Gordon Cooper - whose wife has breast cancer

Progress to date

2011-11-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

Oops, been offline for a while....a lot has happened. mostly good. Since diagnosis Jan has had three years of active live, and in those years we have had the joy of three grandsons. so fast as 2 were twins. All visited last weeekend, what a joy, yet also what utter hard work. Had cancer taken Jan earlier we would have missed so much, and I think the twins really need our help. Thank you God

In the l;ast year Jan has also had a further 2 checks, and again on form our dear NHS yet again raised a false alarm meaning yet again our summer holiday plans were ruined as Jan was at beck and call of hospital staff who insisted on doing further tests. In the end she was pronounced clear, but only after a very stressful time spanning weeks.

The other amazing items of news on cancer seems to be greater concern on our treatment. Last week the TV and press carried an article suggesting that all our screening for breast cancer was making no improvement to cancer death rates. Tonight a channel four program entitled "Food Hospital" suggested changing diet could be more effective than drugs, and interviewed several patients whose improvements seemed to p0rove their case. Unfortunately I thought the program was very superficial, but at least it is a start

Aother check up due

2010-08-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

To keep followers up to date, all going well. We have returned from a lovely holiday in France, HOT.

Jan is scheduled a 2 year check up mammagram this month, followed by an appointment with the surgeon. We expect and pray that all will be well...

But for statisticians the 2 and 5 year checks show peaks in recurrenc rates.....

Politics, elections, and cofunding

2010-05-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

England seems to be in turmoil now that elections are just 2 days away. Both Gordon Brown for labour and Nick Clegg for the Liberals bang on and on about fairness......

The more we hear and think the less fairness there seems to be. We always wonder why we pay far more tax as a married couple, we could save money by divorcing. Is that fair, yet when Conservatives try to partially redress this imbalance they are slated as robbing the poor to subsidise the rich?

Why do our taxes pay for the police to crack down on heroin abuse yet at the same time our NHS prescribe it free to registered addicts in Brighton? Crazy! Is it fair that my taxes fund this waste?

I saw a paper showing how chemotherapy costs more to treat "large" people. Specifically those with larger body surface area, or more skin, as they need higher doses of expensive drugs! Is it fair that thin people pay the same or more taxes as they are more likely to be in work than overweight lay abouts who cost the health service more?

It seems we will be in for a period of austerity after the budget. It must affect health service funding. A TV program last night suggested a possible solution might be "co-funding" where the patient pays part of the cost of treatment. Amazing how something so obvious and now necessary has so far been rejected and in one breast cancer case barred a lady from further NHS treatment!

Ah, we must vote! But is our voting system fair? We live in a safe seat area, so in fact our vote counts for nothing! Fairness????? We need an investigation into our rigged elections! I was pleased to hear Anne Widdecombe MP talking on the radio two days ago. As a Christian she was standing down from parliament, but said it was now a "house of ill repute"

Thank God our main loyalty is to our heavely home!

Great news on grandson

2010-04-17T04:08:00.000-07:00

We received very good news on my grandson last week. He has had a difficult start, three visits to hospital in the first 5 weeks of life, once in intensive care, and an initial diagnosis of 10% mortality rate and 50% risk of brain damage.

We were aware of the risk to his hearing caused by gentamicin, but other wise the risk of brain damage hadn't really sunk in. Fortunately or is it an answer to many praying on his behalf he was seen by the children's specialist hospital at Great Ormond Street in London in April 2010. They confirmed the diagnosis on CMN but reckoned that from the way his CMN satellites had developed he had a very low risk or neurological involvement, in other words a cautious all clear.

This is great news, an answer to prayer, and also a tribute to the work of Great Ormond Street hospital. I need to praise them for their excellence, in spite of my regular protests in this blog about socialised medicine!

The hospital recently featured on BBC TV. A tribute to the hospital but it hghlighted 2 issues to me:

1) So many of the doctors interviewed seemed to be aged 55 - 75...who is training up the younger replacements?

2) The horror of brain damage in children. They showed a young girl a few months old who entered hospital as an apparently normal healthy active child. Parents were warned and accepted the risk of brain damage as she had a general anaesthetic to allow a probably fatal aneurysm to be removed. She suffered brain damage whilst under anaesthetic, and was returned to the tearful parents as an inactive blind child.

My grandson had similar risks, but as far as we can see has been spared such horrors. He smiles and coos, follows sights and sounds, so we expect his brain is undamaged, thank God.

Awful decisions - faith, alternative medicines

2009-11-20T02:01:00.000-08:00

I received a comment yesterday from a father whose son has serious cancer. How does one respond?

I was hit within 24 hours of that by news that my new born grandson has strep B infection, 10% mortality rate with associated risks of awful complications. We are told that he is responding positively to antibiotics.

I have no easy answer. I believe in a sovereign God, and believe we release our loved one's into his final care, and death is not the ultimate tragedy. In the meantime I fast and pray that God will mercifully heal and also thank God for the antibiotics.

Twice this week I have been referred to Fanny Crosby's story. Blinded at the age of 6 weeks by a quack doctor, she went on to write many of our hymns. So one sees from her life the dangers of quack medicine, yet also how a life can still be devoted to God and pleasing to him in spite of blindness.......

Why has God led me to these stories? I trust and pray grandson is not blinded by the strep B, though doctors have already said he has a 50% chance of brain damage.

Sorry to fellow sufferers, I have no easy answer but prayer and fasting.

Shambolic NHS appointments system

2009-09-25T00:11:00.000-07:00

Today we go for our fifth attempt to get a mammogram and its result. The process has so far taken well over a month, the Xray was taken on 20th August and it is now 25th September. It needed 5 interactions with the hospital. What a comment on the organisation of our NHS!

The Xray was taken on 20/8/09 and an appointment booked for a consultants visit to follow up. We expect ths to be all clear so should not take long. In fact a simple phone call to say "all clear" would suffice.

The NHS set an appointment for 4 Sept. But we had a phone call on 2 Sept to cancel this.
Rescheduled by NHS, not us, to 18 Sept, which was canceled by a phone call on 16 Sept.
Rescheduled again for the hospitals convenience to 24 September, an appointment at which we attended, a return journey of 30 miles. On arrival at reception we were told it was impossible for us to have been given an appointment for that day as no consultants, and not even a nurse trained in Xray interpretation was available that day. Jan showed them the confirmation letter they had sent, why sent it if the appointment was "impossible?"

Surely we need a management shake up, not more funds for cancer research?

Obama row over socialised medicineI

2009-08-15T00:43:00.000-07:00

Interesting row seems to have developed over last few days as a senior UK conservative politician has said he would "not wish the NHS" onto the Americans.

Two days ago Gordon Brown appeared on our TV stating how good our health service was. Similarly our health minister stated that queues were small in the NHS.....

The truth? This blog records the accurate diary of one cancer sufferer, how test results were lost for 6 weeks and it took a year to get to see the consultant oncologist.....Each entry is accurately dated, a scan will reveal the aweful truth of Jan's treatment.

On the same day that this row broke out, a neighbour walked past to go for a swim on the nearby beach. He was pleased as punch to be fit again, having had a heart pacemaker fitted three months earlier....I asked, he had gone private. Why after paying taxes to cover this on the NHS did he pay yet again to go private?

His response was to get a quicker result, a 3 month wait in the private system instead of a 6 month wait on the NHS...he didn't want to wait six months as he described his condition before the op as being at half strength.

Obviously socialised medice as practised by the NHS in the UK means no means testing for vital treatment.
But it means our hospitals are strained by hypochondriacs and malingerers who have no financial dissuasion, and our waiting lists are long.

For the rich who can go private there is the farce of paying twice for the work, once direct to the hospital or insurance company, and again through taxes for a service one declines to use.

Muslim now BBC head of religion

2009-05-20T00:23:00.000-07:00

I was horrified to read this post in the Times on 12 May. One has to wonder about the "political correctness" that permeates our society. Ta appoint a Muslim as head of religious broadcasting at the BBC, the state broadcast medium of a supposed Christian country takes the biscuit.

It saddens me. I still thoroughly enjoy about every third programme in the "Songs of Praise" series. But I even find more than 50% of those programmes poor, and wrote to complain recently about an entire half hour programme broadcast in Welsh, which Aled Jones claimed was "God's own language".

Shame to see the BBC fall so far, particularly as I was an employee. I also notice they broadcast evolution as scientific fact, and try to prevent an Evangelical Christian broadcaster in Holland using their programmes with these unproven claims omitted. How the BBC has lost its way!

Jade Goody turns to Christ as cancer advances

2009-05-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

There has ben much news on cancer recently. I found the story of Jade Goody, a loud and foul mouthed Essex girl who turned to Jesus as her death from cervical cancer approached very moving..

Holidays!

2009-05-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

Oops, a long time since the last post...Why?

Jan had her annual check with the oncologist in April. For the first time ever she actually saw the consultant, an oncologist who gave confidence she knew what she was talking about, unlike earlier apointments where so often the replies were "I don't know", or even worse panic inducing tests for potential new cancers.

All was clear, so we jetted off to Portugal for a couple of weeks break on the Algarve!

Prayer in US, yet banned in the UK

2009-03-11T14:30:00.000-07:00

We watched a thrilling TV program tonight on Dr Ben Carson, one of the US leading paediatric neurosurgeons. He is a devout Christian who has led the world in seeing "miraculous" recoveries of patients for whom other doctors had given up hope.

He states he prays before each surgery, and asks his patient to do the same as their homework and contribution to the team. The results speak for themselves, this guy is world renowned, and even gets onto TV in the UK....

