Those lumps

I am still having problems getting the biggest and first lump, that appeared sometime in Jan 2009, to heal and the abrasion from my undergarment is not helping either. The solid lump feels about 1 cm in diameter and the skin is always red and raw and sometimes bleeding. I had read that if it does not heal it is probably cancerous. With my condition, I am not ruling that out.

I have been using 'gel blister plaster' from Watsons to protect it and aid in healing. Recently, I have also applied Germolene antiseptic cream on it whenever I changed the blister plaster.

The 'gel blister plaster' is actually meant for the foot to protect and help in blister healing caused by footwear. However, my skin is very sensitive to all other kinds of plasters and I had no better alternative.

A friend had recommended duoderm wafer. However, the thin one does not provide sufficient cushion and the thick one gets all soggy after a shower. The duoderm wafer also comes in a big piece and I had to cut it down to size.

Guardian also has its own brand of blister plaster, but it is thinner and smaller and does not provide enough cushion.

Follow-up visit with oncologist

25 January 2010 - I had a check-up done by my oncologist.

As usual, he did a physical check and asked if I felt any pain or breathlessness, to which I replied that I had none.

He commented that my blood test results were okay.

He surprised me by not mentioning chemo or hormone therapy for the lumps this time round, probably he was aware that I would not agree to either if my blood test results were okay. My next appointment is 3 months' time in April.

My cancer marker for CA153 is now 13.3. I was pleasantly surprised as this is the first time in so many months that it had actually gone down, albeit by 0.6 from Nov 2009. It had been steadily climbing since Jan 2009.

With the appearance of lumps in recent months (7 now), and although I had felt fine, I was kind of prepared and expecting to see the marker inching up again.

Blood test before check-up on 25 Jan 2010

I usually go for my blood test a couple of days before my appointment with my oncologist as the test for the cancer marker takes half a day before the results are known, and I always want a copy of my blood test results.

It was no different this time round. I went for my blood test on 21 Jan as I also wanted to meet up with AJ at NCC.

AJ was there for blood transfusion as her haemoglobin count was low. She was told that sometimes this situation happens after chemo, and I am not sure if it was also due to her prolonged intake of oral chemo.

AJ needed 2 pints of blood, and the transfusion lasted 6 hours.

Fighting cancer becomes more challenging

Metastatic breast cancer - I was stage 4 and terminal during the relapse. Multiple liver metastases, multiple bony metastases to thoracic spine, lumbar spine and ribs, metastasis in upper lobe of left lung, fluid in heart lining, fluid in lining of both lungs that tested positive for cancer cells, grade 3 cancer cells and CerbB2 (HER2) positive - I had them all.

Gosh! Come to think of it, my ctscan at that time must have looked like some polka-dotted artwork.

If facts and past figures are any indication, I should have become part of the statistics. However, my being alive is helping to keep the figures down.

Before I knew about the facts and figures, I would have just been doing my best to stay alive. Now, that I know about them, staying alive becomes a little more challenging, that is, it helps to swing the odds in favour of survivors.

Of course the fight is not mine alone. The oncologists with their conventional therapies, and those around me with their support, advices, recommendations - the approach may be different, but we are all fighting one common enemy - the cancer. However, I probably have an edge because the body is mine and I get to choose and decide.

Facts about breast cancer in Singapore

The following information was taken from 'Calendar 2008', a joint production from Breast Cancer Foundation and GlaxoSmithKline Oncology.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women in Singapore.

- 1 in 5 cancers occurring among women in Singapore is breast cancer
- Every year, there are 1,100 new cases (based on statistics from 2007 and before) of breast cancer with about 3 women being diagnosed with breast cancer each day. [Note : according to Abreast Link (BCF's newsletter of Oct 2008 - Jan 2009) the figure is 1,300.]
- About 270 (2007) die from the disease each year. (2008 - it was 313)
- 1 in 20 women in Singapore will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
- The incidence of breast cancer is highest among women aged 55 to 59. (My note : I am not certain about this as I thought it should be 50 to 59.)

