More Than Believing

I thought I do a follow-up discussion after reading the comments of Kok Piew and Gary, both friends of mine who wrote on my last post "I Wish I Knew".

I will start off the discussion with a generalisation, "Every cancer patient will only take the treatment (whether conventional or alternative) that he or she believes will cure or improve his or her condition". And if you look at the statistics, most cancer patients died than getting cured. Hence, I think the "believing" alone in a treatment will work by the patient is not good enough. It's also necessary not only know how the treatment works but what type of cancers the treatment works on. This I believe, you can then chose a more effective treatment and better your chances of survival. It's also a known fact that a majority (95%) of cancer patients will select conventional treatment. Those who selected alternative treatment are normally made up of two groups of people. The first group are those who are trying alternative after conventional treatment has failed. The second minority group are those that believes alternative treatment offers better chances of cure and hence did not do conventional treatment.

When I first started alternative treatment, I have the purist view that alternative treatment is to the exclusion of any conventional medications. I was naive then. My first 18 months on Gerson Therapy (GT) was relatively pain free and I did not even have to take a single painkiller during that time. However, when my cancer spread to the bones, I experienced a different level of pain. I soon found that I can only depend on conventional pain medication to help control the pain. Managing the pain is not just simply popping in painkillers. I also found out about breakthrough pain, that even after taking painkillers round the clock, additional random pain can still strike. I suffered such pain attack just two days ago and I only managed to get relief when I increase the intake of opioid painkillers.  As I began to read about more books, like The Gorter Model, Beyond The Magic Bullet - The Anti-cancer Cocktail and German Cancer Breakthrough and also learn firsthand about cancer treatments in Germany from patients, I realised that alternative cancer treatment is not just about using natural treatment methods to the exclusion of conventional medication. These cancer clinics in Germany uses a combination of conventional and alternative methods of treatment to give the patients the best of both worlds. This is about surviving cancer and they have one of the highest success rate of cancer healing in the world.

After two years on GT, I realised that I was not getting anywhere close to a cure and I began to accept ideas that a hybrid approach that are being used by so many successful German clinics could offer another path of cure. And the opportunity came when a reader from Hongkong introduced her doctor from New York to look into my case. And I was introduced to some conventional medication that I did not even know existed. Although they belong to conventional medication, they are also not used in mainstream cancer treatment. And after researching the conventional medication recommended, I was inclined to believe that these medication have potential and indeed offer a hope to me. A late cancer friend of mine has been feeding me with some alternative cancer therapies that she was taking. I checked out all the therapies that she mentioned (and wrote about them in my blog too) and in fact, I took up two of her recommendations. The first was the HIFU treatment and the other was the IV Vitamin C therapy which now I am taking.

In my last post, I painted the view of finding myself in an unfamiliar territory. Never have I thought when I first started alternative treatment, my journey would lead me to what I am doing now. I am totally unfamiliar with the conventional medication that I am taking and also combining them with alternative treatment. How to manage the side effects and healing reactions? I have no idea if such combination will work. But rather than to leave it to faith, I decided to put my believe in the therapies. So far, how many people have taken such an approach? I am sure that there will be some people out there who will not agree to this approach.  I am taking a different view, much like some of the doctors in the German clinics. I do not know what I am doing is right or wrong, worth it or not. But I can tell you, with hindsight, everybody is an expert critic. Some people think that they can understand the mechanics behind the decision making of a cancer patient on treatments. I think that is a fallacy.