Yet what of our NHS? Will they learn from such leaders? It seems we are determined to suppress any formal mention of God. Recently a nurse has been suspended just for offering to pray for an elderly patient. The patient was not even offended! Yet the nurse was suspended.

From the BBC:

Community nurse Caroline Petrie says she asked an elderly woman patient during a home visit if she wanted her to say a prayer for her. Mrs Petrie follows the Baptist faith.

The patient, believed to be in her 70s, refused and Mrs Petrie insists that she left the matter alone.

The woman wasn't offended but was concerned that someone else might be". As a result of this Mrs Petrie was suspended, without pay, on 17 December 2008 and will find out the outcome of her disciplinary meeting next week. You can sign a petition on her behalf here.

It could be excusable of we had proof that our NHS treatment beat Dr Ben Carson's, but it doesn't. It seem so sad that our NHS take such a line, something that has only come in over the least 30 - 40 years. A London hospital in the 1970s used to start each day with prayers on the wards, and Jan regularly prayed with her patients. What we have lost...

1 year anniversary - all clear

2009-03-01T14:22:00.000-08:00

Jan had her first year anniversary checkup 2 days ago, thankfully all clear. Jan saw the consultant surgeon, who merely felt her breast, and was unconcerned so no mammogram was taken.

As neither he nor she could not feel the original cancer, it only showed on mammogram and then ultrasound this is not too re-assuring, but a mammogram is scheduled for 6 months time.

The nest day I reflected on how we relied on a clear outcome, and how devastating a recurrence of cancer would be. We have just booked two foreign holidays for the next 3 months without any cancellation insurance. Any re-arranging to fit around hospital visits would be so depressing. So we thank God for this good news.

Jan continues with a slight skin rash, attributed to the long since abandoned Tamoxifen, and pain in her shoulder, attributed to Arimidex. But so far she lives with that to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Socialised medicine - Betsy Kulman

2009-02-06T02:49:00.000-08:00

An entry on the UK NHS socialised medicine so that Betsy can ask questions by way of comment.

Socialised medicine is something that we (or at least our government) have been very proud of.

The benefits are that we see our friends receiving modern medical treatment as needed, with almost no regard for cost. Two friends have recently had nerve grafts to recover from cancer and industrial accidents. This is high tech medicine. A german immigrant had his life saved by a UK liver transplant.

However if leads to great inefficiencies:

Overload due to excessive expectation. Callers to the ambulance service rang to ask crew to help wrap up Christmas presents, and to request an ambulance for a fashion photo shoot because the blue lights would look good..
Many maligerers visit doctors rather than working
Inefficiency that seems endemic in any large government run body
Over regulation prohibits development of alternative treatments - Mexico seems better than the UK on this.
Excessive and politically manipulated waiting lists. Jan's radiotherapy was way later than government targets. My earlier posts list many NHS delays and manipulations.
Political interference - we could not top up Jan's NHS teatment by paying ourselves for additional drugs without losing all NHS treatment - the government claim this is to ensure fairness! Is it fair that I cannot spend my after tax hard earned money as I want?
It is run as a mechanised production line for statistical efficiency rather than as a caring organisation. Staff have been "removed" for offering prayer support. We pay car parking charges just to attend the hospital. Sometimes these are longer than necessary because our shambolic hospital organisation always results in long delays.
Ambulances have been wheel clamped whilst parked at the hospital!

So I sometimes envy rich Greeks or Americans who have health insurance and choose the best hospital for each treatment as needed.

The drawbacks of UK's socialised NHS

2009-01-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

Jan had a further check up between Christmas and the New Year. All was well, the dermatologist reckoned Jan's skin reaction was caused by an allergy to Tamoxifen, so was not Paget's disease or anything untoward.

The visit brought home a snag of our socialised medicine, which enables any waif and stray to demand attention whether needed or not. A consultation fee would stop much time wasting of our hospital staff, which of course has escalated by drunks over the Christmas holiday. A fee might also encourage some respect for our medical staff.

I write this as whilst visiting the hospital we passed a loud youth calling a doctor an "arsehole". |It saddens me that youths can be so uncouth to staff we need to prolong Jan's life!

Power of Prayer

2008-12-01T03:55:00.000-08:00

Interesting that since Jan's diagnosis we come across so many friends and contacts who also have cancer...one encouraged us that prayer has major effects.

A lady friend of Jan's had tumours in her neck, needing a nasty operation, to be followed by radiotherapy. The operation cut through the jaw bone to gain access, and a nerve graft to repair the damage. The surgeon planned for the work to take a whole day, and the lady needless to say was very afraid.

A a member of a local church she gathered a large team of folk praying to support her, probably amounting to something just under 200 folk. She assured the surgeon that she was a Christian, and would rest the matter in prayer. The operation was performed, and a week or so later on removing the bandages the surgeon was amazed by the rapid and good recovery. "It must be those 3500 people you have praying for you!" he exclaimed.

More evidence that diet is effective

2008-11-08T06:39:00.000-08:00

I was encouraged to read today's news in our Daily Telegraph. It reports from Addenbrooks Hospital Cambridge that a study found that almost four in ten patients with aggressive prostate cancer did not need planned surgery or radiotherapy after making simple lifestyle changes.

Wow, good news for me as a man. and for Jan as breast and prostate cancers share a similar hormone dependency.

More veggies tonight!

All clear after 2 biopsies + scan

2008-10-30T00:37:00.000-07:00

All clear was given again ..... we are thankful, but still unclear as to why Jan has a persistent skin rash. As it is not cancer she waits a longer time to see a dermatologist, none of the cancer fast track treatment for that!

To give the historical data, Jan had a biopsy on 6th October to check for endometrial cancer. We took a lovely break to southern Europe in early October, to return on 16 Oct to a letter saying the earlier biopsy looking for suspected Paget's disease had proven clear of cancer. This was followed by a full scan and examination again on 17th Oct looking for endometrial cancer. On 23rd October we saw the oncological registrar again to be told that this was clear, but we must still wait for a dermatologist's consultation...

So good news on the cancer front, and it seems we need to do self diagnosis and treatment for the skin complaint. We did joke to the appointment secretary that the doctors were adding maximum possible delay in the hope that the condition would clear itself rather than causing them any work. She agreed with us, maybe we were too close to the truth!

Gynaecologist

2008-10-06T15:24:00.001-07:00

The frustration of dealing with our socialised NHS. If it wasn't that we were sure Jan was cured and further tests were purely a precaution we would be in panic. All the staff seen were charming, but the overall organisation was appalling.

Last Friday we had a phone call telling us to see a doctor at Hertford today, Monday at 10:00. We weren't told whether this would be the dermatologist on gynaecologist as we expect both. A quick Internet search showed the doctor's name was for a well respected gynaecologist.

On arrival at 10:00 the receptionist stated there was no appointment for Jan, we were completely unexpected. After an hours delay the story changed to she was expected at 11:00, but she couldn't be seen before 12:00 as the notes were still miles away at another hospital!

By 12:00 Jan saw the gynaecological registrar, who still had no notes, so Jan explained why she thought she was suffering from a reaction caused by a switch from Tamoxifen to Arimidex. They talked as an ex ward sister talking "shop" to a doctor. Tamoxifen pumps the body with "fake" female estrogens, whereas Arimidex provides none, and stops the body's production of estrogens. So the body has a shock as one goes from excess to very few estrogens, and some effects Jan has experienced tie in with what we could expect from that hormone swing.

He seemed to agree, and was unconcerned by Jan's symptoms, and did not think she had further cancers. He took a sample of the endometrium and wants an ultrasound scan as soon as we return from holiday as a precaution.

He did however state that women who had breast cancer were at higher risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer, hence he wanted to do these 2 tests......... When I look on Google I find no link at all between breast and endometrial cancer apart from that caused by Tamoxifen which is a carcinogen.

Harold Burstein, MD, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School says: "We know there are relations between breast and ovarian cancer. We also know that the BRCA genes account for this relationship." But Burstein also underlined the other side of the news. "Women who don't have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer and are older than 49 when they are diagnosed with breast cancer have a very low risk of getting ovarian cancer."

So why do the UK doctors claim a link? Is he over simplifying for thick people or dare he not admit the dangerous risk that Tamoxifen causes endometrial cancer? ?

This is the second time the hospital have denied all knowledge of pre-booked appointments, after also losing mammograms and test results. If that record keeping is so poor we question whether we can trust their results of these tests.

Tamoxifen allergy or Pagets?

2008-10-04T04:27:00.000-07:00

Jan saw the oncology department again on 24th Sept. She saw yet another doctor, there has been no continuity at all in that department. This registrar seemed even less experienced and uncertain.

If Jan has an allergic reaction to Tamoxifen causing multiple skin eruptions it continues, though it is hardly any worse than at the last visit. Could the Tamoxifen or its allergic effects be taking over six weeks to purge from Jan's body? It seems to have the oncologists in panic. After the previous visit on August 13th she had to see three specialist doctors urgently within a week. This visit was no less dramatic.

The starting comment was “you should see the consultant surgeon urgently”. Jan replied, “we have a holiday booked to start in a week's time” which saw an urgent appointment to see him that same afternoon. He took a biopsy to look for the possibility of Paget’s disease, another unpleasant breast cancer. She was later phoned with an appointment to see a gynaecologist within 12 days and expects an appointment to follow to see a dermatologist and a return to the oncologist……..

So we find it alarming, certainly not re-assuring. When I use Google I find the chances are between 4 and 5 to 1 that it is a reaction to Tamoxifen rather than more cancers. The one concern I have is does the research on skin effects of Tamoxifen exaggerate those risks to make the more expensive Arimidex look safer?

