By Nov 2011, I was already quite sick, and I decided to stop taking the ayurveda herbal brews. I contacted Carnivora about my condition and was advised to start on an intense program. I had for sometime been on a low dose maintenance program.
I was to take Carnivora liquid extract + Lymph Drainage + Hoxsey Red Clover + Sweet Wormwood (Artemisinin) + Essiac Extract Concentrate. All these are in liquid form and are added to water and taken 3 to 4 times a day. I could purchase all the items except for Essiac Extract Concentrate which was out of stock.
A friend had heard that I stopped the ayurveda herbal brews and recommended a botanist/herbalist in Penang, who was reputed to be able to help patients with cancer. I was worried about the pleural effusion coming back again so a family member contacted the Penang herbalist about my condition and was told to give him 2 weeks to try his herbal brews. I was also to stopped all other medication including the Carnivora combination. His herbs were all grounded and prepacked. I was to take 5 bowls of herbal brews each day. One for phlegm, 2 for lungs, 1 for liver and 1 for breast cancer. The herbal mixtures were not to be combined and had to be brewed separately. As I was in pain, I had to add the pain mixture to each of the brews. I started his herbal brews on 23 Dec 2011, the day I was discharged from hospital.
Family members helped to brew the herbs for me. Initially, we used gas stove and clay pots. While boiling, it was not easy to have exactly one bowl of herbal brew, we gauged and usually I ended up with less than the suggested one bowl, which I did not mind. It was a tedious process as we had to strain and filter the liquid from the grounded herbs, so we bought an electric herbal boiler. It automatically stopped boiling when the liquid in the boiler reaches 80% of a full bowl. We put the grounded herbs into a cloth filter bag and it saved us a lot of time and effort.
However, I ended up drinking more herbal brews because the automatic boiler was so efficient. My appetite was already no good and the herbalist treatment included a strict diet of no meat and no oil. I could not stick strictly to his recommended diet as I am unable to survive on fruits and vegetables alone. An all vegetable diet will give me indigestion, which will in turn cause me to have a fever, throw up or passed out. Fruits make me phlegmy as I have a cooling constitution.
All herbal brews tend to be black. And with so much black liquid in my body, even my stools came out black.
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Monday, 26 December 2011
At the hospital.....
Having stayed in hospitals several times, I have had ample opportunities to observe the happenings in the wards, the behavior and attitude of doctors, nurses and patients.
A nurse's job is not an easy one and I admire them for their guts and attitude, but I do not envy them because it is one job that I know I can never do given the nature of the job. The nurses are always on their feet doing their various tasks. I happened to overhear one young nurse saying her back ached. And I think she is not the only one suffering from backaches. I feel so sorry for them. This is usually due to lifting patients who are heavier then them. I think this should be called a workplace hazard and I wonder why hospitals do not provide their nurses with back braces and supports when they need to lift patients everyday.
At construction sites, the government places a lot of emphasis on workplace safety, but why is this group of people not taken care of when their service to the public is so admirable and worthy of commendation?
The patients - more often than not, I have seen them being very demanding and complaining over everything. It's sad that some of them have adopted the attitude of "I am paying for my stay here and you are paid and expected to take care of me".
The doctors - occasionally I get upset by the doctors.
During my stay at the hospital for the coop loop procedure, my doctor had recommended that I go for chemotherapy. The drugs used would be vinorelbine plus herceptin. I had not wanted herceptin again as the first time I had herceptin in 2008, I had a mild heart attack. As for vinorelbine, I told her I needed to consider. I had not agreed and yet the doctor had gone ahead and arranged for an echocardiogram for me. I only found out when the nurse came to ask if I could lie on my side or if I could turn. I was curious and asked why she needed to know all this. She said it was because I would be going for an echocardiogram the next morning. I had one before and I knew what it was for. I told the nurse that I was not going for the echocardiogram and asked her to check with my doctor.
I was disappointed. First it was the Bleomycin, which was told to me as powder containing antibiotics, and then came the echocardiogram. Fortunately, I had been alert and always asking questions otherwise I might have ended up paying for unnecessary stuff. The echocardiogram could have been arranged when I agreed to take herceptin. Perhaps the doctor had arranged it for my convenience since I was already in the hospital.
A nurse's job is not an easy one and I admire them for their guts and attitude, but I do not envy them because it is one job that I know I can never do given the nature of the job. The nurses are always on their feet doing their various tasks. I happened to overhear one young nurse saying her back ached. And I think she is not the only one suffering from backaches. I feel so sorry for them. This is usually due to lifting patients who are heavier then them. I think this should be called a workplace hazard and I wonder why hospitals do not provide their nurses with back braces and supports when they need to lift patients everyday.
