Vital information you need to know / Informasi penting yang harus Anda tahu
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy we have encountered at CA Care over the past ten years. Many patients come to us asking: What is your experience with breast cancer? What evidence do you have to show us? By reading this book, we hope you will not only find the answers you seek but also learn something from the experiences of others.
This is a ten-chapter-298-page book Eight breast cancer survivors shared their stories. They shared how they felt from their hearts. They spoke their mind about their healing journeys. There are many things that we can learn from their experiences, that is, if we are open-minded and receptive enough to learn. These eight survivors have responded to their cancer in different ways, demonstrating once again that patients are human beings, not machines made out of the same mould.
The truth that every common woman and her husband, sons or daughters see is simply this: Can surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy cure breast cancer? If they can, what is the cure rate? These people want nothing but a simple, clear-cut down-to-earth answer: the chances of cure. Where is that simple truth? In Chapter 10 of this book, the author plead for truth . . . readers learn the many different versions of “truths” – the drug company’s truth, the doctor’s’ truth and the patient’s truth. . . . these parties do not talk the same language . . . when a tumour shrinks, the doctor understands is as response, while the patients actually seek a permanent cure. . . .
It is not the author’s desire to try to prove which medical system is better or who is wrong and who is right. His mission is to help those who need help. There are many things to learn about cancer treatments – that is, if we are prepared to open our eyes to see and not close our ears to hear.
This book is not about who is better, nor is it about who is right or wrong. The language of love and compassion is about recognizing limitations and exploring opportunities.
The book is about options and alternatives. Caring and compassion for the suffering patients; seeking to promote a fuller understanding of patients’ preferences; respect for patients’ autonomy or patients’ empowerment; trust and integrity; and tailoring management to patients’ preferences are concepts associated with the currently emerging medical ideal termed as patient-centred care, which is often talked about, but rarely put into practice.
In order to understand breast health, it is important that we first understand the basic structure of the breasts. The function of the breasts or mammae is to produce milk for the new-born baby. In the male, the breasts remain as rudimentary structures, while in the female they develop into hemispherical structures. In women, the left breast is generally a little larger than the right breast. Also, one breast may be placed lower than the other.
We have held the view that to stay healthy or to get sick is a matter of our own choice. Surprisingly, few of us know that! All too often, we take good health for granted. And when we fall sick, we make a desperate dash to the doctor seeking help. Most often, at this stage, we are panic stricken! We cannot think clearly, so can we make wise decisions? Of course, many of us do not even think that we should make decisions at all, preferring others to make life-and-death decisions for us. What a sad situation to be in. Be reminded that our lives are in our own hands and we are responsible for our own lives and wellbeing. So, let us empower ourselves! To stay healthy is our personal responsibility, not the doctor’s or the drug companies’! So, let us start acquiring some basic knowledge about our own body and learn to stay healthy!
In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments
– there are only consequences. Robert G. Ingersoll
This book tells you in detail the relief and healing obtained from taking herbs in the management of numerous cancer and non-cancer cases.
The conventional medical treatments for cancer consists of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The patients pay dearly in terms of pain, suffering and money but with no assurance that such treatments will work for them.
Cancer is a complex problem and we need multi-approaches to achieve healing. Our strategy is to heal from within, while at the same time resolve some uncomfortable symptoms such as pain, loss of appetite, vomiting, edema, ascites, abdominal distension, constipation, etc.
We, at Cancer Care, believe that the human body is indeed a miraculous creation endowed with self-healing power.
Based on these views, Cancer Care Therapy has advocated the use of herbs for healing and the eating of proper healthy food. In addition, there is a need to strengthen the body’s immunological system. A strengthened and cleansed body shall then be able to heal itself.
To stay healthy or fall sick is our own decision and responsibility because we have the complete freedom to live our lives the way we want them to be lived.
If you are not so sure if God answers prayers, this book will tell you what researchers say about faith and prayer.
This is not a book on religion, but a book about religious beliefs and prayer perceived from the viewpoint of science. More then three hundred scientific studies have shown that religious involvement benefits our health and well being.