In this period of doubt we plan to jet off to Portugal to relax on a warm beach! We won't know the results of the biopsy until after our return....the wonders of our NHS! Maybe it is a test of our faith in God for a full cure?

Ohio State rate Curcumin

2008-08-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

Jan's mammogram results were all clear today....so we presume that her skin reaction is an allergy to tamoxifen that will die down, or do we have bedbugs? It got as far as a consultant surgeon with scalpel ready to do a biopsy, but he felt the skin was too clear for it to be cancer so held off, and wants to see Jan in 6 months time.

So we are back on diet as our main tool to limit recurrence of cancer....

I read this Ohio State University research report with interest, published in August 2008. We eat the Indian curry spice, tuneric, whose active ingredient of curcumin. So far we are part way through our second jar, which as a food costs less than a £1! Contrast that with possibly the less effective Arimidex at over £1000 p.a

It seems that the scientists are modifying the curcumin molecule, maybe paving the way for a patented drug, and big pharma moving in with funded research on what has to date been a cheap potential cure. Is that good news or bad? It makes me more certain that curcumin could be a life saver. I bet big pharma will charge more than an Indian curry!

Where do cows get calcium from?

2008-08-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

Jan now takes Arimidex, known to cause osteoporosis. So I looked at Professor Jane Plant's book on osteoporosis. I like the discussion here, where a vested interest from the dairy industry challenged her hatred of dairy products. I like her response .. " Where do cows or hippopotamus get their calcium from?"

The doctors assume that extra calcium intake is necessary, have put Jan on calcium supplements and many seem worried if one stops taking dairy products. It is interesting that cows are vegetarians, yet have adequate calcium!

Jan still has itchy skin eruptions at what seem to be random areas of her body. We wonder if it is an allergic reaction to Tamoxifen? In the meantime Jan had mammograms of both breasts to check for cancer......results expected tomorrow.....can it be that efficient?

I read three papers on how the body metabolises Tamoxifen, two of the three reckon it takes 10 or 14 days before blood concentrations drop to half after one stops taking it. Jan stopped 2 weeks ago, so maybe it is reasonable the Tamoxifen is still causing a skin rash. Odd that the consultant worried that Jan had stopped for just 4 days earlier, as though she was unaware of how slowly it was excreted from the body.

Holiday plans / doctors appointments

2008-08-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Good news and bad news.

About a week ago Jan reckoned she had overcome the fatigue that started after radiotherapy. She gave me permission to book our first foreign holiday after her treatment. But her recent concerns over possible recurrence leaves us doubtful....so I will hang on whilst our pound devalues even further!

This is because the hospital wrote yesterday offering a bone density scan in 2 days time......such short notice, or is it speedy service? We will slip that back, as Jan has gone off to the Suffolk coast for a week, and we want to believe cancer cannot recur so fast and there is no need to panic. But yet again we plan our diary around doctor's consultations....the curse of cancer... the holiday will have to wait....

Cheap cancer cures in our diet

2008-08-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Kelly's comments on my last post for two tips. I see she also had treatment in London....

1) We knew about resveratrol, but had been getting it from red wine at over £3 a bottle and red grapes at £5 a kilo. Seems the supplements are a far cheaper source. What a shame, we even visitited a vineyard last week and were getting into wine! This article claims the supplement may be not only cheaper but better

I know Nottingham University are looking at resveratrol as an arthritis and cancer cure, here is a UK based NHS trial of its use against cancer.

2) We were unaware of DCA. Seems it could be another wonder drug, but lacking big pharma support as it cannot be patented. It has a whole discussion forum here.

Its sale as a cancer cure was banned in the US by the FDA, but is now available again. I do note that it may cause liver cancers, so take care!

It is interesting that DCA may be only slowly developed as big pharma has no interest in a drug that cannot be patented. Rings true to me, which is also why we have taken so much info from University Professors, who do not have such a profit motive in their work and research.

Arimidex started

2008-08-14T00:52:00.000-07:00

Not such good news.

It seems two cancer specialist doctors are mystified by Jan's symptoms. She has a rash and discharge that appears in parts of her face, arms and leg. Hopefully it is just an allergic reaction to Tamoxifen, so that was stopped and Jan started Arimedex yesterday. But it took 5 hours in the hospital, seeing two specialists, two visits to the pharmacy, and they want to see her again in 2 weeks time, plus take a mammogram, a bone scan and possibly a biopsy. This fills us with horror.

It seems one is walking on thin ice. OK so far but so easily on can see cancer recur, or fall through the ice.....

We have looked at the side effects of Arimidex, none too serious...The original plan had been to switch to a similar drug after 2 years of Tamoxifen, this just brings that date forward. But it means Jan has lost the use of a proven effective drug in the total armoury, and lives in fear of what is happening. The second doctor was none too re-assuring, and the talk of a possible biopsy means she is looking for a possible recurrence.

On a positive note we get away from the dangers of DVT and uterine cancer caused by Tamoxifen, instead we get the increased risk of osteoporosis. Time to order Professor Jane Plant's book on bone strength, she reckons the excretion of calcium is more important the the intake.

I read "research with 77,000 women found that those who got most of their calcium from cow’s milk had significantly more fractures than those who drank little or no cow ’s milk. The main cause of osteoporosis in Western countries is not lack of calcium - it is loss of calcium. Vegetarians have less than half the calcium losses than meat-eaters".

Our bible reading this morning was on perseverance........ so relevant

All clear given

2008-07-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

Had first three month checkup this week. All well, great news!

It was a quick look and feel of both breasts by a surgical registrar, and the all clear was given. No use of ultrasound or mammography, so whilst grateful for the good news one has to question the thoroughness and accuracy of that diagnosis.

We were asked what the oncologist had said, to which we replied we had yet to see the oncological consultant, and had not seen that team in the last three months!

If it wasn't for our confidence that Jan was cured or in remission anyway one would despair at the inefficient organisation of our NHS.

Sickening refusal of co-payments

2008-06-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

I am sickened by our governments management of the NHS.

Our news today covers the suicide of a man who had incurable cancer.

In spite of his GP and oncologist recommending a particular effective drug, our NHS management refused to fund it, or allow him to buy it himself without losing the right to any further NHS treatment.

His decision to commit suicide says it all....

Yet the same government force me to make co-payments for my NHS dental treatment. They bribe smokers in Dundee to quit, yet these folk have already disproportionately loaded the NHS by their smoking, now they suck my taxes for subsidised food.

I attach a few "political posts". I have already written in my blog 3 days earlier, and to the Times newspaper, please do your bit if you agree!

Moorewatch - news of our health service farce is covered in the American site

Times newspaper online

And "Doctors for Reform", a 1000 UK doctor group

Dismantling cancer - free e-book

2008-06-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

Upon diagnosis of cancer we initially spent most time getting "right" with God, and praying for a miraculous cure.

None came, but by God's provision or what some might call co-incidence Jan has been supported by 2 Christian friends also going through NHS breast cancer treatment and she has felt upheld by the power of prayer.

An amazing provision was the lead to Professor Jane Plant's work on diet. She sat next to a friend during a university dinner and talked about her survival of breast cancer, not a normal dinner party conversation piece! This was reported to us whilst we were waiting for NHS treatment, we ordered her book the same day.

For further information on diet we need to give thanks to the information shared over the Internet by so many researchers, many of them being university professors.

I am humbled by this free downloadable book "Dismantling Cancer". It is written by Dr Francisco Contreras who runs the Oasis of Hope hospital in Mexico. I have briefly checked his credentials, they seem impeccable. He hosts visits from the US "Cancer Control Society" who seem to be a "watchdog" for alternative treatments. The hospital uses laetrile treatment just as does the "Dove Clinic", a leading UK cancer hospital on which I did "due diligence" on April 23rd. and posted in this blog. The book states that spiritual position is the most important factor in facing cancer, and they run a hospital where prayer in the name of Jesus is a regular daily occurence. Their free downloadable book has much good sense on beating cancer, including the use of humour.

Another breast cancer blogger found the need for faith in something that lives beyond death, her post is here.

Conclusion on diet

2008-06-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Most serious breast cancer authorities reckon diet and exercise play a major role in long term survival. Having studied many specialist diets and authorities we believe that probably at least half the world's vegetables and fruits have some cancer inhibiting effect. Maybe not surprising as we believe in a creator God who made vegetables for all in the world to eat in their season, so we need a broad range.

Jan has not gone overboard, but we have probably doubled our food bill as we eat more fruit smoothies, fresh vegetables and berries. Probably the major change over any other "5 a day" recommendation is that we see no major health benefits claimed by potatoes, french fries, iceberg lettuce or baked beans. But tinned tomatoes certanly offer benefits!

Interesting as I read most Americans mainly eat french fries, lettuce and tinned tomatoes, so they miss many cancer preventing benefits of veg. such as cabbage.

The helpful diets we have looked all come from universities:

University of California San Francisco diet sheet - its hard to read but gives full details of how each food affects cancer.
The Plant Program, by Professor Jane Plant of London University. We have not gone dairy free, but probably halved our dairy intake.
Professor Richard Beliveau's advice, again Professor of cancer research University of Quebec at Montreal. Or by podcast here.
Professor Bharat Aggarwal's ideas on curcumin / tumeric spice as used in Indian curry.

Oasis of Hope hospital in Mexico shares these views on the importance of diet. We dismissed our own UK authority The Royal Marsden Hospital's diet advice, as they reckon 2 units of any alcohol per day is OK, contrary to all other serious researchers who claim all alcohol exacerbates cancer with the exception of red wine.