At construction sites, the government places a lot of emphasis on workplace safety, but why is this group of people not taken care of when their service to the public is so admirable and worthy of commendation?
The patients - more often than not, I have seen them being very demanding and complaining over everything. It's sad that some of them have adopted the attitude of "I am paying for my stay here and you are paid and expected to take care of me".
The doctors - occasionally I get upset by the doctors.
During my stay at the hospital for the coop loop procedure, my doctor had recommended that I go for chemotherapy. The drugs used would be vinorelbine plus herceptin. I had not wanted herceptin again as the first time I had herceptin in 2008, I had a mild heart attack. As for vinorelbine, I told her I needed to consider. I had not agreed and yet the doctor had gone ahead and arranged for an echocardiogram for me. I only found out when the nurse came to ask if I could lie on my side or if I could turn. I was curious and asked why she needed to know all this. She said it was because I would be going for an echocardiogram the next morning. I had one before and I knew what it was for. I told the nurse that I was not going for the echocardiogram and asked her to check with my doctor.
I was disappointed. First it was the Bleomycin, which was told to me as powder containing antibiotics, and then came the echocardiogram. Fortunately, I had been alert and always asking questions otherwise I might have ended up paying for unnecessary stuff. The echocardiogram could have been arranged when I agreed to take herceptin. Perhaps the doctor had arranged it for my convenience since I was already in the hospital.
Sunday, 25 December 2011
Coop Loop Procedure
I was warded on 12 Dec 2011 and discharged on 23 Dec 2011, a 12-day stay in the hospital.
A team member of my oncologist came to talk about the coop loop procedure. She explained that they will be using a slightly larger tube so that after the fluid was drained from the pleural cavity, they will use the tube to pump in talc to 'glue' the pleural lining to the lungs. This is to reduce the space in the pleural cavity so that, hopefully, the fluid will not build up so much as to compress against my lungs.
I had had coop loop procedure done before and I knew what to expect. After the procedure, I was confined to bed as one of the tube was attached to the back of my left ribcage and the other end was connected to a container with markings to collect the fluid as it drained gradually.
Having had the coop loop procedure done at Singapore General Hospital, I then realised that it was very much different from that done at Changi General Hospital, where I struggled so hard to breathe after the procedure.
The tube was clogged up with debris, especially blood clots from the coop loop procedure, that the doctor had to flush it a couple of times to clear the blockage so that the fluid could drain again.
I had been told that after the talc had been pumped in, I had to lie for about half an hour each on my back, left and right to ensure that the mixture is as evenly spread out as possible. When the fluid had stopped draining, the doctor tried to pump talc through the tube, but was unsuccessful and the mixture splashed all over. After some time, she came back and told me that she was unable to pump the talc mixture in because they had used a smaller sized tube for the coop loop procedure.
I was given 2 options, to remove the tube and go home. When the fluid builds up again, which is highly likely, then get warded, insert the tube, drain the fluid and try to pump the mixture in again. The second option was to try pumping in a mixture that was finer than talc, but even then, there was no guarantee that this mixture could be pumped in. I had endured 10 or so days of being confined to bed, unable to shower myself and all, that I was really put off by the thought of having to go through the same ordeal again when the fluid in my chest builds up. So I told them I would go with the second option even though success was not guaranteed. The doctor told me she would do it for me the next day as soon as the medicine was sent to my ward.
The following day, I waited and having seen no sign of my doctor, I asked the nurse if my medicine had been received. She said it would not be so fast as the medicine contained cytotoxic contents or chemo drug. Upon further questioning, she told me that I would have to be transferred to another ward for the procedure, and that was the oncology ward. I did not understand. The doctor had only told me that the finer powder contained antibiotics. As far as I know, I can only relate antibiotics to the type that doctors generally prescribed if we have an infection.
I refused to be transferred to the onco ward and I refused to have the cytotoxic drug pumped into my chest. I then asked the doctor about the side effects of this drug, which I found out to be Bleomycin. She said it may cause lung fibrosis and also affect the kidneys. While trying to persuade me to go for the procedure, the doctor mentioned that the talc powder also has the tendency to cause lung fibrosis.
The cancer had already metastasized to my liver, lungs and bones and I definitely do not want to add lung fibrosis to my list of problems. As for my kidneys, I had taken alternative medication for nearly 4 years to have my kidneys repaired after the chemotherapy I had in 2008. No way was I going to risk my kidneys to Bleomycin, and furthermore, my kidneys will face more damage as I most likely have to go for chemotherapy again to control the metastasis.
