The Morning After

My hypnotherapist texted me yesterday and told me that I should not have listened to my doctors about having only 6 months to live and do my PhD. To all cancer patients out there, DON'T BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE SO MANY MONTHS TO LIVE ONLY. Your doctor is not God. You can live much longer. I have. If you take the correct alternative therapy, you may even be cured. Anyway, my hypnotherapist has asked me to celebrate 11 September 2012 with her, my third anniversary since the discovery of my cancer. Oh Sure, I will be around then to celebrate life!

Yesterday, I cough blood for almost 5 hours. And my cough frequency was about every 5 minutes. I though I must have lost a lot of blood and it looks like it's not stopping. Luckily, a timely text message arrived from a friend on some matter and in the process of exchanging messages over my smartphone, I forgot about my cough. I stopped coughing and so the blood stopped too. I also took some peppermint tea in the process. Anyhow, I am happy that it stopped. At the same time, I restrain myself from coughing afterwords. When nightfall came, I took another sleeping pill so that I would sleep and not worry about getting another cough. This morning I woke up and things seems to be back to normal. I did a light cough and this time, only small remnants of blood clots came out. This is the first time I have experienced this.

Every since I discovered that my cancer has spread to my bones and the upper part of my right lung, my confidence level has sank to the lowest depth, that of the time when I discovered my cancer. I have not confronted myself with these new developments. Actually, there are no reasons to try to extrapolate what the new development means. It's all negative and will not be helpful to me. Lost again as what to do. I stick to what I know best. Keep a positive attitude and guard my emotions. I am in a roller coaster, full of ups and down emotions in short period of time. Only that I don't know when the ride will end. I hope my body will not deteriorate further and now look forward to Germany in April/May 2012, my last hope. The more you hope the bigger the disappointment. But then I have nothing else but hope.

The Sun Is Down (Updated)

It's past twelve midnight and I could not sleep. Fed-up of not wanting to staying up late, I took a sleeping pill. The pill tasted so bitter. I just wanted to sleep and just could not care if sleeping pill was bad for me.

Earlier yesterday, a friend who is also regular reader of my blog paid me a visit. It's nice of her to drop by. She is a breast cancer survivor and we exchanged some information. She has been using some anti-oxidative treatment for sometime now and she thought it would also beneficial to me and brought a brochure along. After reading the brochure, I told her that it is unlikely that it will be beneficial to me. She also told me that she read my blog from the very start. After hearing what she said, a thought occurred in my mind.

After she left, my mind continued to wonder those feelings of my early moments upon discovery of my tumors. I was terrified to learned that I would not lived for more than 6 months and I actually believe what my doctors said. At the urging of a friend, I started writing this blog, to document my last few days on earth. You can actually see the posting titles of my early postings are actually counting my last days. As each day passed, my heart sank lower and lower. I was losing weight rapidly and looked not only fragile but haggard as well. I dare not look myself in the mirror. Not handsome is already bad but now with only bones and skin left. I could not even sit properly. I was already thinking about my own funeral arrangements and I thought it would be good if I were to passed away after Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations in the February of 2010. The Chinese believes that CNY is considered a big day and being so sickly, I was unlikely be able to "beat" that day. Still I was hoping. I have yet to tell my parent of my cancer then and would it be fair to them only to find out when I am dead? I really don't know how I managed to pass those days. I shed a lot of tears. Maybe that helped me.

One month before the discovery of my cancer in September 2009, I went to University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) to submit my PhD research proposal. I was planning to research on whether it was possible to predict the stock price movements. I wanted to do a research that I am able to use it to make some money after completion of my studies. In October 2009, my research proposal was approved by UTAR and I was supposed to start my studies in November 2009. Looking back, I should have pursued my PhD but I also remember the doctor said I would not survive 6 months. What I am trying to say is that even when we are very sick, we should not anticipate when we will die. Why bring problems into your life when you have so many issues on your plate already? Instead we should live life fully and do what we want to do. If I did that then, I would have probably completed my PhD by now and maybe make some money in the stock market to fund my cancer therapy.

I am now going through a period of darkness in my life.  I feel I am in emotional turmoil and depressed. The pain of the cancer made it worst. So expect to see negativity in my writings. It's been three months and I don't know when it's coming to an end. It's by no means that I have given up but just expressing how I am feeling at the moment of writing the post. I appreciate your prayers, positive thoughts and wishes.

Update

This morning I have been coughing profusely. Each time I cough, more blood came out and the coughing has not stopped. Also noticed I got some nose bleeding too. If it continues, I will pay a visit to my doctor to get some treatment and if it become worst, I am not sure if I want to be admitted into a hospital. Meanwhile, I am making camomile tea with honey to soothe the lungs. I am also taking TCM pills called Zhui Feng He Wan to stop the coughing. A lung cancer friend said after two to three days, the coughing of blood should stop.

I will have to stop taking Aspirin for the time being. As the blood thins, it's difficult to stop bleeding as the blood does not clot easy.

I have planned to drive to my doctor's clinic for IVC but it looks like I may have to postpone it to later in the day or another day if my condition does not improve.

