Levin, professor of immunology, University of California Medical School said:
Most cancer patients in this country die of chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy does not eliminate breast, colon or lung cancers.
This fact has been documented for over a decade.
Yet doctors still use chemotherapy for these tumours.
Women with breast cancer are likely to die faster with chemotherapy than without it.
In the book, Enter the Zone, Dr. Barry Sears wrote:
Everybody knows that our present cancer drugs are lousy ~ Wolfgang Wrasidlo, director of drug development, Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, California, pg. 164
The existing treatments for cancer are probably the most barbaric in modern medicine, pg. 166.
Nearer home, a renowned oncologist of Singapore wrote this in the The Straits Times, Mind Your Body Supplement, Page 22, 29 November 2006:
Oncology is not like other medical specialties where doing well is the norm. In oncology, even prolonging a patient’s life for three months to a year is considered an achievement.
My final comment, Beware of the Propaganda by the Mass Media
Do you think the newspapers, magazines and TV news reports present medical information fairly and objectively? Think again.
Medical propaganda is rampant. Its goal is to mislead, confuse and coerce you into supporting conventional medicine and enhancing the cancer industry’s spoils of war ~ Burton Goldberg, An alternative medicine definitive guide to cancer.
We spent the last weekend of February 2011 in Singapore. Actually the trip was to attend a church wedding ceremony of a friend’s daughter. At the same time we had the privilege of being “pampered” by the hospitality of Im’s brother, who lives in Singapore. He put us in a hotel in Raffles City. We could see the amazing city of Singapore from our room on the 54th floor. We took time to window-shop. Through the glass windows we could see watches on display. One showed a price tag of S$150,000 a piece! Wow, such an amazing price! In short it is always wow, wow and wow when it comes to Singapore.
Another wow struck me the next morning. The Sunday Straits Times of 27 February has a banner headline: Doctor’s charges: How much is too much?
BACKGROUND STORY
There is an ongoing case of medical fraud making the headlines of leading newspapers. A well renowned surgeon of Singapore, Dr. Susan Lim, is accused of over blowing the medical bill of a Bruneian patient.
The total medical bills that Dr. Susan Lim charged this special patient are as follows:
In 2004 total of $2.8 million
In 2005 total of $3.8 million
In 2006 total of $7.5 million
In 2007 total of $24.8 million
So what is a fair and reasonable fee a renown doctor can charge his/her patient? These are the figures given by the various medical doctors of Singapore:
Dr. Hong Ga Sze said a reasonable daily fee is $1,000 to $2,000 per day.
Dr. Tan Yew Oo, oncologist at Gleneagles Cancer Centre said $10,000 to $20,000 per day.
Professor Soo Khee Chee, head of the National Cancer Centre said $100,000 a day is fine and agreed that on a day Dr. Susan Lim could have charged as much as $450,00 per day.
Don’t you think these figures are worth many, many, many wows?
It is further reported that for the period from January 15 to June 16, the total bill charged by Dr. Susan Lim amounted to $26 million. It did not include work done by Dr Lim and her team in Brunei in June and July of that year. In early August, Dr Lim, decided to waive some charges effectively halving the amount owed. In November that year, she decided to waive her fees entirely, charging the patient only the third party payments which amounted to slightly over $3 million.
That Sunday afternoon we flew home to Penang. I was rather curious about this Susan Lim Saga and started to surf the net for more information. These are some of the information I managed to gather.
Who is the surgeon?
A Brunei online newsportal, Brudirect News, had this report: Singapore Doc Probed For Charging Millions Of $$ From Bruneian. Dr Susan Lim is a famous surgeon who carried out Singapore’s first liver transplant about two decades ago. She has two clinics, Susan Lim Surgery, at the Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth medical centres. Her clinic’s website lists her also as a transplant surgeon and Visiting Professor at Blizard Institute of Cell & Molecular Sciences, Barts & The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and a Fellow of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
Reportedly, the victim was the late Pengiran Anak Hajah Damit, the younger sister of the Queen of Brunei and cousin of the Sultan. She had breast cancer and was treated by Dr. Lim from 2001 until she died in August 2007.
A specialist who treated surgeon Susan Lim’s patient sent a bill for $400. She marked it up to $211,000 when she billed the Brunei High Commission here.
Another doctor charged $500, but Dr Lim bumped that up to $93,500.
Yet another bill for $3,000 was raised to $285,100.
Shockingly, when the patient got admitted to the intensive care unit, she asked for $450,000 for the first day and $250,000 for the subsequent four days, in the name of “monitoring services”.
1. The Great Singapore Rip off – Medical Tourism and the Dr Susan Lim Saga
With specialists like Dr Susan Lim and some members of her fraternity saying doctors can, when warranted, charge up to S$300,000 a day in fees, Singapore can well forget about emerging as the healthcare destination for those in need of medical attention. Dr Lim has become a symbol of extreme greed. The amount was not just astronomical by any stretch of imagination but was loaded with fraud. For instance, when she brought in a specialist outside of her domain, he charged less than S$1,000. But she produced a bill of more than S$300,000 for the Brunei royal family. I think this involves a combination of greed, criminality and stupidity.