I was discharged without going for the procedure.
A team member of my oncologist came to talk about the coop loop procedure. She explained that they will be using a slightly larger tube so that after the fluid was drained from the pleural cavity, they will use the tube to pump in talc to 'glue' the pleural lining to the lungs. This is to reduce the space in the pleural cavity so that, hopefully, the fluid will not build up so much as to compress against my lungs.
I had had coop loop procedure done before and I knew what to expect. After the procedure, I was confined to bed as one of the tube was attached to the back of my left ribcage and the other end was connected to a container with markings to collect the fluid as it drained gradually.
Having had the coop loop procedure done at Singapore General Hospital, I then realised that it was very much different from that done at Changi General Hospital, where I struggled so hard to breathe after the procedure.
The tube was clogged up with debris, especially blood clots from the coop loop procedure, that the doctor had to flush it a couple of times to clear the blockage so that the fluid could drain again.
I had been told that after the talc had been pumped in, I had to lie for about half an hour each on my back, left and right to ensure that the mixture is as evenly spread out as possible. When the fluid had stopped draining, the doctor tried to pump talc through the tube, but was unsuccessful and the mixture splashed all over. After some time, she came back and told me that she was unable to pump the talc mixture in because they had used a smaller sized tube for the coop loop procedure.
I was given 2 options, to remove the tube and go home. When the fluid builds up again, which is highly likely, then get warded, insert the tube, drain the fluid and try to pump the mixture in again. The second option was to try pumping in a mixture that was finer than talc, but even then, there was no guarantee that this mixture could be pumped in. I had endured 10 or so days of being confined to bed, unable to shower myself and all, that I was really put off by the thought of having to go through the same ordeal again when the fluid in my chest builds up. So I told them I would go with the second option even though success was not guaranteed. The doctor told me she would do it for me the next day as soon as the medicine was sent to my ward.
The following day, I waited and having seen no sign of my doctor, I asked the nurse if my medicine had been received. She said it would not be so fast as the medicine contained cytotoxic contents or chemo drug. Upon further questioning, she told me that I would have to be transferred to another ward for the procedure, and that was the oncology ward. I did not understand. The doctor had only told me that the finer powder contained antibiotics. As far as I know, I can only relate antibiotics to the type that doctors generally prescribed if we have an infection.
I refused to be transferred to the onco ward and I refused to have the cytotoxic drug pumped into my chest. I then asked the doctor about the side effects of this drug, which I found out to be Bleomycin. She said it may cause lung fibrosis and also affect the kidneys. While trying to persuade me to go for the procedure, the doctor mentioned that the talc powder also has the tendency to cause lung fibrosis.
The cancer had already metastasized to my liver, lungs and bones and I definitely do not want to add lung fibrosis to my list of problems. As for my kidneys, I had taken alternative medication for nearly 4 years to have my kidneys repaired after the chemotherapy I had in 2008. No way was I going to risk my kidneys to Bleomycin, and furthermore, my kidneys will face more damage as I most likely have to go for chemotherapy again to control the metastasis.
I was discharged without going for the procedure.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
CTScan Chest, Abdomen and Pelvis
I had a CTscan of my chest, abdomen and pelvis on 16 Dec 2011. My last CTscan was on 13 Dec 2010.
When I had my last CTscan in Dec 2010, the liquid contrast I had to drink after fasting for 4 hours caused indigestion and a bloated stomach and I had to be warded. For this CTscan, I turned down the oral liquid contrast. I still had to fast and drink plain water instead but in much lesser amount and I also had the iv liquid contrast during the scan. I was told that the images would not be as clear.
There is an increase in size and number of the nodules in the right chest wall, right pectoralis (chest muscle) region and the skin.
Bilateral pleural effusions with complete compressive atelectasis (collapse) of left lower lobe (of lung) and partial compressive atelectasis of the right lower lobe. Lymphangitis (infection of the lymph vessels) is suspected.
There is also a small amount of pericardial (heart) effusion.
My left adrenal gland appears slight nodular, but stable compared to previous scan.
Stones in my right kidney which caused mild hydronephrosis (water in kidney causing swelling).
Suspected nodes around the aorta.
Skeletal metastases with multiple pathological fractures and soft tissue masses at varius levels of the spine.
When I had my last CTscan in Dec 2010, the liquid contrast I had to drink after fasting for 4 hours caused indigestion and a bloated stomach and I had to be warded. For this CTscan, I turned down the oral liquid contrast. I still had to fast and drink plain water instead but in much lesser amount and I also had the iv liquid contrast during the scan. I was told that the images would not be as clear.