Moving Into Unfamilar Territories

Last night, I decided to stay up to support Liverpool FC versus Cardiff in the Carling Cup final. The game started at 12 midnight local time. But since I did not have a sports TV channel, I followed the proceedings with BBC sports live text. This is the first time I "watched" a football game from text commentary on my smartphone and then listening to some music on my earphone in the background while lying on the bed. The screen refreshes every two minutes. The game sounds exciting, as least from my own imagination as I read the text. But my frustrations grew when Liverpool could not get the winner goal during regular time despite having so many chances to score. I tend to think Liverpool does not play well with lower teams thinking it would be easy meat. So it went into extra time and I thought Liverpool has sealed their victory in the 108 minute goal. Somehow the current Liverpool team seems to go defensive when they are leading, even with a solitary goal. Cardiff responded with an equaliser in the 117 minute with only three minutes remaining in the game. I thought I should have slept instead of staying up to follow the game. Wasted my time. So it went into penalties. Following the penalties was also frustrating as Liverpool missed the first two penalties out of five. I thought game over. But in football, you never know especially when penalties are used to decide which team wins. Cardiff missed three penalties and finally Liverpool won, their first silverware since 2006. Hurray! I can now go to sleep.

Aspirin and Cancer
I have also been taking a medication for about two weeks now. It's Aspirin. There are some side effects like thinning of blood and causing stomach ulcers. Anyway, I am taking a low dose and also drinking lots of fluids. Like all medications I take, I will monitor my body reaction and will stop if the benefit is less that the risk that I am taking. Why Aspirin?

It’s long been known that a daily intake of aspirin could cut your risk of cancer dramatically. And though it’s long been known, science hasn’t ever really been able to say why until just recently when Australian scientists discovered how these anti-inflammatory drugs actually prevent tumors from spreading. The scientific breakthrough comes courtesy of researchers at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Tumors secrete proteins and compounds called growth factors which attract blood and lymphatic vessels to their neighborhood, allowing the cancer to catch a ride and spread to other parts of the body. These growth factors also encourage lymphatic vessels — or “supply lines” — to widen, which also helps the cancer spread. Aspirin, belong to a group of anti-inflammatory drugs that reverses the widening of the supply line and make it hard for the tumor to spread — at the end of the day that’s what kills people.

In a study called "Aspirin and cancer: has aspirin been overlooked as an adjuvant therapy?" published by British Journal of Cancer (2011) 105, 1107–1113. doi:10.1038/bjc.2011.289 in 16 August 2011 can be summarised as follows:

Aspirin inhibits the enzyme cyclooxygenase (Cox), and there is a significant body of epidemiological evidence demonstrating that regular aspirin use is associated with a decreased incidence of developing cancer. Interest focussed on selective Cox-2 inhibitors both as cancer prevention agents and as therapeutic agents in patients with proven malignancy until concerns were raised about their toxicity profile. Aspirin has several additional mechanisms of action that may contribute to its anti-cancer effect. It also influences cellular processes such as apoptosis and angiogenesis that are crucial for the development and growth of malignancies. Evidence suggests that these effects can occur through Cox-independent pathways questioning the rationale of focussing on Cox-2 inhibition alone as an anti-cancer strategy. Randomised studies with aspirin primarily designed to prevent cardiovascular disease have demonstrated a reduction in cancer deaths with long-term follow-up. Concerns about toxicity, particularly serious haemorrhage, have limited the use of aspirin as a cancer prevention agent, but recent epidemiological evidence demonstrating regular aspirin use after a diagnosis of cancer improves outcomes suggests that it may have a role in the adjuvant setting where the risk:benefit ratio will be different.

Do I Know Where I am Going To?

I am beginning to be afraid of the night. No, I am not afraid of the ghosts. I am frightened of the night because I cannot sleep. The nights seems forever as I sit helplessly to wait for morning to break. Should I read a book, surf the net or just watch TV?  It's been more than a month since I have not been sleeping well. I have researched and tried some of the sleeping methods but so far only the sleeping pills works very well. Melatonin supplements seems elusive for the moment and I will pay a visit to my doctor for some prescription. I seems to be losing grips with my life. How am I going to heal when I am not sleeping? It looks like I am beginning to experience more problems on top of what I already have. What am I going to do?

If you think I am sounding desperate, I am. It happened before and will continue to happen. I am not afraid to die but how I die. Many a times, I just  hope I would not to wake up from my sleep. Just taking the easy way out. But wait, I am not giving up! I am releasing some frustrations once in a while but by no means I act destructively. Sometimes I sink into short depression periods. The pain from the cancer are wrecking havoc on my life and confidence.

Vitamin C
I finally did it. I have read about it, thought about it for months now and I finally had my IV Vitamin C (IVC) yesterday. How does it feel? Not much except I have this flu like symptoms. Could not mount a fever so it became uncomfortable. Had a hot bath, drank hot drink to sweat. Did not work and finally took a pain killer. I had a good sleep last night. Apparently, it could because of the IVC.

Dr. Hugh Riordan, a scientist, routinely checked plasma vitamin C levels in chronically ill patients. He found these sick patients to be consistently low in their plasma C levels. Interestingly enough, the cancer patients he was seeing had VERY LOW vitamin C reserves. This matched scientific literature documenting low vitamin C levels in cancer patients. Cancer cells were actively taking up vitamin C in a way that depleted tissue reserves of C.

PET scans are commonly ordered by oncologists to evaluate their cancer patients for metastases (cancer spread to other organs). What is actually injected into the patient at the start of the scan is radioactive glucose. Cancer cells are anaerobic obligates, which means they depend upon glucose as their primary source of metabolic fuel. Cancer cells employ transport mechanisms called glucose transporters to actively pull in glucose.

