Tag Archives: colorectal cancer

Colon Cancer Part 3: Surgery and Xeloda – cancer recurred. Cannabis (illegal in Malaysia) oil did not work either.

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Jim (not his real name) is a 52-year-old Malaysian. He is both a smoker and a drinker.

  • About two years ago, October 2017, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He underwent an operation at a private hospital. The operation went well. After surgery Jim took eight rounds of Xeloda (each round means, two weeks of Xeloda followed by one week rest). The total cost of the treatments (surgery and Xeloda) was about RM40,000.
  • In June 2018, Jim went for a colonoscopy and was told that everything was clear. He was cancer-free.
  • According to his wife, Jim did well and he put on weight. Life went back to normal — and he continued with his heavy smoking and drinking habits.
  • Barely two months later, in December 2018, Jim had backache. He consulted a doctor, who is also a friend. Jim was told there was nothing to worry out. It might just be due to stress.
  • In April 2019, Jim could not move his bowels. A scope showed a tumour blocking his sigmoid colon. The only solution was undergo another surgery.
  • Below is his PET scan done on 11 June 2019.

  1. There is a mass at upper rectum infiltrating the pararectal fat and presacral space. It measures 4.0 x 3.5 x 4.8 cm in size.
  2. There are four nodules in the anterior pelvic cavity subjacent to anterior pelvic wall measuring 1.6 cm in diameter.
  3. A small focus seen in the right rectus abdominis muscle just below the umbilicus muscle measuring 2.0 cm in diameter.
  • Jim was given three options:
  1. If he was to do the operation in the private hospital where he had his previous operation, the cost of the surgery would come to about RM60,000.
  2. Jim could go to another private hospital, the same surgery would cost about RM40,000.
  3. Jim could go to a government hospital. This would cost RM3,000.
  • In June 20919, Jim opted for surgery in a government hospital since he had spent all his insurance coverage. The doctor did the surgery but could not remove any tumour. A by-pass was done instead. A colostomy bag was installed.

  • After the surgery, Jim was asked to undergo chemotherapy. Based on the result of the Kras & Braf Mutation Analysis, the oncologist in the private hospital (who previously gave Xeloda to Jim) suggested that Jim MUST undergo chemotherapy using Avastin. This would cost RM 20,000 per cycle. If Jim was to receive this Avastin treatment in the government hospital, it would only cost RM5,000.
  • Jim was undecided on the chemotherapy. It was at this point that he and his wife decided to seek treatment from a monk in a temple in Chiangmai, Thailand. He was there for about a week. Besides some herbs, Jim was also given cannabis oil (the use of cannabis in Thailand is now legal but it is illegal in Malaysia). In addition, the monk did acupuncture on Jim. According to Jim’s wife, Jim had less pain and could sleep better.
  • On 5 September 2019, Jim had an MRI. The mass at S1-S2 presacral space had grown bigger, to 5.7 x 4.2 x 5.6 cm.
  • Jim decided to go for chemotherapy but his wife objected.

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I received an email from Jim’s wife one evening. The next morning Jim’s wife drove from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, alone by herself, to seek help for her husband. I asked her, “And you are going to drive back to KL again after this?” This 47-year old wife replied, “I am still young!”

I never get to see her again after this first visit.

What can we learn from this story?

  1. After talking with her for some minutes, I realised that she was a very focused and determined lady. But, I am not too sure about her husband who seemed to want results quickly.

To me, from my years of experience, I have come to the conclusion that healing of cancer is about healing human being – a very difficult problem indeed. Is the patient committed to his own well being?

After surgery and Xeloda, Jim was well for a while. According to his wife, Jim put on weight and life went back to normal. Like most people Jim thought he was cured! He went back to his previous lifestyle — heavy smoking and drinking. To me, that is wrong! I don’t want to pass negative judgment on people but I want you to ask yourself: Why did he do such thing? Due to ignorance or irresponsibility?

  1. Surgery and taking of Xeloda did not cure Jim. That is a fact, in spite of the fact that we are being “brain washed” into believing that medical treatments are very scientific and proven!

If you have been following my blog, I have written many stories about colon cancer patients who took those so called FDA-approved drugs, like Xeloda, as advised by their oncologists. Unfortunately, these oral drugs did not work for them either.

But it is not for me to tell you to take or not to take Xeloda. It is up to you. I am here just relating the stories of patients who came to seek my help, after medical treatments have failed them. Perhaps there are many others who find Xeloda is good for them.

  1. When the cancer recurred Jim was told undergo another operation. Then Jim was asked to go for chemotherapy using Avastin (may be with other chemo-drugs added in as well). He opted to go to Thailand and tried marijuana oil which can be legally used there.

