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.