In the vast majority of animals, vitamin C is synthesized from glucose in only four metabolic steps. Hence, the molecular shape of vitamin C is remarkably similar to glucose. Cancer cells will actively transport vitamin C into themselves, possibly because they mistake it for glucose. Another plausible explanation is that they are using the vitamin C as an antioxidant. Regardless, the vitamin C accumulates in cancer cells.

If large amounts of vitamin C are presented to cancer cells, large amounts will be absorbed. In these unusually large concentrations, the antioxidant vitamin C will start behaving as a pro-oxidant as it interacts with intracellular copper and iron. This chemical interaction produces small amounts of hydrogen peroxide.

Because cancer cells are relatively low in an intracellular anti-oxidant enzyme called catalase, the high dose vitamin C induction of peroxide will continue to build up until it eventually lyses the cancer cell from the inside out! This effectively makes high dose IVC a non-toxic chemotherapeutic agent that can be given in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments. Based on the work of several vitamin C pioneers before him, Dr. Riordan was able to prove that vitamin C was selectively toxic to cancer cells if given intravenously. This research was recently reproduced and published by Dr. Mark Levine at the National Institutes of Health.

No Life

In my last post, an anonymous reader suggested that I take the melatonin supplement. I did a look-up in the Internet and found out that one can easily order online in the US as it is sold without prescription and over the counter. Then I visited my regular pharmacy to see if I can buy a bottle but was told by the pharmacist that they do not have stock. I then asked her if she could place a special order for me but she said she also don't know where to order the product. As a qualified pharmacist, I wonder why it is so difficult to contact her suppliers and ask? I mean if she wanted a prescription, I would then visit my doctor to get a description. Later I found out in the forums that it is very difficult to get in Malaysia and it would be easier to go to Singapore and buy some at health shops.

Recently I have been communicating with a cancer friend and come to know more about her through our email correspondences. Hopefully, we both can go Germany together to get the Hyperthermia treatment in say April or May. It would be nice to go together so that we can mutually encourage and support each other. In my journey, it really difficult passing every single day of late. I take certain decision and it affects my well being. For example, I chose not to take pain killers during the day. As such I have painful sensations during day time and if you see me, I spend most of my time lying down or sitting on the cough brooding as I curl myself together to minimise the discomfort and pain. Actually, I should not be complaining because I know of people in worst condition than me.

A friend once told me I should not have taken the HIFU treatment. She said she would have advised me not to do but said I would not have listen to her, so she kept quiet. I often seek her counsel. What makes me want to take this treatment? At this very moment, my only way of knowing my own well being is from what my body tells me. I have not taken CT/MRI scans on my chest and abdomen for more than a year. I gather from my body based on not only how I feel, but the physical symptoms and also a bit of the inner feelings. I know I am getting weaker by the day. There are so many therapies that I have read. So when I read a certain therapy, I just know that this therapy is suitable for me to take. Just like I would not take the conventional treatment also also some alternative therapies that was recommended. How do I know? I can't explain to you in a logical manner. It comes from reading the documentation and also the inner self. I also know that my condition is deteriorating and that my present therapy is not holding that well. Hence having another therapy seems obvious but selecting which therapy has always been difficult. HIFU for me is to debulk the tumor mass. It would not cure me but I hope my body would respond better with lesser tumors in my body.

When I was in China, after completing my HIFU treatment, my mind was thinking what next therapy should I take to treat my lungs (and now my left knee too)? The doctors have told me to take Avastin, the conventional drug targeted at small cell lung cancer. He said that was my only hope. Cold and hungry, I kept thinking is that so while resting in my hospital bed. It was only when I came back home, I was reintroduced to Hyperthermia therapy. I mean I have read some documentation about fever therapy before but was not convinced until now. Probably that was because I have more documentation now. Of course the question still remains, is Hyperthermia the correct treatment? I don't really know but I know it will help me get better. I am hoping more than better. It was chosen because of the strong research backing and that it is within my means to take the treatment. This is my life now.

Out of Sync

I have been reading up on my sleeping problems and I would like to share the information that I found out. This also helps to explains some of the problems that I am experiencing. Why don't I go to the doctor? I did and all they can say is that it is common to cancer patients, worry less and prescribe relaxant and/or sleeping medication.

Life Rhythms and Cancer
There is a link between rhythm and cancer and higher cancer rates has been documented in occupations that involved disrupted sleep. Female airline attendants have double the incidence of breast cancer compared to others in the population.

Our bodies have a number of rhythms and cycles that are multilayer, annual, seasonal, monthly, daily and hourly, as well as short repeated cycles like heart beat. When these rhythms are disturbed, illness may occur.

Cancer tissues have disrupted biological patterns and when cancer cells grows, normal twenty-four hour circadian patterns throughout the body goes out of synchrony, such as my disrupted temperature rhythms. Biorhythms disturbed include:

• Sleep patterns
• The rise and fall of body temperature
• Heart rate and hear rate variability and its interconnection with the breathing patterns and
• Patterns of cells and tissues growth

Insomnia is well documented in cancer patients due to not only the stress of the illness but the disturbed circadian rhythm. In most cancer patients, the patterns that underline sleep are out of sync. For healthy people, the body produces melatonin, which promotes natural sleep. In some cancer patients, the body's output of melatonin is significant lower, whereas others produces no melatonin at all. Restoration of sleep is a key to our capacity to heal.