There is an increase in size and number of the nodules in the right chest wall, right pectoralis (chest muscle) region and the skin.
Bilateral pleural effusions with complete compressive atelectasis (collapse) of left lower lobe (of lung) and partial compressive atelectasis of the right lower lobe. Lymphangitis (infection of the lymph vessels) is suspected.
There is also a small amount of pericardial (heart) effusion.
My left adrenal gland appears slight nodular, but stable compared to previous scan.
Stones in my right kidney which caused mild hydronephrosis (water in kidney causing swelling).
Suspected nodes around the aorta.
Skeletal metastases with multiple pathological fractures and soft tissue masses at varius levels of the spine.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
MRI Lumbar Spine
I was experiencing stiffness and pain in the back and hip area, so an MRI was ordered on 7 Dec 2011.
By now, the pleural effusion in the left chest cavity was back again.
MRI showed "multiple bone lesions consistent with diffuse metastasis, involving both anterior and posterior elements of the vetebrae and the pelvic bones. A few of these lesions are expansile and protrude into the spinal canal".
I have multiple bony metastases involving the vertebral and pelvic bones, and T12 (thoracic) and L1 (lumbar) bony expansion with consequent narrowing of the spinal canal/neural foramina (openings for nerves to connect with different parts of the body). This probably explained which I am having pain with my nerves.
By now, the pleural effusion in the left chest cavity was back again.
MRI showed "multiple bone lesions consistent with diffuse metastasis, involving both anterior and posterior elements of the vetebrae and the pelvic bones. A few of these lesions are expansile and protrude into the spinal canal".
I have multiple bony metastases involving the vertebral and pelvic bones, and T12 (thoracic) and L1 (lumbar) bony expansion with consequent narrowing of the spinal canal/neural foramina (openings for nerves to connect with different parts of the body). This probably explained which I am having pain with my nerves.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Pleural effusion
By 21 Nov 2011, I was having shortness of breath again and feeling pain and stiffness on my lower back, so I went to the emergency walk-in clinic. The doctor on duty ordered x-rays for my chest and abdomen. The pleural effusion on my left chest cavity was back, but it was not so bad that the doctor saw no necessity to order a pleural tap.
I had an appointment with my oncologist on 5 Dec, 2011 and I went for a blood test on 1 Dec, 2011. I had the results on 5 Dec 2011 and the cancer marker had gone up to 278.
An MRI on my lumbar spine was arranged for 7 Dec 2011.
The MRI report stated that :
"Multiple bone lesions consistent with diffuse metastasis, involving both anterior and posterior elements of the vertebrae and pelvic bones. A few of these lesions are expansile and pretrude into the spinal canal."
This probably explained why I kept getting pain on the nerves of my legs, and muscle pulls around the thigh region. It was so bad that once, while changing into x-ray garb, the inner muscle on my right thigh pulled so badly that I could hardly walk out of the changing room and had to use a wheelchair for the x-ray.
An appointment to see the oncologist was fixed for me on 12 Dec 2011.
By 12 Dec 2011, I was in a really bad shape. The pleural effusion was really bad. I was breathing heavily with every single small action. The oncologist was concerned enough to ask for a wheelchair for me and suggested that I should be warded. An ambulance was arranged to transfer me from the National Cancer Centre to the ward.
I had an appointment with my oncologist on 5 Dec, 2011 and I went for a blood test on 1 Dec, 2011. I had the results on 5 Dec 2011 and the cancer marker had gone up to 278.
An MRI on my lumbar spine was arranged for 7 Dec 2011.
The MRI report stated that :
"Multiple bone lesions consistent with diffuse metastasis, involving both anterior and posterior elements of the vertebrae and pelvic bones. A few of these lesions are expansile and pretrude into the spinal canal."
This probably explained why I kept getting pain on the nerves of my legs, and muscle pulls around the thigh region. It was so bad that once, while changing into x-ray garb, the inner muscle on my right thigh pulled so badly that I could hardly walk out of the changing room and had to use a wheelchair for the x-ray.
An appointment to see the oncologist was fixed for me on 12 Dec 2011.
By 12 Dec 2011, I was in a really bad shape. The pleural effusion was really bad. I was breathing heavily with every single small action. The oncologist was concerned enough to ask for a wheelchair for me and suggested that I should be warded. An ambulance was arranged to transfer me from the National Cancer Centre to the ward.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Cancer Marker Up
A blood test taken on 1 Dec 2011 showed my cancer marker (CA15-3) had shot up to 278, up from 81.9 on 11 Jul 2011.
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