To put this diet in perspective, it need not be onerous. Oily fish and curries are recommended, with almost any vegetables (particularly cruciferous), garlic, olive oil, brown rice, and fruits. Red wine and dark chocolate also feature, followed by green tea. In fact many of our meals have been more tasty than before Jan's cancer.

More strange diets that we considered but did not fully follow include:

Gerson diet - dangerous coffee enemas, though the caffeine can certainly cut cancer, and the Oasis of Hope hospital used to house the Gerson clinic, and reported great results.
Budwig diet - flaxseed - well known benefits, but too way out for Jan.
A carrot juice diet, about 12 carrots a day recommended by a fellow sufferer - carrots are good, but that many?
A red grape diet - again red grapes are wonderful, but ONLY grapes?

It is interesting that we found our help came from universities, they still have the helpful attitude of sharing knowledge that is so easily stopped by profit motives of big pharma. University professors gave some authority, rather than newsgroups and fora of fellow sufferers.

Experience with Cavilon - the politics

2008-06-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

I need to be careful, as our NHS have recently refused to continue cancer treatment to patients who dare to supplement their inadequate NHS treatment with privately funded treatment. A government mantra - we must all be treated equally.....we cannot spend our "after tax" money to enhance our lives! Even worse, the government use my taxes to bribe Scottish folk to quit smoking!

It isn't as though the NHS treatment was perfect, these posts question whether radiotherapy and chemotherapy do more harm than good against cancers such as Jan's. So we need lateral thinking, and patient involvement in finding new cures be they medical or diet based. An NHS doctor's blog on this issue is here.

Jan is treated in Hertfordshire, one of the worst three counties in the UK for breast cancer survival. So life is not fair anyway. Scottish and English NHS treatments differ, is that fair? Will they insist all patients eat the same food? Can Jan please be enroled on the NHS free dark chocolate trial? One lady we know gets free dark chocolate that would cost me nearly £2 a day, why not us?

In Jan's case we are not funding a drug, just privately funding and trialling Cavilon, a fairly cheap plastic film. In my view we are providing the NHS and country a service, and should not be "condemned". We have openly shared this knowledge with the NHS hospital, they have had free access to the results of this one patient trial as Jan is treated by them. I have provided at no cost to the NHS and advice via this blog to any other cancer sufferer

Google research to find the product and details of its use
Purchased product at my expense
Provided nursing support to apply and manage product
Document results here
Saved the NHS any cost in providing cream and nursing care for skin damage as none was needed, the Cavilon was effective in Jan's case.

It reduced the burden on the NHS. If the government continue to persecute those who supplement their treatment we risk those people merely doing such things in secret. We could have applied Cavilon in secret, it does not show at all if washed off and re-applied every third day, but the NHS would not have had the opportunity to see a trial of an effective product.

Further details are in earlier posts, please search "Cavilon" in the blog if needed. I have no vested interest or association with 3M, the manufacturers of Cavilon.

Experience with Cavilon - medical

2008-06-18T14:25:00.001-07:00

This is technical, only of interest for those wanting to use such protection.

Pleass see my next post on the risks Jan and I face in the UK in daring to use a privately funded barrier film.

Cavilon is a 3M spray on plastic film that forms a very thin breathable protective skin over one's real skin. Developed to protect colostomies from irritation from leakages, we used it very successfully to protect skin from radiotherapy damage. Radiation "drys" the skin, the NHS try to protect skin by moisturising cream. Cavilon works in the opposite way, by slowing the skins "moisture" from escaping. It also acts as a barrier to abrasion damage from skin rubbing on skin, so often caused by the NHS recommendation that one does not wear a bra during treatment.

The idea is complementary to NHS best practice, but it replaces the use of moisturising cream. Moisturising cream is the standard NHS recommendation, known as Sorbolene in the documented trials. Cavilon cannot be used with moisturising cream, as that would stop Cavilon adhering to the skin.

It seems to be almost unheard of amongst Jan's breast cancer specialists, though obviously amongst staff with colostomy experience it is well known. Two specialists told us not to use it, most were ambivalent, one suggested it had been seen before at UCH.

It is available on ebay. Jan refused to use products from such a quack source, so I ordered it from the local pharmacist who got me a bottle within 6 hours. The pharmacist had not heard of Cavilon, and had to look it up in their catalogue. I told her it was for my colostomy! Over 7 weeks we will have used three 28 mil pump spray bottles, each cost about £11.50 retail. It is also known as "No sting barrier film".

We sprayed on a thin film every third day after washing. Jan washed every day, but tried to not wash off the film. Results were good, Jan got mild erythema after 18 days. This consists of two red patches looking like flea bites, and red soreness under the breast where it touches the abdomen, and would normally be protected by a bra. Jan had 15 days whole breast irradiation by "photons" followed by 5 days boost using using electrons. Cavilon is transparent to both.

We had no help from medical staff in how to use it, so we used common sense. I worried about protecting the breast, and gave no thought to how most Xrays (decribed by the NHS as photons) would travel straight through the body and exit, many in the armpit. So we applied no protection to the armpit, which therefore showed greater skin tanning than her breast! I was unaware how high up the neck the radiation would reach, so this was less protected and got the "flea bite" like patches. We let the layers of Cavilon build up over time, so eventually it looked like dirty pealing skin, and could be one reason why one nurse described Jan's breast as looking pink. But this was Cavilon, not a skin reaction.

A benefit for us is that it gave us something to jointly control in Jan's treatment.

In spite of our successful use I hesitate to recommend Cavilon for these reasons:

difficult to apply, it needed a second person to spray Jan as her treated arm was extended over her head and her other hand held the breast skin taught during application.
it took a long time to dry, even in our summer time. We started by leaving for 5 mins, but found Jan had to lie still for 15 mins, else the film on the breast stuck like superglue to her abdomen as she stood up.
it was more difficult to physically see that one had covered the entire breast as the film is almost invisible immediately after application
3M now have a newer product named Cavilon moisturising cream, which seems more geared to breast protection. We had to use what we knew at the time.
it is not a cure all, and in the Wollongong University trials only cut adverse skin reactions by 33%

Further details are in earlier posts, please search the blog if neeed.

A scream, why weren't we told?

2008-06-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

I want to scream "Why didn't they tell us?" Just 2 weeks after completion of radiotherapy I found this article from a consultant working at a London hospital. He describes simple tricks to save the heart from potential damage from radiotherapy, but they didn't tell us. I found it using Google, but too late.....

I am annoyed that we were not warned.... we were already aware of difficulties in accurate aiming of the radiation as Jan breathed, and had joked should Jan stop breathing during the therapy. So we even asked about breathing, but NO help was offered along these lines. Is it that the NHS just cannot admit that radiotherapy has any associated danger?

He quotes the radiation levels that "leak" to the heart and arteries during radiotherapy for breast cancer. "Even with modern techniques a portion of the myocardium is still irradiated and receives a minimum of 50% of the dose prescribed to the primary target volume. At least part of the myocardium received at least 85–95% of the total radiation dose.

One study showed a significant reduction in cardiac irradiation achieved by simple respiratory manoeuvres during radiotherapy. In this study the volume of myocardium irradiated was measured during normal quiet inspiration and following deep inspiration. Patients who held their breath following deep inspiration removed a significant proportion of myocardium from the treated volume and in 47% the entire myocardium was excluded."

A Danish paper says: "Breath-hold was well accepted by the patients. The median heart volume receiving >50% of the prescription dose was reduced from 8% to 1% by patients using deep breathing and breath hold techniques. The median left anterior descending coronary artery volume that was irradiated by the same dose reduced from 54 to 5%.

And in New York hospitals they can automate irradiation pulses to the breathing!

So the risks of radiotherapy are well known, NHS dosctors in London know how to reduce this risk, but such information is NOT passed on to patients. What about the hippocratic oath?

We used curcumin and diet to enable the body to best repair what we thought was inevitable radiotherapy damage. It seems this risk could have been avoided by this simple technique which seems to simply get the heart out of the irradiated field. That sucks......

XZK red rice extract cuts deaths

2008-06-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

Topical news from the Times this week on "Red yeast rice extract XZK". The researchers worry that food supplements are not fully regulated and standardised ... but to me it sounds very much like using Indian curry powder / tumeric, another natural food product. I welcome the news, again of a potential low cost cancer treatment found from traditional oriental medicine just like tumeric. We will stick with tumeric, it has 100 times the number of Google hits as a cancer preventative over XZK.

The serious scientific trial of 5000 Chinese heart patients showed that taking XZK gave a dramatic drop in the number of cancer deaths — 29 cancer deaths in those on placebo, 13 in those on XZK.

Red yeast rice has been used in China for thousands of years as a food preservative, colorant and seasoning and herbal medicine. It is the ingredient that gives Peking duck its red colour.

Dr Capuzzi led the study together with Dr Zonliang Lu, from the Chinese Academy of Medical Science in Beijing.

Treatment complete

2008-06-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

Jan finished radiotherapy 13 days ago, and probably hit her lowest point from fatigue yesterday. From now on she should be officially cured, and get better each day. The truth of course is that late effects of radiotherapy are documented up to 20 years later, so we will both always live in slight fear. She also has regular inspection / examination as follow up.

Her skin today was the worst I have seen, probably abrasion caused to weak skin from excessive exercise. I would rate it as mild grade 1 erythema, showing Jan could be described as a moderately radioresistant patient. Not as bad as many shoppers in Sainsbury after a sunny day at the beach! See this table for more detail. We continue with Cavilon for at least another week to continue protection.