Prayer is good medicine . . . prayer is the language of the soul, expressed in the purity of the heart. Prayer connects man and God. The world is full of stories about the power of prayers and how prayers had brought healing to the body and soul. True prayer never goes unanswered. God answers our prayer in His own way and at His own time.
Fortunately, prayer is the only great commodity left on planet earth that has eluded the world of commercialism and that has been left uncontaminated by human greed.
When the sick come to CA Care for help, we encourage them to pray and seek the Almighty Healer for peace and guidance. Prayer helps clear the mind and gives you peace.
Like the words written by Mother Teresa: You say prayer in your religion ,and I will say a prayer as I know it. Together we will say this prayer, and it will be something beautiful to God.
This book took a long time to get into print. It is not because I took a long time to write it – in fact, I completed the manuscript within a month, but rather I needed time to find my path. Am I doing the right thing? The finished manuscript was kept aside for some months. I was unsure if I wanted this book out. Many people may construe that by writing this I am anti-medicine or anti-doctors. I am not. I tell patients to seek doctors’ advice if they think they get cancer. I do not see patients without their medical reports. I generally ask patients to explore all possible options and evaluate them accordingly. Whether patients undergo chemotherapy / radiotherapy or not, is entirely their own decision. We have to respect whatever decisions they make. They are fighting the battle of their life. My role for cancer patients is to provide unbiased, honest and truthful information about what they need to know.
This book is therefore, NOT about criticising medicine. Medicine has indeed helped mankind in many ways in the past and it is going to do the same in the future. But medicine does has its limit – particularly so in handling chronic diseases.
This book is about truth. It provides facts as I know them – documented in established medical journals and books by medical experts themselves. In writing this book, I would like to be as fair and objective as possible. I have read, researched and observed cancer patients for a decade now. I need not have to offer my own opinions at all. I have read widely and what I need to say or see happening, have all been written by medical experts themselves. Hence, this is a book of quotations based on my reading of medical journals and books. Take for example the advice by John Lee et al. found in their book that is available from the local bookstore: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer. The authors wrote:
· Some chemotherapy does prolong life for a few months, but generally at the high price of devastating side effects. The use of chemotherapy is purely a gamble, and we don’t think it’s worth taking. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and sometimes it makes things worse. Chemotherapy is an attempt to poison the body just short of death in the hope of killing the cancer before the entire body is killed. Most of the time it doesn’t work.
Dr. Jeffrey Tobias is a cancer specialist at University College, London. He trained in Cambridge, U.K. as well as the Harvard Medical School, USA. In his book, Living with Cancer, Tobias wrote:There is no use pretending that brain tumours are truly curable.
Dr. Tobias should know better.It appears that when it comes to brain cancer, undergoing surgery gives almost always the same sad story of recurrence.
Such comments may be offensive to some people. But, the authors could be saying the truth. Facing or hearing truth sometimes hurts. Championing truth could be risky – as medical history has taught us. Knowing this, I had to do a lot soul searching. But something inside me seems to bug me to bring forth this book. I have the responsibility to share what I know with those who do not know and those who wish to know.
Albert Einstein said:
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, But because of those who look on and do nothing.
In this book, what is being said about modern medicine can equally apply to the alternative and complementary medicines. When it comes to business and ethics, it does not matter if we have a M.D., N.D., or Ph.D. – we all have our biases, prejudices, weaknesses and failings as human beings. Integrity, honesty and wisdom do not automatically come with these initials.
My main concern and mission in writing this book is to impart knowledge. With knowledge, patients can be made aware of what is to be done to them. Hopefully, they would be able to make more correct and informed decisions after reading this book.
In all fairness, patients must be told the truth before embarking on such invasive treatments. They should be forewarned about the risks and the pros and cons of each treatment protocol explained to them. They should not be made to undergo any treatment as a matter of course. The practice of misinformation, disinformation, instilling fear and arrogance is never part of the noble healing profession.
Unfortunately, for various reasons, doctors cannot and do not spend too much time with their patients. One patient was sent for chemotherapy after seeing his oncologist for just half a minute, and even at subsequent visits that was about the amount of time allocated to him. Other fortunate patients have more time with their doctors ?perhaps five, ten to fifteen minutes during each visit. There are many things that patients want to know but they do not ask for information for fear of offending their doctors. I hope this book will fulfill that need.