The use of sleeping medication do not provide deep and regenerating sleep. Sleep medication tend to disturb the body's ability to repair and rebuild. Patients who habitually take sleeping medication have a 25-36% increased death rate. So sleeping medication should be used for crisis management for a few days but not for prolonged use.

What Can I Do?

• Resetting the internal clock. Reset the circadian rhythm by reducing the exposure to light at bedtime. The production of melatonin, triggered when it gets dark, can be disrupted by light exposure. So turn off all lights at bedtime, unplugging of electrical appliances that emits light and reduce computer work and TV after a certain nightly hour. Sleeping in absolute darkness, many people find that their sleep becomes deeper and less interrupted.
• Balancing body chemistry. Cancer and cancer medications can interfere with the metabolism of essential nutrients. Taking of a light protein snack before sleep can be helpful as taking calcium supplements.
• Cultivating peace of mind. In many cases, insomnia is triggered fear and worry. All these are counter productive and tapping into resources such as cognitive restructuring or mindfulness practice is helpful. It is important the mind not be over stimulated at bedtime. Watching new and a thriller movie before bedtime are not recommended. Choreograph the time before going to bed with peaceful music, videos, or uplifting reading. Allow an hour to relax. Develop self awareness and emotional balance.

Source: Fighting Cancer - A Nontoxic Approach to Treatment by Robert Gorter, MD, PhD and Erik Peper, PhD.

Discomforting Times

I am now going through a period of discomfort, something I have not experienced before since the start of my cancer journey. This discomfort stems from the feverish feeling of my body and its inability to sweat to break the feverish feeling. Hence my body feels warm and cold at the same time. With the warmness, I know my body is trying to induce sweat to cool down the body but it can't. As result, I have these sensations of the coolness of the skin and warmness of the body. This state of affair of the body is very uncomfortable for me. In order to mount enough heat to sweat, I would have to drink a hot drink. When the sweat breaks, I feel a sense of relief. This feeling happens throughout the day which makes me uncomfortable and restless. In addition to the above, sometimes I feel cold to the bone on my left and right legs, especially in the nights. A way out is to massage the legs with some warm medicated oil. So I also spend quite sometime every night self massaging me pair of legs in the middle of the night.

My sleeping pattern is still out of sync. I have been sleeping mostly past 3am and then wake up past 10am. During the daytime, I do try and sleep whenever possible. I also feel quite sleepy between the hours of 6pm and 9pm but unfortunately I can't sleep during these hours. If I do, most likely I will not be able to sleep for the rest of the night. Sometimes my sleepless night is caused by the slight pain on my left knee joint. I hope to treat the left knee joint tumor when I take my next treatment which I planned to do in May 2012 when the weather is warmer in Germany. Again, depending on my body condition, I may bring forward the treatment earlier in Bangkok instead. I have been informed that the hospital in Bangkok is not authorised by the Government to offer such treatment.

I think many of you have been thinking that I am doing a lot of self diagnosis and self medication. As you know, I have rejected conventional treatment and adopted the Gerson Therapy (GT). GT has been quite good to me but not good enough. I have seen a number of alternative practitioners and somehow I was not comfortable with what was recommended to me. Under the circumstances, it looks like I have to trust my own judgement to select some other form of treatment to complement GT. Put it this way, it would be good to be supervised by someone because it's very tiring to search and constantly read what remedies are available for myself. But after seeing how some of alternative practitioners treat people that I know, I thought I would have to take a bigger role to heal myself and not just depend on what these people recommend.

The Mind Is Willing But The Body Is Weak

You must have noticed that I have not been updating my  blog daily since I came back from my treatment in China. This is because I am not feeling very comfortable during the day due to some pain from my right abdomen and right leg. In the evening I get some relief because of the pain killer that I take. I must admit the pain has affected my daily activities and also concentration.

I have taken my mobility for granted, not having any problems moving about for the last 50 years but now, I find myself in unfamiliar territory. I am partly physically handicapped. Many times this can be frustrating. Emotionally, I am also feeling much more helpless now and would have to depend on people around me to get certain work done. Although a few of my friends have offered to fetch me around, I find that a bit troublesome for them. Anyway, I am able to drive short distance without too much pain and if I need to go out a little longer, I will have to take the pain killer. Previously I also go out to meet a lot more people but now, I rather stay home not just because of the pain but also not to hurt myself (such a falling down) while out there. I have spoken to a few other cancer patients who have mobility problems and now I can understand better what they are going through.

You would also have noticed that I am now updating my blog later in the day and sometimes in the middle of the night, list this post. Earlier the day, I fell asleep around 6pm (not that I intended but I was just tired) and after that I am unable to sleep even at 2am. Possibly I will have to wait for 3am or 4am before I can fall asleep. So I spent some of the sleepless night updating my blog and also doing some reading.