Professor Jane Plant's book was possibly our breakthrough....she confirmed my ideas of looking at cancer rates in other countries and then their lifestyle. I looked a Poland, she looked in greater detail at China. We haven't followed all of her ideas, but it has made us convinced that cancer is better controlled by diet than any NHS treatment apart from surgery. This led us to Professor Richard Beliveau's books, and from Richard's ideas on curcumin onto Professor Bharat Aggwhal's work on Indian curry. There is a freely downloadable audio MP3 by Richard Beliveau here, I listened in detail at least three times, it has a wealth of ideas.

We also had two 68 day delays in Jan's treatment that forced me to Google for ideas....I have even been reading patent info on new cancer drugs. I reckon Jan has been in the best 40% of patients with minimal reaction / damage caused by the therapies, rated as grade 1 skin erythema.

The diet ideas are equally effective in preventing prostate cancer, so any husbands out there should have a curry and red wine at my suggestion, followed by strawberries, dark chocolate and green tea!

I will publish a few posts to finalise my thoughts on radiotherapy. I still rate it as a con trick. I found a Lancet report that states "on average after year 2, radiotherapy reduced annual mortality rates from breast cancer by 13·2% but increased those from other causes by 21·2%." Thanks, we seem to merely swap one risk for another which may be even more deadly, most often heart damage caused by the radiotherapy.

Another report in the "Journal of National Cancer Institute" dated 2005 on radiotherapy suggests it does more harm than good after 10 years. I quote:

"Early trials clearly demonstrated thatradiotherapy reduced local relapse, with a relative risk reductionthat is now known to be about 70%. However, the reduction inrelapse rates did not translate to a reduction in mortality.Many theories were suggested to explain this disparity, includinga detrimental effect of radiotherapy on immune function.These mortality concerns were crystallized in the first individualpatient data overview of cancer trials which showed thatradiotherapy had little effect on mortality in the first 10years of follow-up but was potentially detrimental in the longerterm".

WHY DON'T THE NHS WARN OF THIS???? It is published by Oxford University Press, not exactly an unrecognised source!. They offer free podcasts for those who want to keep up to date whilst on the move.

I will document our experience with Cavilon - but in a few days time.

Radiotherapy so far so good.

2008-05-28T02:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I reported one nurse said Jan's breast was pink, suggesting the normal bad skin reaction to radiotherapy. At yesterday's appointment another nurse could not believe how little reaction there had been to 15 days of radiotherapy. Jan is getting the UK hypofractionation treatment of fewer bigger doses which would give even more reaction after 15 days...

So apart from the fatigue we need to give thanks to one or more of:

an answer to prayer
chance statistics, just under 1 in 6 folk do as well as Jan anyway
use of Cavilon, a spray on plastic film as a skin protection
use of curcumin as a radioprotection agent - there are 4600 Google hits on curcumin and radioprotection
use of garlic as a radioprotection agent - this has 13,700 Google hits
green tea- this has 11,700 Google hits as a radioprotectant
other dietary effects of which we are so far unaware...

So in a trial of just one patient to date (Jan) these tricks seem to help. These tricks are the result of hours of determined book reading and research on Google.. In contrast I looked at the NHS best practice manual that makes no mention of any of these ideas.

The danger is that I am mislead by research in labs that is not replicated by Jan eating tumeric / curcumin. But these Indian ideas have been known to heal for thousands of years. Why is diet research so often based in India and China? Is it their economic necessity to break free from the profits of big pharma? The research reviewed by the national Cancer Institute of America on tea seems pretty conclusive to me, and even gives benefit from ordinary tea, but no pharma companies profit from tea!

One "colleague" undergoing radiotherapy has already developed cellulitis, a complication in around 5% of the patients. The link is 18+ only, it has ghastly photos! So it is still early days to say how well Jan will do...we keep praying.

Fatigue from radiotherapy

2008-05-27T03:43:00.000-07:00

Fatigue seems to be hitting, a common effect, but I am reassured it should not be permanent

This interesting post suggests resilience is a factor, so psychology does affect outcome. Also taking exercise minimises fatigue, so Jan is still walking quite a bit, such as taking the train to the radiotherapy hospital, no taxis or cars!

We read that patients who take charge of their treatment do better than those who are more "docile", so again psychology seems important. I encourage Jan to not be too docile!

Jan has had 75% of the radiotherapy. She refused to use "emulsifying ointment" as recommended by the NHS, but used Cavilon as trialled at Wollongong. She is known as "the lady who is using Cavilon", so it must be a talking point at the hospital. So far her skin reaction is minor...great news, but it has yet to peak 7 - 10 days after therapy is completed.... One nurse suggested her breast was pink, I suspect a lie to discourage others from refusing their emulsifying ointment!

Jan is also taking tumeric capsules, which also claim to minimise skin damage. Jan insisted on bouncing this idea off two pharmacists before taking them, in spite of me saying would you ask them if you could eat brown bread during radiotherapy? I see tumeric as just another food. Fortunately the hospital has many Indian staff, so they were not the least concerned by the use of tumeric, making comments such as "its just a spice"

UK professor backs curcumin

2008-05-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

Great, local stuff, and a University Professor to boot. He directs 4 researchers at Leicester, looking at curry and red wine as aids against cancer. To get funding of course he calls them curcumin and resveratrol. I doubt politicians understand such long words, otherwise how would he get taxpayers to fund his evenings out for a wine and curry and call it work?

Is it any surprise that research into curry is based in Leicester, a town with 140 curry houses?

I like his emphasis on fun. He says "Success in treating established cancer by chemotherapy, surgery or radiotherapy remains limited, making chemoprevention by diet an important and promising alternative. To date curcumin, a component of turmeric, has progressed as a potential agent for prevention of colon cancer."

It is of course much easier to get curcumin into contact with a colon cancer than a breast cancer, so I may be over optimistic. This is emphasised by his clinical trials which shows curcumin gets into the faeces but not the blood.

But it re-assures me that we may be on the right track. Jan is irradiated today, this guy cautions one to wait five years! He says:

"Even though many putative chemopreventive agents are dietary constituents, which may have been consumed for hundreds of years, there is uncertainty regarding the potential for toxicity when administered as a purified product or clearly defined mixture. Agents such as curcumin, resveratrol, genistein, indole-3-carbinol (I3C) or the brown rice constituent tricin also possess antiproliferative activity in tumour model systems, so that dose-defining studies can be performed in patients with cancer. Within the next five years, the diet-derived substances, curcumin, resveratrol and perhaps tricin will be thoroughly investigated in this way."

Thats the first I had neard of brown rice as a cancer preventative.

Kitchen sink radiotherapy protection

2008-05-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

To review our method in complementing radiotherapy. I hope it makes radiotherapy more effective at killing cancer cells, whilst protecting healthy cells from radiotherapy:

1) We believe NHS advice may not always be right.......easy after yesterday's news on beta blockers killing 800,000.

2) We choose a french book based on an attractive cover photo of an orange. It has now been translated!

3) We listen to an mp3 of the author, he has a delightful french accent so must be honest and correct. Another mp3 based on his ideas is here

4) Page 177 of his book shows curcumin and green tea enhancing the effect of radiotherapy.

5) Research shows curcumin is the active ingredient of tumeric, an Indian spice.

6) Knowing nothing of Indian cooking, we scramble an egg with tumeric, and wonder why we get unpalatable yellow molten blobs on the egg. Jan eats two such eggs anyway, we are desperate.

7) We read that curcumin is oil soluble, so our second attempt is to dissolve tumeric in olive oil, and scramble egg in that. Better results.

8) We read that tumeric is not absorbed easily in the body, it needs piperine, the ingredient of black pepper to aid absorption.

9) I buy Holland and Barrett tumeric capsules, open them up over the sink, throw away 20% of the tumeric, replace it with black pepper and reseal the capsule.

Jan refuses this concoction.....and the kitchen worktop is stained yellow.....

BUT in looking at recent US patents I find that that is almost exactly what a US guy has just patented as a potential cancer drug. He uses sunflower oil instead of my olive oil, and adds an antioxidant. But otherwise we are on the same lines.....Another similar patent is dated 2007.

So after long days and nights of research I think I may have stumbled upon a lead........the patent applications prove that, and in the meantime I created the best tasting sea food curry I have ever had.......shame Jan does not like curry. The links above are the popularist ones, I also used learned university papers.

On reading the patent applications I have two emotions, I feel physically sick that rats can be paralysed by 25 Gy radiation, when Jan will receive about twice that dose. The NHS do not warn one so explicitly, they merely mention the slight risk of neuropathy, and one patient lost sight. They don't dare to say some get paralysed, and one went blind! It strengthens my views on animal experimentation. Should we deny animal rights activists any drug developed by this means?

We also use other protective measures such as sunlight (natural vitamin D), exercise, balanced healthy diet of veg rather than meat, green tea, organic eggs, carrots, grapes, onions, cabbage, mushrooms, seaweed as mentioned in the Guardian, garlic which seems to be powerful and plenty of fluids as further protection. I guess from the research and patent application that this diet is most important now and for say a month after radiotherapy, as it controls the inflamation.

I wish I had more time to look at NASA research, I suspect they will be good on radio-protection, as it is a risk they encounter during space travel. But Jan's radiotherapy started 10 days ago, we go with what we know already. The one NASA hit I found was from an oncologist with a sense of humour. He summarised his work as "World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100%. No matter how hard we work, there are some things we simply can't fix."

Concern over curcumin / tumeric

2008-05-13T03:29:00.000-07:00

I still hope curcumin, tea and garlic may be our wonder cure. In summary curcumin is believed to be the active ingredient in Indian curry powder known as Tumeric or Turmeric.