I was also shocked to read the testimony by Dr. Soo Khee Chee, head of the National Cancer Center, that a fee of $100,000 a day was fine and, in Susan Lim’s case, it was all right for the fee to be $300,000, without the extras, for a particular day’s consultation. How does the head of a publicly funded speciality center get the impression that this is an acceptable level of fee? No wonder, Singaporeans are “frightened” about their medical bills. They must have heard stories of these astronomical fees. There is an important lesson from this case. After the patient spend $26 million, the patient still died. No amount of money can reverse the inevitable.
For a wealthy family who can afford the high cost, it is all right to spend the money. However, for the vast majority of ordinary families who are not extremely wealthy, they should not be spending $100,000 or more for treatment that have a low chance of success. It is better to let nature takes its course.
3. Most doctors doesn’t see anything wrong with Dr Susan Lim’s fees
The problem with Singapore doctors is that they are in the profession for the money. Many medical professionals in other countries are doctors because of a desire to help their fellow human beings. The money, although nice, was a secondary consideration. Many sinkie doctors are also from privileged families, and were told to become doctors so as to be rich and prestigious for their families. Ever seen sinkie doctors do this? They are too busy charging outrageous fees to Indons, Malaysians, etc.
When you go and see a doctor in Singapore next time, ask yourself whether they are in it for the money or really in it for your welfare.
And the sad irony is despite all these fantastic amount of money involved, the patient still died of her breast cancer.
Surgeon Susan Lim treated a patient linked to the Brunei palace for seven months in 2007. Her bill: $24.8 million.
Dr Lim also charged the patient for cancelling two conferences, on top of treatment fees, with one bill costing $78,000 and the other up to $180,000.
She also charged between $35,000 and $45,000 a day when her employees accompanied the patient for radiotherapy sessions at the hospital, the newspaper reported.
When the patient was in intensive care for five days in May 2007, she was attended to by the doctors and nurses and for that, Dr Lim charged $450,000 for the first day and $250,000 for the other four days for “monitoring services”, according to Straits Times.
I was baffled when I saw the $150,000 watch at the poshy shop – who on earth is going to buy such an expensive item? But I am sure there are buyers, otherwise the shop would not have displayed so many of them. Space cost a lot of money in Singapore! Then I looked at what I wore. I only have a less-than- $50 watch! And I am proud of it. I had it for many years now and I have not missed any of my plane flights yet – meaning my $50-watch has not failed me at all. I wonder what is the difference between my cheap watch and that expensive one?
Besides the watch, today, I have also learned that medical treatments can be extraordinarily expensive in Singapore. It can amount to millions of dollars. I have heard of many expensive charges before but not as expensive as this one. Some years ago, someone sent his wife for leukemia treatment in Singapore. He spent about RM 1.8Million on her treatments. But, at the end his wife also died. The royal patient incurred millions on her medical bills and she also died. Not much difference from my $50-watch.
Let me repeat what Angry blogger wrote: “After the patient spend $26 million, the patient still died. No amount of money can reverse the inevitable. For a wealthy family who can afford the high cost, it is all right to spend the money. However, for the vast majority of ordinary families who are not extremely wealthy, they should not be spending $100,000 or more for treatment that have a low chance of success. It is better to let nature takes its course.”
Perhaps he is right. When we have no money to throw around, it is better to let nature takes its course.
It is not for me to comment on the ethics, morality or the right or wrong of the above saga. I believe each of us lives our life guided by our own moral compass. Fairness, morality, etc. are but perceptions and they reflect our upbringing. I came from a poor family. My mother taught me to be thrifty since I was small. So please excuse me for wearing a $50-watch.
When cancer patients come to see me, I too want to try to save as much money for them – just the way my mother taught me to be thrifty with what I have. I fully understand that patients want the best – but the best may not necessarily be the most expensive. I wonder how much better is a $150,000 watch compared to my $50-watch? There is a good lesson which cancer patients can learn from this story. When consulting infamous experts ask them these questions:
Can you cure my cancer?
What would be the total cost?
Are there side effects associated with the treatments?
Then make your decision wisely after critically evaluating the answers given.
When we started CA Care in 1995, I was mindful of the “get-rich” temptation that we may encounter as we become more effective and well-known. After all I am also as educated as those experts. I am a Ph.D. and was a full Professor in the University. I was awarded a research fellowship by the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany and also the Matsumae International Foundation of Japan. So, I am not short of valid credentials. For the past fourteen years, I have counseled thousands of cancer patients. Sometime I would spend many hours with a patient to help him/her through his/her problem. I would fly to Kuala Lumpur and stay for two days there helping patients. For all these, I accept NO consultation fees – it is all for free.
To ensure that I would not stray and remain true to our mission, I adopted this prayer for CA Care.
Make us Lord,
An instrument of Your love and a light in the path of darkness.
To those who are lost, help us show a way
To those in despair, let there be Hope
To those in sadness, let there be Joy.
Grant us Lord,
Wisdom to do things rightly,
Strength to humbly help others, and
Courage to resist greed and self-glorification.
Throughout all these years, when I wake up each morning, I would say this short prayer: Today, show me Lord Your way. So help me Lord. And let Your will be done.