Waiting Game

For the last three days, I have been resting at home like most days. As usual, my problems are still the pain on my legs and also the healing pain on my right abdomen. Although the pain is moderate, I feel it has somehow crippled my daily activities. The only activities that I do now days are taking some short walks and take short drives to run some errands. Otherwise, I sit or lie on the bed resting my back. Because I do not take any pain killers during daytime, there are not much things I can do because the pain disrupts my concentration resulting in restlessness. So most of the time, besides listening to some music and doing short reading every now and then, I spent most time doing self massaging. I find that when I massage certain areas on my legs and thighs, it trigger the pain on my right abdomen area as well. What this means is that I think as my abdomen heals, so will the pain on my legs be reduced. As such, I am deferring treatment on my right leg until my abdomen heals. What I underestimated was that the HIFU treatment on my right kidney tumor has weakened my body so much. I thought this would only happen when I did the open surgery. By the way, if I have not told you before, the HIFU treatment has saved my right kidney. The HIFU treatment burned all the tumor cells around my right kidney. This was also one of the major reason why I chose HIFU treatment instead of conventional surgery which would mean I would lose my right kidney.

Today, I weigh myself and found that I now weighs 63.8kgs. This is an improvement and my weight is now about the same as during my pre HIFU treatment days. However, my energy levels are still low. The intensive eating program to gain weigh is bearing fruit and I will discontinue eating steamed fish once a day by end February 2012 and revert back to the strict Gerson diet.

I have been spending some of my time reading about Oncothermia and Hyperthermia therapy. Although on paper, Oncothermia seems newer and more effective, Hyperthermia seems to have a more successful treatment history. This is because not just the number of clinical trials and over 750 scientific papers published on this therapy, the main point for me is that I have limited funding. This means that if I tried Oncothermia, I will have to give up Hyperthermia therapy. I must select the therapy that is more likely to work for me, rather than a promise that it will work. Based on the current documentation that I am reading, it looks like I will opt for Hyperthermia Therapy in Germany.

Phew! It's My 30th Month

Today marks the start of the 30th month since the discovery of my kidney cancer. I would like to do a short review of my journey. The first 20 months was a breeze for me. I had very little problems and pain. The Gerson Therapy (GT) was holding, at least the spread of the cancer was controlled. However, things began to change in May 2011 last year. My pair of legs began to give me problems. I could not bend my left knee and later this was confirmed that the tumor has spread to my left knee joint. My right leg is also in constant pain and a MRI scan shows that the problem was caused by the bulging disc of the Lumbar spine in the L4/L5 area. December 2011 was the most painful period for me. Firstly, I went to Chongqing, China for HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) treatment. The cold weather was very bad for my legs and also my lungs. I could hardly walk and constantly coughing which also triggered the nerve pain on my right leg. After I underwent my HIFU treatment, my body condition worsen. Part of the reason was due to food, I was not eating well. Although the HIFU treatment was non invasive, the burning of a 12cm right kidney tumor inside my abdomen was more than I could take. It somehow zapped the energy out of me. Though the healing pain was quite low, nonetheless it can be discomforting. I noticed that the healing pain becomes more pronounce towards the evening just about dinner or after dinner. So I normally take a pain killer and it gives me relief for the rest of the night.

I am now at the crossed roads. The GT is not sufficient for me and I need to add more therapies to improve my health. The HIFU treatment was the first step, to take care of the large tumor. My recovery has been a little slow. The next step is how to treat the tumors on my lungs and now the left knee joint. From my research, I had identified Hyperthermia Therapy (HT) and subsequent I may use the enhanced Oncothermia treatment (OT) instead. I am continuing reading to search what treatment is best for me. Tentatively, if I do HT, it will most likely to be in Frankfurt or Cologne in Germany while if it is OT, it could be in Guangdong, China or I may opt for Germany instead. I will be writing to the clinics and hospitals to get further information and costs estimates about the tretment before deciding. I will be targeting May 2012 as the likely time I will do the treatment. It all depends on how fast I recover from my HIFU treatment.

Well, it certainly not smooth going for the past 29 months. But I am hopeful that with the correct attitude, mindset, sensible diet and promising set of therapies, my health condition would continue to improve.

Fighting Cancer With Fever - Part 2

For the last two days, I was not feeling very well. I was having feverish feeling for the whole day. My body seems very warm but not warm enough to get a full fever. I also did not take any form of medication. As a result, I was feeling very uncomfortable and also chills at times. So I spent most of my time sleeping. By nightfall, I has some healing pain around my abdominal area and took a pain killer. Subsequently, I think the fever broke and I began to sweat. Of course, after that, I felt much better.

Today, I want to share with you an enhanced therapy over Hyperthermia Therapy.

Oncothermia Therapy
Sometime back, I wrote about Hyperthermia Therapy and today, I want to build on that to introduce another therapy that is also based on heat therapy but an advancement over Hyperthermai Therapy. The latest and by far the best new weapon in the war on cancer is Oncothermia, more specifically called Oncotherm Loco-Regional Hyperthermia (OLRH). Not only does it successfully treat newly diagnosed cancers, it can deal successfully with stage IV cancers, and has been used successfully even when treating advanced cancers of the colon, lung, liver, pancreas and our all time favorite, glioblastoma (brain cancer).

In Oncothermia a modulated electric field(based on Rife modulation) with a carrier frequency of 13.56 MHz is generated by two active electrodes with a diameter of 17 cm. Since malignant tissue has higher conductivity than healthy human tissue, the electric field tends to flow predominantly through the malignant tumor tissue. The combination of deep layer heating and the electric field leads to stimulation of malignant tumor cells. This, in turn, triggers increased apoptotic activity in the tumor region and as a result, promotes cell death. Compared with classic Hyperthermia, which can result in burns, Oncothermia works at a significantly lower temperature. While classic Hyperthermia works at a temperature of 42°C, Oncothermia achieves a greater effect at just 38°C. Thanks to the selection at cellular level, the radiation only has an effect in the region of the tumor; the healthy regions remain as good as untouched.