But I had doubts last night. I am happy it is safe, Indians typically take up to 2 grams of tumeric a day, and human tests show 8 grams a day is quite safe. It seems the dosage needed may be far higher than Jan takes, as she hates the taste. She takes less than half a gram a day. It also seems it is hard to get it from the digestive system to the cancer, bio-availability and metabolism issues.....

I understand the issues in trying to guess at the possible outcome of research. Professor Aggarwal takes a cancer cell on a glass plate, adds curcumin, irradiates and watches. This is a long step away from Jan eating a pill or curry and getting the same effect on a living cancer cell in her breast.

I should also explain why a ten fold increase in effectiveness of radiotherapy as produced by curcumin and green tea claimed in my earlier post may be different in a real life situation. The ten fold effect was seen in a single treatment of 5 Gy radiation. Jan will receive 15 treatments, each something over 2 Gy. So if say each treatment only killed half the cancer cells, by the end of 15 treatments all but 0.003% of the cancer cells will have been killed by radiotherapy anyway, curcumin just mops up the remaining 0.003%...... but I believe this well worthwhile, as the more one eradicates cancer from Jan's body the better, and one trusts the immune system will pick off the remainder.

I also read research on getting curcumin into the blood stream, how one may need to add black pepper (piperine) to get a 20 fold increase in blood absorption of curcumin. One doctor recommended 2 grams tumeric and half a gram of pepper a day, but Jan refuses that much pepper.

Similarly she hardly touches garlic. I bought quite a bit, and left it in the kitchen whilst a Polish lady visited last Sunday. In one day the Polish lady eat 3 times as much garlic as we eat between us in a week. And the Poles have a third of our breast cancer rate....

But five positive notes:

I listened to David Hathaway on the radio this morning. He emphasised that God is in control, having seen God heal him from throat cancer 44 years ago, been imprisoned in Czeckoslovakia, yet now preaching in Russia and the Ukrain.
I read Dr. Steve Martin who says blood absorption is irrelevant, curcumin is carried in the lymphatic system anyway.
This Japanese report shows eating curcumin reducing lymph node metastasis, a traditional route for cancer spread.
This report suggests curcumin enhances the bodies immune system without the need for large concentrations of curcumin in the blood.
And I read that Indians have less than a third of our breast cancer rate, they just cook a curry and don't worry about these issues!

Ah, the joys of self medication and DIY cures....but the self help folk are the ones who live longest.

Alternative / complementary medicine

2008-05-12T03:31:00.000-07:00

I found this tremendous Christian link.

People seem to differ widely on their view of such medicine. Jan and I started as skeptical for 2 good reasons:

Our background - traditional English tax payers who believe the government and NHS will look after us! Probably my life was saved by the NHS and penicillin when I was six years old.
Our work. Jan has worked at University College Hospital for 20 years, I considered taking a job in their department of medical physics,. They manage CT scanners and radiotherapy equipment.

So we are not against the NHS, and still have trust in them.....

But we are open......God gave us a daughter who had an allergy to dairy products. Dairy could have killed her, yet our GP referred to it as though it was a childish dislike. Her school failed to provide suitable meals, so each day we had to bring her home for lunch. It cost us a fortune in goats milk, soya and other health products...when she accidently had an asthma attack on a school trip she needed emergency treatment, but she has developed into an adult who has dabbled in food research for our largest supermarket chain. So we are open to any questioning that dairy may not be best for us as suggested by Professor Jane Plant's research into Chinese diet.

I looked again at Jane's book, though we have yet to cut dairy. Jan likes her ice creams too much. I read Professor Dr. T. Colin Campbell comments. He is Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, project director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project, joint chairman of the Diet and Cancer Project of the American Institute for Cancer Research, and co-chairman of the World Cancer Research Fund. " He says "Professor Plant courageously tells a compelling and very personal story on breast cancer that is a must-read, not only for women interested in this disease but also for the scientific and medical communities, who should sit up and take notice. It is time that the long-alleged nutritional worthiness of dairy be brought up for discussion."

I see a contrast between complementary and alternative, though both may be valid. Alternative suggests that conventional treatment is wrong, one refuses it and takes something else, typically a natural product as an alternative. Professor Jane Plant has a touch of this, though most of her work is complementary. She refused Tamoxifen, had four recurrences of her cancer (maybe proving Tamoxifen has some benefits) and developed her diet to overcome cancer in what she claims is a far safer and more effective manner.

This view has some merit, for example the two treatments that Jan is receiving in radiotherapy and Tamoxifen are both known to be strong carcinogens. It could be said one merely swaps one cancer for the fairly high risk of another, maybe that is why radiotherapy offers no long term survival benefit when measured over 15 years.

Complementary is less confrontational, and looks to diet or lifestyle to complement and enhance the traditional medical treatment. As you would expect, we favour that route until we are convinced that conventional treatment does excessive harm.....maybe that will become our position as treatment progresses!

Professor Dr. Bharat Aggwhal works on complemetary. Maybe he has to as an employee of one of America's top cancer hospitals, who has also worked for a $9billion pharma supplier. His ideas on curcumin (found in Indian curry powder), garlic and tea claim to enhance the effect of conventional drugs such as Tamoxifen, make radiotherapy more effective in killing cancer cells, whilst protecting the body from radiotherapy damage. So they may a winning adjunct to the therapy Jan is now receiving... a win win situation.

I see other alternatives such as aromatherapy and herbalism as less effective, though I have just bought three aromatherapy kits, packs of herbal teas, and a humour CD. After all Readers Digest claim "Laughter is the best medicine". Jane Plant reckons aromatherapy releases dangerous carcinogens from the hot oil, but obviously has soothing effect.

Some of the more spiritual ideas are positively dangerous, hence our current concentration on ideas that have a provable scientific basis backed by qualified scientists such as university professors.

Mixing faith, science and health

2008-05-09T06:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am disappointed by an apparently Christian site. But maybe I should expect that? After all I heard over the weekend that Billy Graham got held up by an armed gunman in a hotel recently. The gunman had rushed into the lobby of a hotel, holding up all guests present at the time, and rifling their pockets for valuables. He came to Billy Graham and instantly recognised the famous preacher/ evangelist. "Its OK, you are Bill Graham, you can keep your wallet" he said. "After all, we Baptists had better stick together!". So not all Christians get it right all the time!

A a Christian who attends a Baptist church I would love to get the best advice from them. I found what appears to be an excellent hospital in the USA with a Baptist foundation. Their cancer care seems excellent, but it is in the USA!

On the converse I found this site that initially looks authoritative, yet is the opposite to most of Professor Jane Plant's ideas. It rates red meat as good, and suggests cutting vegetables. It rates vegetables as bad foods... and quotes references as though they prove this point. BUT IT IS WRONG, the quoted references prove vegetables are good, The specific reference I looked at was entitled "Dietary influences on bone mass and bone metabolism: further evidence of a positive link between fruit and vegetable consumption and bone health?" It is taken from the authoritative American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2000;71:142-151."

So I find a serious error in what claims to be a Christian site......sad

So where is the truth? What is the best source for a cure? When it becomes a matter of life and untimely death I think I will bow to science. I believe we have seen God's grace in this cancer situation. The delays in getting NHS treatment have left us time to read and research in depth.

Before surgery we probably spent 90% of research time in prayer, 10% in internet based research. We prayed for a miraculous cure, but did not receive such a gift. Instead Jan has joined the mass of others receiving successful surgery but followed by what I would describe as questionable and often ineffective treatment. The delays in receiving this treatment has given us 10 weeks to study how to best use and prepare for radiotherapy. It took us nine weeks to even grasp that complementary medicine was indeed complementary, and could dramatically enhance the benefits whilst cutting risks of radiotherapy. Much of this latest information has come from Chinese and Indian medical ideas. As these may seem strange to some I will cover complementary / alternative in detail in the next post.

We are not taking on the spiritual concepts behind traditional Chinese medicine. As soon as I read "Yin and Yang" in a paper or book I stop reading it. Shame as our NHS cancer booklet mentions Yin and Yang, so I missed any further help from it for at least 4 weeks! But importantly the East and West differ in their rates of cancer, with the lowest rates of cancer in Japan, southeast Asia, North Africa and China. So much fruitful research asks "why the difference in cancer rates?" It questions eating, lifestyle, traditional drugs etc. These questions stand genuine scientific scrutiny, and are tested in labs in Texas by Dr. Bharat Aggwhal. and others. The sort of differences coming out as worthy of investigation and appealing to us are:

Increased vegetable reliance rather than meat - surely Hindus eat no meat?
Restricted dairy - Chinese eat almost no dairy produce
Ginger, Garlic, Tumneric and spices - traditional Indian remedies.
Use of tea, Japanese drink much green tea

We started by discounting Chinese medicine, mainly because of its questionable diagnosis techniques. But God led us to a Chinese nurse with impeccable CV and training who whilst being a Christian opened our eyes to the far simpler Chinese medical practices coupled with prayer. Since then we have been led to read Professor Jane Plant and Professor Richard Beliveau's books, and from Richard's ideas on curcumin onto Professor Bharat Aggwhal's work. As far as I can see he is an Indian looking to simple Indian spices for safe low cost remedies, Yet on reading last night his curcumin at less than a pound a bottle is as effective as Tamoxifen at £10 per month, and far safer and tastier! If one wants one can combine the two to get even more reduction is cancer cell growth, a win win situation.... great.

So our priority will be good science in evaluating a cure rather than the faith or world view of the person discovering it. This is not to discount God's leading, he has led by amazing coincidences. But I believe God has a universal grace to all mankind, and gives knowledge and healing to all. So we welcome good Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Polish ideas.

