continued...
Mum had her first CT on April 2004, at the end
of her first treatment. The Oncologist’s
Registrar called us in to the office. Nervously
we sat there in anticipation as she flicked
through mums file. The result, “well,
it looks like you have had a good response,
one has shrunk down from 9cm to 6cm”.
Although this was good news we were shocked
to hear that one tumor had been 9cm in size
to start with. We were never at any time told
the size and number of tumors. However, the
registrar then gave us some bad news. “I
am concerned as there has been some small areas
in the lungs that have shown up, don’t
worry, these are not cancer, but looks more
like clots. At this point she suggested mum
go for a pulmonary angiogram immediately; this
was to determine if the dark spots were indeed
clots. Unfortunately, the results came back
confirming that mum had two pulmonary embolisms.
As this is very dangerous she was prescribed
blood thinning injections (Clexane) daily for
life. So yet again, more discomfort and stress
added to the whole situation. My poor mum, at
66 had to inject herself every day - she hated
it and she cried about it often. I asked the
registrar “what is the cause of these
embolisms”? Her reply “It could
be the chemotherapy, or the cancer itself”.
However, to hear that the tumors
were shrinking gave us hope and enthusiasm to
carry on with chemotherapy. After a small break,
mum continued treatment. During the second treatment,
mum was extremely tired. When result time arrived,
we just presumed it would have shrunk the tumors
further the second time. How wrong we were.
The results this time: “unfortunately,
we have found new small lesions in the lungs,
and the liver tumors have not changed in size”,
so basically the cells had become resistant
to the Cisplating/Gemcitabine combination, mums
immune system had been damaged to further increase
the spread of cancer cells, hence the new tumors
in her lungs. At this time, all I could think
was “what would have happened if she had
never had chemotherapy, what if she had undergone
the alternative treatment?" The warning
I was given about the risks in the beginning,
were now beginning to manifest. The pulmonary
embolisms, the additional lesions in the lungs,
the mystery back pain mum experienced the first
night of treatment, occurred numerous times.
The next step was a change
of chemotherapy combination, but as mum was
so tired, they gave her a four week break to
recuperate. So they at least admitted that the
treatment was wearing mum down to some extent.
During this 4 week break, I
did research on this “laetrile”
treatment, which apparently offered no side
effects, increased patients appetite etc. plus
it targeted any form of cancer. I searched high
and low. Unfortunately most practitioners were
based in either Germany or London, and as we
live in Manchester, the travelling would be
too much for mum to go through. I then found
a Holistic doctor based in Bristol, named Dr
Nicola Hembry. Holistic medicine treats the
body as a whole, not simply suppress symptoms
and cause side effects.
I arranged a telephone consultation with Dr
Hembry and explained mums situation. She emphasised
that unfortunately, not everyone has a good
response to the various alternative and orthodox
treatments available. However, she did inform
me about a “chemo sensitivity test”,
where a blood sample is taken, and the cancer
cells are cultivated and exposed to numerous
chemotheraputic agents, along with other biological
modifiers (alternative therapies). Apparently
anyone with cancer above stage 3 will have the
cells in the blood stream. In the USA, this
test is carried out as standard on most cancer
patients before a chemotherapy drug is prescribed.
This also ensures a better outcome than simply
firing shots in the dark and hoping for a good
result. Unfortunately, this test is not available
in the UK. The nearest place to provide it in
Europe is Greece; the details of which she provided
me with. Upon discussion with my family, we
thought this may be a good idea, as we did not
want to waste time undergoing any treatment
that could cause further damage to my mums health.