Oncothermia selectively heats the tumor tissue in the region to be treated. For this reason, Oncothermia is particularly indicated for the treatment of localized solid tumors. It does not matter whether the tumor is located on the surface or deep down. The principle of self-focusing also allows moving regions of the body to be treated, such as the lungs, or thermo-sensitive regions such as the brain. Oncothermia is effective both in areas with high blood flow, such as the liver, and in regions with high air circulation, such as the lungs.

Microbiological tests have proven that higher ionic concentrations exist in the more active malignant cellular environment. Consequently, the extracellular matrix of malignant tissue inherently has greater conductivity and permittivity than healthy tissue. This difference facilitates selective focus on malignant cells even in highly mixed tissue containing large numbers of healthy and malignant cells. The derived advantage is the electric field tends to flow predominantly through the tumor tissue where the concentration of focused electric energy selectively heats the malignant cells to temperatures > 42°C. This process of natural selection is further enhanced by the electric-field modulation, which addresses the autonomous, non-collective behavior of individual malignant cells by reengaging the body's inherent immune response. Malignant tumor cells then die via a process known as "apoptosis".

During treatment with the patient lies on the waterbed. The electric field is set up between two electrodes: the bolus electrode positioned at the site where the patient is to be treated and the counter electrode positioned under the mattress of the waterbed. During the treatment, thanks to the interaction between the electric field and the heat, selection at cellular level takes place, the system self focuses on the tumor and apoptosis (programmed cell death) is increased.

Usually, the patient is treated with 13,56 MHz radio frequency waves for 1-1½ hour every second day. 10 such treatments are recommended. 

Oncothermia can be used to treat a broad spectrum of solid tumors and has proven synergies with current standards of care. Oncothermia is safe, non-invasive, uses no x-rays, and demonstrates no side effects. It can be successfully integrated with other naturopathic protocols including IV Vitamin-C, IV Alpha Lipoic Acid, IV Mistletoe and Ukrain.

The proven benefits of this include:

• Chemo-sensitization. OLRH sensitizes the tumor to complementarily applied chemotherapy because constrained thermodynamic flow effects destabilize the cell membrane, increasing its permeability and structural dysfunction, thereby increasing the absorption rate of the administered chemotherapy agent. OLRH compromises the tumor cell membrane allowing higher intracellular drug concentrations. The positive results of phase II/III trails have established that OLRH with chemotherapy is a novel clinical modality that allows the chemotherapy to be better targeted within the heated tumor.
• Radio-sensitization. OLRH sensitizes the tumor to complementarily applied radiotherapy by oxygenation (increased oxygen delivery to the cells via blood perfusion). The addition of OLRH during a series of radiotherapy treatments improves relevant clinical endpoints such as response rate, local control and overall survival. OLRH increases oxygenation, thus reducing hypoxia and amplifying the radiation cytotoxic effect. OLRH also inhibits the repair of radiation damaged tumor cells.
• Immune System Response. OLRH triggers antigen expression through the compromised malignant cellular membrane. Of particular significance is the release of heat shock proteins (HSP) that promotes a natural immune response destructive to the tumor. Danger signals such as mobility group B1 protein, ATP and HSP, which are released from treated necrotic tumor cells, stimulate the natural immune system and therefore assist the anti-tumor response.

  

  Adherent Connections

  OLRH also stimulates the re-establishment of adherent connections (β-catenins, E-cadherins) that play a key role in triggering apoptosis and suppressing malignant cell dissemination.
• Gene Activation. OLRH activates the p53 tumor suppressor gene.
• Surgical Procedures. OLRH has application in the post-surgical setting to treat potential rogue cells liberated via biopsy or surgery.
• OLRH is clinically proven with over 100,000 treatments administered yearly at 180 facilities worldwide.

For a list of clinics that are offering Oncothermia therapy worldwide, please click here.

Resuming My Therapies

I resumed my coffee enema this morning. After a 3 months break, it's certainly not easy to do the enema. The spasm was so strong and coupled with the pain on my right abdomen, it was really challenging to. After I completing the enema, I always get a sense of relief. I am not sure if this is psychological but I do feel better. It has been well documented that coffee enema not only helps the body to detox, it helps to reduce pain in the body as well. I am slowly resuming the Gerson therapy. I have been juicing about 6 to 8 times a day and taking on a stricter organic vegetarian diet with the exception of steamed fish which I will stop taking by end February 2012. I will be doing coffee enema once a day and will monitor my body situation before I decide to increase the frequency.

I have also started to take CACare's TCM herbs for my knee bone metastasis at the recommendation of my friend Yeong. In addition, I also resumed Homeopathy treatment which is being supervised by a friend since last week. He has suggested I go to Sri Lanka with him for a few days to see his master for a follow-up treatment. He has a house and transportation there and all I need to do is just buy the plane ticket. Furthermore, he said I need a holiday and he could arrange for me to visit many of the Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka sometime in mid March 2012. I have tentatively agreed to the arrangement subject to the progress of my healing.