Politician's potty statistics

2008-05-08T15:51:00.000-07:00

A dangerous post, what do I know about pot? Or at least what can I admit to knowing about pot! I read in today's news that our government state pot can be lethal? To who, when and where? According to which US Government authority you want to believe, the lethal dose of marijuana is either about one-third your body weight, or about 1,500 pounds, consumed all at once". If our government claim that can be lethal how can they direct the NHS?

They say that pot causes psychosis. As I understand the risk, it is a 1 in 5,000 chance for men, and a 1 in 20,000 chance for women. Compare that to a 1 in 2 chance of a breast cancer sufferer dying from that cancer within 15 years, when the government claim they have a cure.....

Again I despair of politicians. I liked this blog post.

The importance of this post is not to discuss pot, but to show why I question government statements. They would have one believe that our NHS have cancer all in hand, Jan is cured, there is no need to look for better cures or treatment. If one does not look one will not find. Without something better there is a 50:50 chance Jan will be dead in 15 years from her cancer....I believe God has led us to better than that.

The £1 cancer cure?

2008-05-07T04:04:00.000-07:00

I feel amazed and humbled.

Amazed as I look at curry power from curry powder. Specifically tumeric, or the active ingredient which is curcumin. I bought a jar at Sainsbury's last night for less than a pound. My reading suggests that mixed with black pepper and green tea this could make radiotherapy at least ten times as effective in killing cancer cells, with continuing benefits for life.

Humbled as I read the CV of one of the researchers into curcumin, Dr. Bharat Aggwhal. He is a professor searching for cancer cures at a mainstream Texan University Cancer Centre, so not a health food crank, though maybe pre-disposed to look to India for low cost traditional remedies. His CV states "our cancer journey started almost 25 years ago continues with the focus of discovering novel molecules that are safe, efficacious, and yet inexpensive for the treatment of cancer."

He worked for Genentech, strange as they are a $9 billion company yet he freely publishes research results on the web, unlike so may quacks picked up by Google ads who demand money for bogus cures. The use of curcumin (found in curry) is not the dream of a madman, a Google search on "curcumin radiosensitization" finds almost 10,000 hits. The first hit is here, a 2008 report on cervical cancer, so its brand new fresh off the press. Radiosensitization means making tumours more sensitive to radiotherapy, or making radiotherapy better able to kill cancer. Another report suggests curcumin doubles the effectiveness of radiotherapy. Add pepper and green tea to get my ten fold gain! A third report from India is specific to breast cancer and claims less gain, but still substantial.

Green tea and radiosensitization gets mention in 2400 Google hits, I include a fourth and fifth report. Another details benefits of green tea whilst receiving radiotherapy for breast cancer!

The NHS claim they have removed all cancer by surgery, and radiotherapy is to "mop up" any left over! What an over-simplification. Is that why they do not mention curcumin, it would cast doubt on the effectiveness of radiotherapy? Why do the statistics show Jan has a six fold increased risk of getting another cancer over the general public, has lost ten years of life expectancy, and has a 50% chance of death related to this breast cancer within 15 years?

Her doctors disagree between themselves over the use of Tamoxifen whilst receiving radiotherapy. Jan takes it, but it protects cancer cells from radiotherapy damage, so we need all the help we can get to resensitise them.

The use of diet for radiosensitisation is new research that has yet to be proven outside animal and lab trials, so it has no NHS guarantee. But we have to eat something, and at less than a £1 a jar why not try curry, black pepper and green tea? Jan took an eighth of a teaspoon as curried egg last night followed by two cups of tea, none of the profit or foil wrapped accuracy to a milligram that big pharma gives us!

The pepper, tea and tumeric act synergistically. This paper says tea acts in unison with Tamoxifen. I quote "there is now mounting evidence that the active compounds in tea are an effective adjuvant therapy for the treatment of cancer, particularly when combined with other natural anti-cancer agents such as curcumin, or with conventional drugs such as tamoxifen or chemotherapy. Finally, tea and green tea extract can also be used for prevention of recurrence and metastasis." Metastasis is the the deadly spread of cancer that can be kicked off by radiotherapy as it stimulates blood flow to the inflamed breast tumour. Another paper explains the synergy: "Curcumin arrests the growth of cancer cells in the G2 stage. Green tea arrests cancer cell growth at the G1 phase. Combining tea with curcumin increases the odds of killing more cells."

Obviously I exaggerate to suggest this is a £1 cure. But I exaggerate less than Professor Sir Richard Peto who claims with chemotherapy we are close to a cure, yet only delivers a 3% benefit, or radiotherapy where only one report in 12 claims any long term benefit?

Radiotherapy started

2008-05-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

Scares me silly.... and probably scares Jan also. A high stress time. Thanks to the couple who ran Jan to the station, and her friend who accompanied her to make it a "shopping trip".

Jan and I argue over how much to follow medical advice, and how much to do our own thing based on Internet research. I believe God can guide us through use of our brain, and has led us by chance to three leads that look promising. Note we are NOT AGAINST the NHS, at least not yet! We want to enhance their and our chances by sensible diet alongside their treatment. We are taking diet advice from university professors and or cancer research professionals, not health food quacks.

1) We used Cavilon this morning with no medical guidance. It is a new use of a protective spray designed for colostomies. In trials it reduces skin burns from radiation, but almost superglued Jan's breast to her stomach!

2) We are using Jane Plant's ideas on eating during radiotherapy. This is at variance from the NHS who say eat well, drink full fat milk, eat protein such as beef etc. during radiotherapy. Jane suggests the beef and milk could be killing one, so we eat garlic, organic eggs, seaweed, vegetables, and have limited meat intake.

3) We are using Richard Beliveau's ideas on diet, and taking green tea. He suggests it is synergistic with radiotherapy and in his lab trial has shown it doubling of effectiveness of radiation.

Why do we need to enhance effectiveness of radiotherapy? Here is an Oxford University presentation which shows the pathetic gains from radiotherapy which the author who works in the field describes as moderate. It claims the risk of Jan's death within 15 years drops from 50% to 45% with radiotherapy, but the ongoing risk of other cancers caused by radiotherapy continues even after that. So she could lose 15% lung capacity, lose heart strength or even die from radiation induced cancers for a small benefit. If we could double that benefit merely by taking green tea 3 times a day during a 4 week course of radiotherapy what a win for such a low cost! £3 for the accountants! As prostate cancer is a similar hormone related cancer to breast cancer this research shows why we think green tea is promising.

The only thing I have yet to get Jan to eat is curry powder... shame as curcumin, its active ingredient appears to be really helpful in protecting the body against radiotherapy whilst combining with radiotherapy to kill cancer cells. She hates the taste of strong curry, but our argument on this continues!

Why we take radiotherapy

2008-05-01T03:47:00.000-07:00

I had said it was the con of the century, yet after hours of research I will agree with Jan taking it. There is no question that it reduces the risk of local cancer recurrence in the same breast, but I was dubious because the first eleven learned papers I read all said it made no difference to long term survival over say 5, 10 or 15 years. I think my measure of success would be long term survival.

The NHS must know this weakness, the consent form Jan signed said the purpose was to reduce the risk of local recurrence, nothing about a possible longer life. I discussed my concern over the ineffectiveness of radiotherapy and the PRIME trial suggesting it was useless with the oncologist. She was unaware of the NHS run PRIME trial, all she could say was all hospitals do it.....in fact my research suggests 70% of breast cancer patients receive radiotherapy.

We are taking radiotherapy because the surgeon performed his work expecting radiotherapy to follow. I guess it's a bit like my decorator could either not protect my furnishings and paint carefully, or use dust sheets and paint more rapidly.

Jan had three biopsies, and her WGL procedure had three mistakes, twice when the wire went straight through the tumour and out the other side, and once she had a hook pull back from the tumour, something we were assured was impossible. I suspect Jan's records were lost at that point to destroy evidence. So Jan has had six instances where preparation for surgery will have pushed parts of the tumour into the clear breast, and probably bloodstream and lymphatic system. A google search on seeding cancer along biopsy wire tracks illustrates my concern. So we probably need radiotherapy to clear up this mess.

Cancer authority, Ralph Moss, comments in his February 6th, 2005 Moss Reports Newsletter:

"Imagine the outrage these patients will feel when they learn that many metastases were caused not by the natural progression of their disease but directly by the actions of well-intentioned (but ill informed) doctors. Imagine, further, what will happen when patients find out that questions have been raised about the safety and advisability of needle biopsies for a number of years by some of the finest minds in oncology. Imagine the disruption of the smooth functioning of the "cancer industry" when patients start demanding less invasive ways of diagnosing tumors. And
imagine the class action lawsuits."

On the twelfth learned paper I read by a consultant surgeon in Cambridge dated 2007 I find a claim that radiotherapy increases chances of long term survival by 5%, so we go for it! I have emailed him to question his statistics!

A century of radiotherapy, and we still find the best it can do is increases mortality chances by 5%.... unbelievable, particularly when this is in only one learned paper, the other eleven say it makes no difference. Yet one hears so much about medical advances and the need for radiotherapy! Hence my description of the process as a con trick. Is it that patients need to see something being done, however ineffective, just like taking a placebo?

Foods that fight cancer free download

2008-04-30T05:34:00.000-07:00

Wow,

I have read some more of Richard's book. Initially it enthuses me as much as Jane Plant's book, though it emphasises American eating rather than the UK. He claims one can cut 70% of US cancers by lifestyle changes. This does assume stopping smoking, it drops to 40% for idle, or 30% for fit non smokers. But these figures are still ten times the effectiveness of chemotherapy against simple breast cancer. He has authority as a university professor / medical researcher with MD and PhD.