Advanced breast cancer (also known as metastatic breast cancer) where cancer has spread outside the breast to other organs in the body, is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women, resulting in more than 400,000 deaths worldwide.

Breast cancer patients who have too much of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor - 2 [referred to as ErbB2 (HER2)-positive] on the outer surface of normal breast cells are less responsive to hormone treatment. They are also at a greater risk of disease progression and death. 1 in 3 breast cancer patients here are ErbB2-positive.

With no cure for advanced breast cancer, more effective treatment options are needed to give patients more time to do the things they want to do as well as improve the quality of life for patients. The latest innovative targeted treatments help delay the spread of ErbB2-positive metastatic breast cancer and bring new hope to patients who can then cherish and spend more time with their loved ones.

Extracted from the Abreast Link, Oct 2008 - Jan 2009 issue, "breast cancer has overtaken colorectal and lung cancer as the top killer among women".

Breast cancer breakthroughs

Source : Reader's Digest, January 2010

Cancer treatment options

I am sorely disappointed that our government should choose to model its cancer treatments after USA only, which based its treatments mostly on drugs supplied by the big pharmaceutical companies. The drugs used are mostly toxic in nature with lots of side effects, and sometimes deadly.

Germany would have been a better choice as it has been a leader in natural and alternative cancer therapies for a long time.

It has taken our government a long time before it recently gave the go ahead for traditional Chinese medicine the recognization as an alternative form of treatment.

I wonder how many more years it will take our government to realize that chemotherapy and radiation are not the best therapies for cancer. I wonder how many patients who not only do not recover and end up dead after being milked dry financially by the doctors who insisted on chemo and radiation as the preferred therapies.

I had just formed an acquaintance with another cancer patient. She said sometimes the cancer did not respond to the drugs prescribed, so her oncologist will introduced another one. She realised that her onco had lined up a whole range of drugs and she was going through the drugs by trial and error. I have heard of this before and it is precisely what the oncos are doing - trial and error. In the meantime the drugs that had no effect on the cancer cells are killing the good cells thus weakening the body.

If my memory did not fail me, I vaguely recalled a newspaper article claiming that cancer patients in Singapore are living longer now. How so? I am not convinced when a rough gauge of the obituaries in the daily papers and those that I know of seemed to tell a different story.

Carnivora and hyperthermia

The following newsletter warned that Carnivora and hyperthermia is a fatal combination.

If I were much younger and financially comfortable, I would probably have headed to Germany for hyperthermia treatment. But since I am neither, I have settled for Carnivora. And now with this newsletter, even if I were to receive a windfall, hyperthermia would be out for me, unless a break between both treatments is acceptable.

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Farrah Fawcett’s fatal mistake

A U.S. President refused America’s outdated cancer treatments -- Here’s where he went instead Americans would be shocked if they knew that President Reagan, while still in the White House, turned his back on American cancer treatments. He secretly sneaked off to a German clinic — and lived another 19 years. Why? Because German cancer doctors are the best — thanks to breakthrough treatments labeled "quackery" in the U.S. (maybe because they cost a fraction of American treatments). Suzanne Somers, Cher, William Holden and Anthony Quinn are among the celebrities who have gone to clinics you’ll discover in my first-ever English-language guide to German cancer doctors and treatments. Click here to learn more!

Cancer Defeated is a major source of information about alternative cancer treatments, so several people have asked us why Farrah Fawcett, the famous actress, died of cancer even though she received alternative treatments in Germany.

You may have been among the millions who watched the documentary she made from her deathbed (where she praised her German doctors despite the fact that the treatments hadn’t been successful).

As we’ve said many times, Germany is the world’s top destination for people who prefer alternative cancer treatment. If I had early-stage cancer, I might try some of the at-home treatments first, but if those didn’t work — or if I had late-stage cancer -- I’d head for Germany.

In fact, if I had any stage of prostate cancer — early or late — personally, I’d forget about the "home remedies" and go straight to Germany, because their top method of treatment is extremely effective when it comes to curing prostate tumors.