I fully understand that there are patients who are desperate. They would want to try their luck with anything. Now, cannabis is the in thing! I honor their choice. So they hopped over to Bangkok,Thailand, for the cannabis treatment. Unfortunately, in Malaysia cannabis oil is illegal and carries a death sentence (sorry, I may be wrong). Knowing this, at CA Care we stay away from cannabis oil – just to be on the right side of the law. Let me share with you the stories of two patients.

There was this patient with a huge liver tumour. He was on our herbs for about two plus (?) years and was okay. Then he developed pain in his abdomen and decided to go to Bangkok to try the cannabis treatment. After three weeks in Bangkok his stomach was bloated and he died.

There was also a lady who had a recurrent cancer of the uterus (?). She opted to go for cannabis treatment in Bangkok. After two months in Bangkok, her situation deteriorated. While she was in Bangkok she wrote me asking for help. Her stomach was bloated and distended. I asked her to go to the hospital to tap out the fluid in her abdomen. Just a week ago, I received an email informing me that she passed away.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not against cannabis. So, by all means, if you think cannabis is good for you, do what you think your heart tells you to do.  Share your success or failure story after that. But what I want to let you know is that there is no magic bullet for cancer. Don’t be misled. That is my main point.

  1. With much due respect to the law makers, taking herbs for your cancer, and in this case cannabis, should not be made a crime! Read this website of the US National Cancer Institute https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/cannabis-pdq
  • Cannabis (also known as marijuana)has been used for medicinal purposes for at least 3,000 It was introduced into Western medicine in 1839 by W.B. O’Shaughnessy, a surgeon who learned of its medicinal properties while working in India for the British East India Company. Its use was promoted for reported analgesic, sedative, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, and anticonvulsant effects.
  • By federal law, the possession of Cannabisis illegal in the United States, except within approved research settings; however, a growing number of states, territories, and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to legalize its medical use.
  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved Cannabisas a treatment for cancer or any other medical condition.
  • Commercially available cannabinoids, such as dronabinoland nabilone, are approved drugs for the treatment of cancer-related side effects.
  • Cannabinoids may have benefits in the treatment of cancer-related side effects.

Some thirty years ago, I was invited by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) to go to Bhutan for a month to advise the government on the potential of herbs. While there, I learned that when pigs get sick, the farmers feed them with marijuana leaves! These pigs get well again! Mind you, you see marijuana plants growing everywhere by the roadside! I did not see anybody went “high” smoking that stuff. In fact, I think they have more problem with “makan sireh” (chewing of bettle nut + sireh leaf) than drug addiction.

So I am not anti-marijuana, But since I am in Malaysia, I don’t want to be made a “criminal” and thrown into jail facing a “death sentence.” If there is one lesson we can learn it is this: Any herbal plant is good for mankind, but it is human beings that make it bad by abusing and manipulating it in the hope of curing human greed.

 

 

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Stage 2 colon cancer spread to liver, bones and lymph nodes less than two years after surgery, chemo and radiation. What had gone wrong?

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When I first came to Penang some forty plus years ago, I met a lawyer — let’s call him Mark. Since then we became friends.

About a year or so ago, Mark suddenly dropped by the centre — it had been many years since we last met. Mark was diagnosed with colon cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy at a hospital which is supposed to be the “best” in the country (one doctor told me this!).

After relating his story, Mark left. No, I did not give him any herbs. Neither did I give him any advice. This is because from our conversation, I sensed that Mark seemed to know what he was doing. And during our conversation Mark did not ask for any advice or help either. So I just left it at that.

One of our principles that we uphold at CA Care is this: If you are still on chemo or radiotherapy (or are planning to do chemo or radiotherapy) or are taking other treatments elsewhere, please go ahead and continue with these treatments first. Do not take our herbs yet. We do not wish to intervene. 

If you have done everything and have nowhere else to go and need help, when you come to us, we shall try our best to  help you.

In early March 2018, as  I walked into our centre, someone greeted me but I could not recognise him, not until my wife told me that it was Mark who said hello. No, I was not being “arrogant” but Mark had “changed” a lot. He looked “much older”.  Perhaps I should not say that. My faulth, because I did not put on my glasses that morning (but generally, I don’t need to do that!).

Briefly, this was what happened to Mark.

  1. In 2016, Mark was diagnosed with cancer of the rectum. Surgery was not done. Mark was fitted with a colostomy bag.
  1. In September / October 2016, Marked received 25 sessions of radiotherapy and 2 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFOX.
  1. In early January 2017, Mark underwent a surgery. The tumour was removed. It was a moderately differentiated colo-rectal cancer, Stage B2.
  1. On 3 August 2017, Mark had his stoma reversed and the colon rejoined. A colonoscopy was done a day before the reversal procedure. There was NO sign of malignancy.
  1. Everything seemed okay.
  1. Disaster — 30 January 2018. A follow up CT scan showed:
  • Tumour recurrence at the anataomosis site and 6.5 cm anal verge. Biopsy of anal verge done on 8 January 2018 showed NO malignancy.
  • Multiple ill-defined lesions at both lobes of liver – confirming the cancer has spread to his liver.
  • Extensive intraabdominal and pelvic lymphadenopathy.
  • Bone metastasis — both iliac bones, both sacral alae, right and left femoral heads were invaded by the cancer.