At the moment, the healing pain on my right abdominal area is still giving a lot of discomfort. There is nothing much I can do now but give it time to heal. Taking of pain killer, which I do take once in the night is to help me keep the pain down and help me get some sleep.

Fighting Cancer With Fever

I will now share with you some information about Hyperthermia Therapy. I think this treatment is suitable for most type of cancers (with the exception of leukemia and brain cancer which require special attention when using Hyperthermia). By the way, the HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) treatment which I undertook in China is a special form of Hyperthermia therapy.

Hyperthermia Therapy
Hyperthermia means a body temperature that is higher than normal. High body temperatures are often caused by illnesses, such as fever or heat stroke. But hyperthermia can also refer to heat treatment – the carefully controlled use of heat for medical purposes.

Fever has been too long a misunderstood and mistreated symptom. Most orthodox doctors try to combat and suppress fever. Actually fever is a constructive, health-promoting symptom, initiated and created by the body in its own effort to fight infections and other conditions of disease and to restore health. High temperature speeds up metabolism, inhibits the growth of invading virus or bacteria and accelerates the healing processes.

How can hyperthermia be used to treat cancer?
There are 2 main ways in which hyperthermia can be used:

• Very high temperatures can be used to destroy a small area of cells, such as a tumor. This is often called local hyperthermia or thermal ablation.

• The temperature of a part of the body (or even the whole body) can be raised to a higher than normal level. It isn’t hot enough to kill the cells directly, but this can allow other types of cancer treatments such as radiation therapy, immunotherapy, or chemotherapy to work better. This is known as regional hyperthermia or whole-body hyperthermia.

Contrary to healthy tissue, cancer cells cannot easily divert heat because of their primitive blood supply. This has to do with the fact that tumor cells have a different metabolism and their vascular supply lines are different compared to those of healthy cells.

Cancer cells experience a build-up in heat, which leads to an inadequate supply of oxygen and a depletion of nutrients in the tumor. These deficiencies lead in turn to disturbances in the metabolic processes of dividing and maintaining cells, including the failure of the repair systems of the cells. Thus thermal cell components (i.e. those parts of the cells damaged by hyperthermia) cannot be replaced, and this can lead to the death of the cancer cells.

Furthermore, results from studies show that cancer cells form a special type of protein structure on the surface of the cells when heated to a temperature of approx. 42° C, which does not happen with healthy cells. These protein structures – also known as heat shock proteins – are recognized by the body’s immune system as foreign substances, thus enabling the immune system to destroy them.

So hyperthermia works in two ways: on the one hand by creating thermal damage and on the other hand by stimulating the body’s own immune system.

Moderate Temperature
A sauna, or Finnish steam bath, is another excellent way to benefit from overheating therapy. In addition to an artificially induced fever, which a prolonged steam bath always accomplishes, the sauna bath is specifically conducive to profuse therapeutic sweating.

The normal core temperature of a normal person is 98.6°F or 37.5°C. In cancer patients, the core body temperature is about 0.5°C lower, normally hovering below 37°C. During my month's stay in the hospital in Chongqing, China, the nurses take my body temperature twice a day and most of the time the temperature readings are around 36.3°C and 36.7°C. As a result, a cancer patient cannot induce fever automatically and the hand and feet feels cold.
 
A study in Hamburg, Germany found that an increase in body temperature alone does not automatically induce response. In this research, the temperature of cancer patients were raised with hyperthermia therapy while another group of healthy volunteers took part in very streneous exercise to raise body temperature.Although both group have elevated body temperature, immune function increased in cancer patients but not in healthy volunteers. Elevated immune factors in the cancer patients included human growth hormone and the induction of NK cells and T cells.

So raising the body temperature by other means may not be as effective as Hyperthermia. Furthermore, it is important to maintain stable temperature for a period of time and overheating could damage other organs in the body. Doctors in using Hyperthermia therapy have equipment that constantly monitor the temperature of the patient and also ensure the patient is not dehydrated during the 4 hour treatment process.

Down But Not Out

I think one of the things I did wrong was that I focused to much on my cancer therapy. According to Dr. Demuth (in the book, German Cancer Breakthrough by Andrew Scholberg), be careful what you focus on, because what you focus on tends to grow. If you focus all of your attention on cancer, you’re likely to get more stress and more cancer. If you focus instead on health and healing, you’re likely to get more health and healing.

I thought after the bad news on Friday, I would react badly. Yes, I did feel very sad but surprisingly by Friday night, I was back on my usual self again. No more shed of tears for the bad news, maybe I have becoming more accepting of my condition. Instead I spent the night thinking what I can do to improve my health. By the way, I slept very well on Friday and Saturday night. Anyway, I spent the whole of Saturday reading on the Hyperthermia therapy (also know as Fever therapy). Incidentally, my friend Yeong, just happened to complete reading the book Fighting Cancer - A Nontoxic Approach to Treatment by Robert Gorter, MD, PhD and Erik Peper, PhD called me after reading my Friday post. The book he was reading also uses Hyperthermia as the anchor therapy supported by other additional immune therapies. Dr. Gorter and Dr. Peper are both cancer survivors and Dr. Gorter used Hyperthermia and mistletoe (Viscum album) to cure himself of Stage IV germ-cell carcinoma at the age of 26. He went on to develop the Gorter Model of fighting cancer which is based on strengthening the immune system and then using the immune system to fight the cancer. Dr. Gorter also founded the Medical Center in Cologne, Germany to treat cancer patients using the Gorter Model. I like to thank Yeong for loaning me the book to read. He also offered to be my chauffeur in case I can't drive. What a friend to have in time of need!