I don’t say this lightly. Nothing is certain when it comes to treating cancer. Even the best treatments can fail. But this certain type of therapy available in Germany has always been at the top of my list of powerful, effective cancer treatments, from the time I first learned about it.

So you might ask, if German treatments are so hot, why didn’t they work for Farrah Fawcett?

I wondered, too. And who better to ask than Andrew Scholberg, the author of our Special Report, German Cancer Breakthrough? Andy did some investigating, and he found out that Farrah made a big mistake.

Here’s Andrew Scholberg’s exclusive report. . .

Only a handful of people know about the tragic mistake that may have cost Farrah her life. You won’t read this anywhere else, in spite of the thousands of words that have been published about this famous Hollywood actress and her final illness.

Farrah never received one single hyperthermia treatment during any of her six visits to Germany, according to Germany’s number one authority on alternative cancer treatment, Vera de Winter.

It’s ironic that Farrah never received hyperthermia, a potent cancer treatment that German doctors have perfected. In October of 2007 when I was doing research for my book German Cancer Breakthrough, Vera de Winter became my most valued source. She helped me get appointments with Germany’s top cancer doctors who specialize in hyperthermia.

I personally interviewed these top doctors and toured their clinics. In my book I recommend six of these them. If Farrah Fawcett had checked into one of the clinics I recommend, she certainly would have received hyperthermia treatments, and she might still be alive today.

Let me explain what hyperthermia is and why it’s so effective. Unlike normal cells, cancer cells can’t tolerate heat. Hyperthermia uses this principle to weaken and kill off cancer cells.

The principle is the same as a fever. Our immune systems give us a fever when fighting a full-body infection because the high temperatures kill the microbes while leaving our own cells undamaged. In fact, hyperthermia for cancer got started when a 19th century doctor noticed that cancer patients who got a high fever from an infection (such as scarlet fever) often got rid of their cancer.

Since then, abundant research has confirmed that high, fever-like temperatures kill cancer cells. And new technologies have been developed to raise the body temperature for a short time (without resorting to an infection, which can be dangerous in itself). Germany is the world’s number one venue for receiving this advanced, highly effective treatment.

A typical hyperthermia treatment lasts about six hours. During the first two hours the patient’s body temperature is gradually raised to about 105 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is maintained for two hours, and then over the next two hours the doctors gradually bring the patient’s body temperature back down to normal. A doctor carefully monitors the patient’s vital signs during this whole process and makes sure that the patient’s hydration is replenished and maintained.

Hyperthermia kills cancer cells by the millions. Any cancer cells that remain are so weak that another therapy such as vitamin C can kill them off. Hyperthermia is effective, safe, and painless. Unlike chemotherapy and radiation, there are no side effects. German doctors have used it thousands of times with impressive results.

Tragically, Farrah Fawcett chose a clinic located in a small Bavarian town called Bad Wiesee that doesn’t offer hyperthermia because of a quirk in the local law – a foolish mistake on the part of local authorities, if you ask me.

Here’s why this one German jurisdiction banned it: Even though the safety of hyperthermia is well established, hyperthermia is absolutely incompatible with an herbal remedy called Carnivora. Let me emphasize that: hyperthermia and Carnivora are a fatal combination!

Several years ago a German doctor created a scandal when he used both Carnivora and hyperthermia on his cancer patients, causing them to bleed to death. That doctor was sent to prison for medical negligence. The town of Bad Wiesee overreacted to this scandal by throwing out the baby with the bathwater: it outlawed hyperthermia. The tragic result is that doctors in Bad Wiesee are legally prohibited from using Germany’s most effective treatment against cancer!

Here’s a brief timeline of Farrah’s cancer ordeal:

October 2006: Farrah is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer — anal cancer — at the age of 59. She receives surgery and chemo.

February 2007: With much fanfare, Farrah’s U.S. doctors announce that Farrah is now cancer free.