The cancer is now TxN2bM1b — call it Stage 4 if you like.

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In an earlier posting, I wrote about AB who had Stage 3 cancer. She declined chemotherapy and opted for the CA Care Therapy. It has been three years and she is still doing great. Mark had Stage 2 cancer — appeared to be less “dangerous” than AB’s cancer — but problems appeared within less than two years of treatment.

Do you ever ask why? Medical treatments for cancer are supposed to be proven and scientific — but why the metastasis so soon and so seriously?

Herbs and alternative therapies are supposed to be unscientific and unproven — yet patients like AB did so well.

Take time to understand the implications of the following quotations:

Dr. Richard Horton is the  Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, a very prestigious medical journal. In 2015 he wrote this:

  • A lot of what is published is incorrect ….The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue.
  • Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.

Marcia Angell is the former Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, one of the world’s most prestigious medical journal. In her article, Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption she wrote:

  • … conflicts of interest and biases exist in virtually every field of medicine, particularly those that rely heavily on drugs or devices. It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. 
  • I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. 
  • One result of the pervasive bias is that physicians learn to practice a very drug-intensive style of medicine. Even when changes in lifestyle would be more effective, doctors and their patients often believe that for every ailment and discontent there is a drug.

 

Benefit of chemotherapy for colon cancer revised from 3% to 4% and then 40%

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PY is a 57-yer old male. He passed out blood in his stools. Unfortunately the doctor told PY there was nothing to worry about. “You look healthier than I am” the doctor assured PY. But it was not to be. A colonoscopy on 19 May 2014, indicated cancer of the rectum.

Colon-drawing

PY underwent a laparoscopic surgery. The histopathology report of 28 August 2014 confirmed a “moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma, T3No, Duke B” of rectal and sigmoid colon.

Initially the surgeon told PY that since it was a Stage 2 cancer follow up chemotherapy was optional. It was up to PY if he wanted to undergo the treatment or not. However, later the surgeon came to another conclusion – PY needed chemotherapy after all.

Listen to this video conversation.

 

 

Quotations for you to ponder

 

2 chemo-2-percent benefit

28-Chemo-does-not-cure-do-d

9 Chemo-no-justification-exce

 

Rectal Cancer Stage 3: Eight Years and Doing Fine After Surgery But Only On Herbs

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AK was 70 years old when she came to seek our help.  Sometime in March 2001 she had abdominal pains for about 2 week’s duration and she passed out blood in her stools. She went to a private hospital and did a colonoscopy. There was a 15 cm tumour at the anal verge. She was admitted into the hospital on 12 April 2001 and underwent a surgery.

Histopathology indicated moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the rectum, tubulovillous type, Duke Stage C. Pararectal lymph nodes: metastatic adenocarcinoma (1/6).

She recovered well and was discharged on 20 April 2001. She was subsequently referred to an oncologist for further management. She refused chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Instead she came to see us on 13 May 2001 and presented with the following:

  • She had difficulty sleeping. She slept only after mid-night.
  • She had no appetite.
  • She was tired.
  • She was constipated.
  • Her urine was yellow.
  • Her stomach felt bloated.

A week after the herbs she improved.

  • Her sleep was better. She could sleep early now.
  • Her appetite had improved.
  • She was less tired.
  • Her bowel movements had improved.
  • Her urine was less yellow.
  • Her body was itchy.

On 4 November 2001 (see the video) she reported the following:

  • She could sleep well.
  • She had good appetite.
  • She felt “cheng sin” and “song” (increased energy and wellbeing).
  • Her stomach was not bloated any more – no more wind.
  • Her body was not itchy anymore.
  • Her bowel movements were normal.

It has been many years since this visit. We have virtually forgotten her case. AK’s daughter came to collect herbs for her mother every now and then but did not sit out with us for any further consultation.

On 22 July 2009 her daughter came to collect herbs for her mother and informed us that AK was doing fine. It is 8 years 2 months since she first came to see us. We are indeed surprised. AK has Stage 3 rectal cancer that had spread to the lymph node. She refused to undergo chemotherapy / radiotherapy. And she is still doing fine.

On 8 September 2009 her daughter came to collect herbs for her mother. She confirmed the following:

  • After her operation, AK did not undergo any further medical treatment – no chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
  • AK did not taking any other mediation apart from our herbs. And she is taking it up to this day.
  • It has been more than 8 years and she is doing fine, for a person of 78 years old.