To start off this book, I wrote about what some doctors have to say about modern medicine, their very own profession. Needless to say, I was amazed, baffled and surprised to read the numerous blunt and sometimes negative remarks made against modern medicine. I cannot help but wonder why these people say such things. What have these people to gain if what they write is not true? Absolutely nothing. Perhaps what they say is true then. That is moral integrity. These are honourable people and they must have had enough seeing what had happened in their own backyards. It is wonderful that they dared speak up and shared their thoughts with us.
Many patients have died in their quest for a cure of their cancers. The experiences and secrets of their healing journey have been buried with them in their graves. What a pity, depriving those alive the benefits of sharing their joys, frustrations and agonies. I have the unfortunate privilege of meeting and helping many thousands of cancer patients. I noted their stories and their sufferings and recorded them on video tapes, VCDs as well as wrote some of their stories in our books and newsletters. We can learn from their experiences.
Many cancer patients have asked me if they should undergo surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, etc., for their cancers. I am sorry that I cannot tell them what to do. The best I can do is to give them the necessary information about the various treatments as documented in the medical books, journals, etc., ?hence this book.
In all fairness, patients must be told the truth before embarking on any invasive treatments. They should be forewarned about the risks involved, and the pros and cons of each treatment protocol explained to them. They should not be made to undergo any treatment as a matter of course. The practice of misinformation, disinformation, instilling fear and arrogance is never part of the noble healing profession.
Over the last eight years, I have seen numerous cancer patients suffering from all kinds of cancers. I can see that if we wish to win the battle over cancer, we must look beyond the medical methods of treatment. We need to tap into the wisdom of our Oriental roots and seek healing. The patients need to be taught how to lead a healthy lifestyle, take healthy food, do exercise and find emotional and spiritual healing through prayers, meditation, etc.
Patients are reminded that they need to garner information from various sources. Do not drink water from only one well. After gathering all the information, they are to make their own informed decision. Then, go for it. Do not ever look back with regrets.
This book contains sixty-one stories about people struggling and searching for cure of their cancers. Many people have the notion that only medical science and procedures like surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other state-of-the art drugs can cure their cancers. Unfortunately, a cure remainsellusive. Many people lost their cancer battle,in spite of the use of such scientific weapons.
For those who failed, perhaps there is still time to reevaluate their strategy. This book documents an altervative method to cancer managment. There may be still hope when people say you have no hope!
When man started to learn how nature works, he called this new knowledge science. Up to this day science has achieved tremendous progress to the extent that it has turned around and rejected any natural phenomenon that does not fit into its mould of thinking. What cannot be seen, measured and explained are deemedunscientific. I have always held the view that science does not have all the answers to our problems. If we do not know, it is due to our lack of knowledge. Until then, nature still remains mysterious irrespective of how much we think we know.
For thousands of years, the Chinese and Indians have been practising the art of healing producing miraculous results. To them, the question of whether what they have been doing is scientific or not, does not arise nor is it of any concern. To them, what matters is that their actions are effective and benefit them!
This book documents many stories about healing of cancer patients. Healing is a personal choice. It is up to each individual to choose and opt for the healing path that he/she is comfortable with. This book affirms one simple but important message: there is a choice!
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer that we have encountered. In this book the author documented some the cases irrespective of their responses to the herbs. Perhaps there are positive or negative lessons that we all can learn from.
Most of the patients who come and seek our help have seen their doctors and have received the necessary treatments. They now seek another alternative as a last resort.
Man is not just a machine. He is also a spiritual being. To achieve complete healing we need to heal the whole body – the physical, the mind and the spirit. If we cannot heal the mind we cannot heal the body. When the mind and the spirit are at peace, then physical healing starts within us. Taking herbs is no magic unto itself – herbs cannot heal us until we have the frame of mind that wants to be healed.
I believe that the challenge of human society today is to be open-minded enough to accept the healing wisdom of both the Western world and the traditions of our Eastern forefathers. Learn and benefit from them. To me, it does not matter whether it is the medicine of the West or the East that brings about healing. The most important is the treatment helps and heals.
eBook On Cancer by CA Care 