May 2007: Farrah’s cancer returns. Her U.S. doctors recommend that she undergo a colostomy — a radical procedure that would have forced Farrah to eliminate her solid waste into a plastic bag for the rest of her life. Farrah says no. She instead goes to Germany and checks into a clinic in Bad Wiesee that had just opened in 2006. Farrah’s German doctor is tickled pink to get a celebrity patient!

November 2008: A heated discussion takes place between Farrah’s Bad Wiesee doctor and Vera de Winter, the founder of several cancer clinics in Germany. Vera urgently tells the doctor, "Farrah NEEDS hyperthermia!" Farrah’s doctor replies, "I’ll do it my way," or words to that effect.

April 6, 2009: Farrah is back in California where she is rushed to a hospital, unconscious. Three days later she is released. She is now back on American cancer treatments, including chemotherapy. One of her American doctors, Lawrence Piro, M.D., claims Farrah is "doing very well" but admits that Farrah is weak from the side effects of chemotherapy.

May 7, 2009: Farrah’s condition deteriorates. It’s described as "critical."

June 25, 2009: Farrah’s battle with cancer comes to an end. She dies at 9:28 a.m., Pacific daylight time.

Vera de Winter personally told me over the phone that Farrah should have received hyperthermia in Germany but did not. Vera’s associate, a Dutchman named Nath Zuckermann, sent me an e-mail that also confirms this tragic fact. Zuckermann told me, "Evidently Farrah Fawcett was never offered any treatments with hyperthermia. She never received one single hyperthermia treatment during her many stays in Germany."

According to my sources, Farrah’s doctor in Bad Wiesee gave her natural supplements and therapy aimed at boosting Farrah’s immune system. But she denied Farrah the best weapon in the German anti-cancer arsenal: hyperthermia. Perhaps the doctor knew she would lose Farrah as a patient if she sent her to another clinic for hyperthermia. She lost Farrah anyway. So did the rest of the world.

Germany has perfected the most advanced non-toxic cancer therapies in the world, especially hyperthermia. The doctors I interviewed for my book use a sophisticated hyperthermia machine costing about a quarter of a million dollars.

But I can’t recommend every cancer clinic in Germany. Most of them, in fact, are pretty much like the cancer hospitals here in America: they use crude and toxic treatments like high-doses of chemo and radiation. But six clinics in Germany stand out above all the others, routinely curing stage-four cancers with an integrative, holistic approach built around hyperthermia. For more information, check out German Cancer Breakthrough.

Back to Lee Euler. . .

I first learned about hypothermia from working with Dr. Morton Walker to create our first Special Report, Natural Cancer Remedies that Work, which we published in 2005 and updated in 2009.

Dr. Walker has been one of the leading voices when it comes to informing Americans about German cancer treatments, including hyperthermia. And hyperthermia is the #1 treatment – chapter one – in Natural Cancer Remedies that Work. Along with Andrew Scholberg’s report, German Cancer Breakthrough, Dr. Walker’s report is a good way to discover more about this valuable alternative cancer treatment.

That plastic smell

Yup, I am still getting it, not consistently now, but on and off.

Sunday, in the middle of taiji, the smell came back, and it became quite intense when I was shopping with my youngest at Parkway Parade after taiji.

I have never liked the smell of plastic, and had to use essential oil to mask the smell.

My family's probably starting to think that the mummy is going cuckoo, after being constantly asked, 'do you smell it?'

As I have realised that I get the smell even when I am out of the house, and that my family members are not getting it, at least I can be assured that the problem is not with my house.

So, the problem is with me. Maybe my olfactory system 'short-circuited'. Whatever it is, all I can say is that I am not enjoying it one bit, only consolation is that it is not always present now.

Smelling burnt plastic?

Just a short update on something weird.

Since Monday, 4 Jan, my sense of smell seemed to have gone haywire. I kept smelling burnt plastic or wax, or what?. I couldn't seem to put a finger to it, and when I asked my kids, their responses were, like my youngest put it - 'Mummy, it's only you. We don't smell anything like that.'

I have noticed that after being on oxygen or chemo or a combination of both, my sense of smell was not so acute anymore.