P/S A medical doctor who read this post wrote me this message:
Dr Susan Lim saga – all the riches in the world can’t buy happiness. Her greed will eat her up someday.
SINGAPORE – The Court of Three Judges, after analysing the bills issued by Dr Susan Lim, said the invoices were issued in an “unsystematic, arbitrary and, ultimately, opportunistic manner”. Dr Lim has lost her battle to overturn her conviction for overcharging a royal patient from Brunei. Dr Lim faced a total of 94 charges of professional misconduct …. found her guilty of professional misconduct over the $24 million bill.
This is a fax we received from Hong Kong in August 2002.
Dear Dr. Teo,
I am 44 years old. I suffered from cancer of the breast – infiltrating ductal carcinoma in August 1993. Total right mastectomy was performed, secondary to the bones was detected at the same time. Twelve chemo-injections were given over a period of six months. At the same time, radiotherapy was given to the spine and ribs. Two doses of strontium were given after the course of chemotherapy. Tamoxifen and orimetene were taken orally daily all these years.
Everything was in stable condition until August 2001, when secondary to both lobes of liver was discovered. Chemotherapy – FAC, six injections were given followed by eight doses of taxotere.
Now both my lower limbs are swollen. I suffer from pleural effusion at the same time. I started on oral chemotherapy – Xeloda on 10 July 2002. My limbs feel numb. I feel tired easily and my heart sometimes beat irregularly. I feel short of breath at times.
I hope Dr. Teo will help me.
Point to Ponder: All the weapons of war against breast cancer had been used. There are many lessons to learn from her case.
a) Is she winning the war? Is she getting any better or is she getting worse?
b) Can medical treatment cure cancer?
c) Tamoxifen is a proven, liver-cancer-causing drug. She has been taking it for years. What do you think about that? At the end, what did it do? Why the liver cancer?
d) She suffered pleural effusion, i.e, water filling up the lungs. Why is it so?
She was prescribed herbs. And she responded well.
Fax on 22 August 2002: The doctor has stopped giving me Xeloda till my blood test results improve. I have been taking your medicine for 3 weeks. My lower limbs and right upper arm are still swollen. Occasionally I have pain which is similar to electric shock which lasts for a few seconds. This happens only in my swollen limbs. The numbness in my extremities still exists. My heart beats vigorously sometimes but my breathlessness has improved. My general condition is alright and I could go to work as usual. I would like to thank Dr. Teo for taking care of me and hope you could continue helping me.
Fax on 27 September 2002: The doctor gave me Xeloda again for 2 weeks. I dare not refuse because he will close my file and I have no one to turn to when problems arise. Dr. Teo is too far away for me to consult if emergency arise. My lower limbs are back to normal, only swell slightly in the evening but will be alright after a night rest. My right upper limb is still swollen. The axillary lymph nodes were removed in 1993. Is that the cause of the swelling? Physically I am alright.
Fax 2 August 2003: I have stopped taking Xeloda since September. Now I only take your herbal teas and Yunzhi tablets. I am doing alright at the moment, just feeling “pin and needle” in my fingers and feet. I told my doctor here that I am taking your herbs. I would like to thank you again for helping and treating me and keeping me in good general condition. My sincere thanks again.
Fax 3 June 2005: Please advise me as to whether I need to take Bone herbs. This was not prescribed in May 2005. Recently I was suffering from left sciatica and cramps. X-ray of the pelvis showed secondary deposits in the right acetabulum but I didn’t suffer from any pain on my right pelvis at all … I went for a detoxification course in Taiwan during March 2005. I suffered from left sciatica during the course. Physiotherapy didn’t help at all. Dr.Chris, I feel that my heart beats very fast intermittently but ECG was normal. Besides all those mentioned, I am doing fine. Thanks for your kind attention and help.
Fax 30 November 2005: I am physically alright except for my left sciatica. I went to consult a Chinese physician regarding my sciatica. He prescribed Chinese herbs for me to take but I dare not take it … Dr. Chris, what can I do to improve it? …. Other than that I am doing very well. Thank you for helping me all these years. I really appreciate your kindness and helpfulness. I would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
E-mail 26 March 2006: Dear Dr. Chris. I had my blood test done on 15 March 2006. Most of the results turned out within normal range … except CA 15.3 = 5.4. I am quite worried about the rise of CA 15.3. What does the above result indicate?
In mid-2008, after communicating with the patient for 6 years, we flew to Hong Kong and met up with her for the first time. Listen to what she has got to say.
Quotations
In 1993, when I was first diagnosed with cancer, the doctor said: If there is a 1% chance of recovery, I will tell you.
Her doctor was told that she was / and is, taking herbs. It has been 13 years since she was first diagnosed with cancer. During a routine visit to see her oncologist, this was what the doctor said to her:
Oh, I am so surprised that you can walk in after so many years.
Positive words can comfort and heal, but negative words can destroy and kill. Our advice to everyone is, If you have nothing good to say to the sick, you do more good to keep your mouth shut. It helps the sick and at the same time your words may bounce back and make you appear like a fool some day.
CANCER STORY 
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