After my treatment in Chongqing, China, my Chinese doctors told me that I need to get additional treatment using conventional drugs because they don't think there are other options opened to me. Of course, I kept quiet as I think that is not the path I am taking. I have been thinking since what else can I do to improve my own health and then a cancer friend emailed me about Hyperthermia therapy. The timing seems perfect because after reading the documentation, I am convinced that these therapies which are immune building are in line with my present approach. Not just the testimonials but also backed by strong research evidence all over the world.

As you know, I am against doing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. There is an exception when chemotherapy or radiotherapy are used as targeted therapy, meaning the treatment is applied directly to the tumors in controlled quantities, for which I would consider the treatment. Dr. Demuth warned, “After conventional radiation treatment, the body can never recover. You always have side effects, but not visible side effects. The patient can’t feel the radiation, so conventional doctors cavalierly say, ‘Radiation treatment was tolerated very well by the patient.’ But what about later? The white blood cell count goes down for life! Not much can be done to undo that damage.” So you know why I am not jumping to see my oncologist to get the dose of radiation to treat my left knee joint.

So besides the six clinics that I mentioned earlier, there is now an additional clinic in Cologne to consider. Incidentally, my cancer friend also told me that nearer back home, there is a hospital in Bangkok that also offers Hyperthermia therapy as well. At this moment, I am monitoring the progress my HIFU treatment recovery. There are still healing pain every now and then. I can only start the Hyperthermia therapy when I have recovered and hopefully, that can be achieved by end March 2012. My December 2011 experience in China reminds me that my body may not be able to adapt to the cold weather which is why I planned to get treatment in Germany during the summer months. But then the summers months are still four months away and I may not have that much time left if my body condition deteriorates in the meantime. So depending on my body condition, I may seek treatment in Bangkok earlier instead. This cancer friend of mine is seeking Hyperthermia treatment in Bangkok and I am following her progress closely.

End of The Road?

I now know why my left knee joint is starting to give me some pain. I went to a specialist clinic for a checkup on my left knee today. The doctor did a x-ray and also an ultrasound scan on the joint. The doctor told me that my cancer has now spread to my left knee and recommended that I see my oncologist for radiotherapy treatment to shrink the tumor and so that the pain can be reduced.

From current developments, it looks like the cancer has started to spread to other parts in my body namely on the top of my right lung and the left knee joint. I need to review my present therapy to see what other options are available to me.

There is one more treatment that I may go that is Hyperthermia Therapy plus other supporting therapies in Germany or Austria. The cost is reasonable to me and still cheaper than conventional treatment. If it happens, it will happen most likely be during this Summer months or by Autumn, the latest. I plan to stay three weeks at the clinic. The reason for the wait is to allow my HIFU treatment on my right kidney to heal for at least three months. Six clinics were recommended by a book called German Cancer Breakthrough by Andrew Scholberg. I will select one of them. I will also be writing to Veramedica Institute (Tel: 011-49-89-64 74 92, Fax: 011-49-89-64 22 859, Mobile: 011-49-171-2700 797, e-mail: veramedica@aol.com) for a recommendation of which one of the six clinics is suitable for my type of cancer.

It looks like 2012 year will be a very difficult year for me. I feel very sad but I will not give up. I hope I have the strength to carry on. I would quote a passage by a patient from the book because that's how I feel as well:

... Helmut accepted the possibility that his cancer could cause his death. Helmut examined his life and said, “Well, maybe I’ll make it to the age of 52 in a couple of months. My family is O.K. My house is paid for. If I die from this cancer, things will be O.K. If my life is over, it’s over.”

Your common sense might tell you that’s the wrong attitude. You might think cancer patients should deny the possibility of death and struggle and fight against it. Not so! In other words, it would be a mistake for a patient to say, “I’ll never accept this cancer! I’ll fight the cancer in every way no matter what, etc.” That’s the wrong attitude.

Dr. Demuth is convinced that Helmut’s serene acceptance of the possibility that the cancer could kill him was exactly the right attitude. That’s because this attitude of acceptance enabled Helmut to relax enough to assess his inner resources and focus on health and healing...

Long Nights

Most nights, I have been sleeping late, almost at about 3am. However, I could not sleep last night. Of late, I have this cold feeling on my hands and feet. It as if you have rubbed some mint on the skin. This sensation came about from the exposure of my hands and foot from the wind of the fan. For my legs, even though I have been wearing long pants, I still feel the cold sensation, as if the wind has penetrated the pants to contact the skin. The I don't know why  have this feeling of late. Yesterday night was really frustrating when I can't sleep and trying to wait for morning to break. I spent most of my time massing my hand and legs with ointment. Finally I think I managed to catch some sleep at about 5.30am. If things don't improve by tonight, I will see a doctors for some medications.

Last Sunday, I tried to drive around the neighborhood. It's feel good to be able to drive again. I tried again yesterday afternoon and today for much longer distances. I think I can drive short distances because after sitting for a while, I will experience some pain from my right abdomen. I am still not able to carry any heavy things. For my trip back from China, I took pain killers to enable me to take the journey. So for now, I will not try to travel anywhere far.