I noticed that even when I am outside the house, I am still getting that smell.

It has already been 3 days now and the smell is still there. So, I don't know what is happening.

How much time can we buy?

Recently, I asked the ayurvedic master about how long do I need to be on medication. His answer - 5 years. 5 years of ayurvedic herbal brews to build up my immune system to fight the cancer and to repair the damage caused by the chemo.

I have just completed 2 years of ayurvedic herbal medication and this alone has cost me about $20k. Another 3 years would cost me another $30k which means a total of about $50k.

It got me on some serious thinking.

Is it really worth it and how much time can I buy?

Given the nature of my condition and knowing that there is no guarantee against cancer, I am fully aware that there is a possibility that the cancer may return. In the words of my onco - it's a matter of time.

As it is, I now have 7 lumps that I am monitoring. The plus side is that other than occasional aches, I feel fine.

I had mentioned to a cousin that I may stop the ayurvedic medicine and just continue with my other alternatives. She suggested that perhaps I should downgrade to a smaller flat.

How much money can one get out of downgrading from a bigger flat to a smaller one?

My flat is fully paid for now and is therefore not a burden to me financially. If I were to downgrade, I have to pay back CPF whatever I have used with interest and whatever difference there is, it could not be so substantial and would have been gone in a matter of time. Plus, I would still have to worry about the instalments for the new flat.

This is one alternative that I will not consider.

Let's face it - I am already past the half century mark, and with no guarantee that the cancer will forever stay away, should I even consider bankrupting the family and become a burden to them, considering that my three kids have not completed their education and the eldest has just started university?

After the cancer and chemo had done their damage, I have a body that is not as fit as before. The Kota Kinabalu trip was a test of my physical endurance. While climbing up to the canopy walk, my knees and heart were stretched to collapsing point. While the other members of the group were having a jolly good time tossing comments back and forth, I could not even get a squeak out. Fortunately, or unfortunately, before I could determine whether the heart or the knees would give way first, the guide called for a break. Actually my heart cheated, because with my chakra attunement advantage, I had one hand over my heart.

Can we ever finish all our tasks?

Some weeks ago, during a sharing session with my prayer/meditation group, I mentioned about the discovery of a new lump and my fears of running out of time and not being able to complete the many things that I wanted to do.

My Master said even if I were given 10 more years, I would still not be able to finish all the things I wanted to do.

It's so true. Firstly, it's a fact that we will never be able to accomplish everything that we want to do. Prioritise our tasks and get started on whatever needs to be done first.

Secondly, it's procastination. What needs to be done today should not be put off till tomorrow.

Probably live life like there is no tomorrow. After all, who knows what tomorrow will bring?

When my son was in primary school, I recalled his teacher making him recite a poem about 'tomorrow' for a competition. It's in mandarin and literary translated means 'tomorrow's song'.

　　明日歌
　　明日复明日，
　　明日何其多。
　　我生待明日，
　　万事成蹉跎。
　　世人若被明日累，
　　春去秋来老将至。
　　朝看水东流，
　　暮看日西坠。
　　百年明日能几何？
　　请君听我明日歌!

Meaning in mandarin :
　　明天过去了又有明天，明天真的是那么的多。
　　如果一辈子等待明天，什么事情都会办不成。
　　人们如果被明日牵累，春去秋来很快就衰老。
　　早晨看河水向东流逝，傍晚看太阳向西坠落。
　　人的一生能有多少个明天？请你听我唱唱《明日歌》。

Given my limited mandarin, a rough translation to english is :

After tomorrow is gone, there will be another tomorrow, in fact, countless tomorrow's.
If we always wait for tomorrow, we will never be able to accomplish anything, or will miss a lot of opportunities.
If we allowed ourselves to fall into the bad habit of the fact that there is always a tomorrow, time will pass very quickly, and in no time, we will realise that we have become old.
It is as though we only spent our mornings watching the rivers flow to the east, and our evenings watching the sun sets in the west.
In our lifetime, how many tomorrows can there be?