There is a freely downloadable audio MP3 of him talking here that runs to 49 mins. Sorry, it has many commercials, but it is free! And I love Professor Richard Beliveau's french accent.

He disagrees with the NHS. They state Jan's cancer will be cured by their treatment and taking a pill for 5 years. Richard suggests it is an incurable chronic disease that needs lifetime eating and lifestyle changes. Being french he makes this sound like enjoyable drinking small amounts of red wine, and eating well cooked mediterranean quality foods, garlic and chocolate.

This work contrasts to our NHS. I checked again at the NHS sites today, and see that they are running a trial starting this year to look at effects of diet after breast cancer. I quote "f you are in group 2 you will not take part in the exercise programme or have any dietary advice from the researchers during the first 24 weeks of the study. They will give you a booklet about healthy eating, produced by the British Nutrition Foundation. And they will ask you to live your life as normal. After 24 weeks, they will offer you some advice about diet and exercise sessions."

How can a Canadian professor and Jane Plant have proven to my satisfaction the link to diet, yet the NHS are still trialling it? How can we call this research? Why not just read Richard and Jane's books? How can anyone who has had breast cancer be so unaware as to live for 24 weeks without changing their diet?

Richard's site is here, in French or English!

One thing that struck me maybe as God's amazing provision was the delivery of this book just 6 days before Jan starts radiotherapy. On page 177 he suggests that eating curry whilst taking green tea may significantly increase the effectiveness of radiotherapy in killing cancer cells. What timing! I will suggest she stops deodorant, and eats curry and garlic during radiotherapy! Pity the fellow passengers on the train.

Richard's link to curcumin, the spice in indian curries led me to this site. Amazing that there are proven techniques to increase the effectiveness of radiotherapy against cancer whilst minimising the damage done to the body. Why do our NHS not mention it?????

Complexities of a cancer beating diet

2008-04-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

Professor Richard Beliveau's book "Foods that fight cancer" arrived today. Shame I used eBay rather than Amazon to get it cheaper, waited 10 days instead of Amazon''s typical two or three days.

On initial inspection it seems too trivial for me......probably a quarter of the pages are full colour pictures, such as a lemon, an orange and a fish, typical Dorling Kindersley. The chapter on green tea suggests it is good for the soul! The back cover claims it is "the one book you shouldn't be without". Give me university papers any day!

I will read with interest, it gives the chemical formulae of many vegetable phytochemicals, and on inspection it matches other sensible research I have read from major universities. I looks in some detail at Eastern diets and their lower cancer rates which matches Jane Plant. Definitely not one for quackwatch so far! It also has recipes and says red wine has anti cancer properties which should make it popular!

But on reflection it is a popularist book as one would expect from Dorling Kindersley, it will not upset anyone in contrast to Jane Plant. I read newsgroup hatred of Jane's ideas yesterday. She says cut dairy, processed foods and alcohol. This book demands no sacrifices, recommends alcohol in moderation, makes no mention of dairy or IGF, and recommends chocolate. But I suspect it will be more use to many readers than Jane's more complex arguments.

I am sure a change to well balanced vegetable based diet cutting red and particularly burnt or processed meat will help. Smoking and alcohol are out for us. I said yesterday Jan could lose 15% lung capacity after radiotherapy, obviously if lungs have been damaged already by smoking that loss would be far more serious.

On alcohol, we have American research suggesting 2 units of alcohol a day increases risk of breast cancer by 32%, whereas our booklet from Europe's biggest cancer hospital, the Royal Marsden says up to 2 units is OK. So at a stroke they have given away the total benefit from a course of the dangerous drug Tamoxifen that Jan is starting, and which would cost the NHS £3000 over 5 years!

The complexities of a cancer beating diet strike us. A University professor from UCSF rates fibre as important, whereas a similarly qualified professor in the UK says cut dairy. But on more careful study one is pre and the other post menopausal. I believe the fibre is more important for pre-menopause, it shows the complexity of the issues.

Jane Plant looks at reduced cancer rates in China, and says more soy and cutting dairy are the cause, I look at Poland which has similarly lower cancer rates, have yet to do research, but have a hunch their dietary effect is from lightly cooked or raw cruciferous vegetables and exercise. The Polish gene pool is probably closer to ours in the UK, so I still favour my ideas!

I read conflicting results as to whether soy helps or hinders. Some suggest it could be that Chinese soy is different from the processed and potentially GM modified soy we eat. I believe it could depend upon cancer type because more scientific data shows that phytoestrogens enhance T47D cell cancer growth rates in post menopausal women by blocking the effects of Tamoxifen, yet reduce growth of MCF-7 cancer. All we know is Jan's cancer is ER+, and both MCF-7 and T47D are typical ER+ cancers. So we don't know whether the phytoestrogens Jan had been eating in red clover and has now stopped helped or hindered.

I read in March 2008 US research that cruciferous vegetables have more or less benefit dependent upon ones genetic makeup. Yet the UCSF professor and this new book rave about the benefits of cruciferous veggies such as cabbage.

Wow, one starts to see the oomplexity of these issues. A friend suggested yesterday I might like to take a trip to China to help run a 2 week course to help them learn English. Maybe I should go to see how easily the Chinese lifestyle cuts breast cancer without any need for understanding, one just lives in China!

God is sovereign

2008-04-29T01:26:00.000-07:00

This picture is a colour enhanced scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a breast cancer cell. Shows that even though we hate cancer it has a certain beauty.....It is also to show I do read scientific research, not quack health food fads. One can see it is invasive cancer, like Jan's...

Even worse, I read that one needs a clump of about a million such cells before they are visible to a CT scanner, or even more to be seen by mammogram or ultrasound. Hence some of the uncertainty in Jan's prognosis and treatment, she could have a 1 to 500,000 cell tumour remaining yet be pronounced clear.

I am still thinking about scams and quackery so read with interest the NHS online site that gives Jan the well publicised 80% chance of 5 year survival, but this drops to 70% if one looks for 10 years, and I know the 15 year prognosis of 50% that the NHS do not publicise. Yet the NHS talk of this as a cure, and have not mentioned the cancer risk from radiotherapy which typically occurs 12 years afterwards, nor that Jan could lose 15% lung capacity.

I also read about Tamoxifen, the hormone drug that Jan is on and the NHS say is stopping Jan's cancer recurring! From CNN: "the effects of hormone therapy may be limited. Most advanced hormone-sensitive cancers eventually become resistant to hormone treatment and find ways to thrive". Or Swedish research that states "These treatments areeffective but patients inevitably develop hormone-resistant,invasive tumors."

Where is the quackery, in alternative medicine where Jane Plant has already survived for 20 years, or in the NHS? To be fair I do not accuse the NHS of quackery, but their statistics are in my opinion less accurate than those of sensible diet advocates such as Jane Plant.

I re read Michael Baughen's book on prayer, "Getting through to God", and got my perspective back on the sovereignty of God, how he is in control of our lives, and that death is not necessarily a failure.

He makes an interesting summary in his first chapter comparing similar incidents, and the different results:

Paul escapes an ambush (Acts chapter 23) yet Stephen is stoned to death (Act chapter 7)
Peter escapes from prison (Acts chapter 12) yet John the Baptist is beheaded in prison (Mark 6)
The lame are healed by Peter (Acts chapter 3) yet Epaphroditus nearly dies from illness (Philippians chapter 2 verse 26)
Paul raises the dead to life (Acts chapter 20) yet leaves Trophimus behind at Miletus as he is too sick to travel (2 Tomothy chapter 4 verse 20)
James chapter 5 says "prayer of faith will save the sick" whereas Timothy is told to take a little wine for his frequent stomach ailments (1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 23)
Jesus stills a storm (Mark chapter 4) yet Paul is shipwrecked (Acts chapter 27)

So we need ot trust in God's love, over riding compassion and goodness no matter how he answers our prayers.

An RAF chaplain once asked a pilot who was walking across the runway "Do you pray?" Yes, of course. he replied. Well Ive never seen you at my chapel services. No, Padre. I only pray when I'm flying. When I am on the ground I can cope.

Like the RAF pilot cancer has forced us back onto God

Quacks and quackery

2008-04-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

I am still trying to work out whether the diet and lifestyle ideas of Professor Jane Plant are correct. It is a source of friction between Jan and me. I think we are both slowly coming round towards Jane's views, our shopping bill has doubled as we eat more fresh fruit and veg, I've cut milk from tea, and there are two packs of green tea in the larder.

Jan has taken a week away to the coast as we await radiotherapy whilst I supervise building work. To start her holiday she had fish and chips followed by ice cream, and a beef joint the next day. So she still has some way to go before she becomes a full veggie, and neither of us know what a vegan is! But our fish and chips was three times our normal price, as we went for double the fish and a third the chips!

Today the Guardian newspaper carried a warning against DIY cancer cures.... I read with care, but I find it makes me mad. The government want to present that "they know best", yet my comment yesterday on Cavilon hopefully shows that even when presented with reputable evidence from trials funded by an NHS approved major health supplier (3M) and performed in the USA and Australia our team dismiss their findings in favour of what they have always done. I think it proves they do not always know best if they ignore peer reviewed scientific trials of superior treatment.

The latest news yesterday warned that cancer sufferers are at increased risk from websites selling unproven cures that could wreck the remaining months of their life. The controversy centres on a drug called DCA (dichloroacetate), a chemical being promoted and hyped across the world as a cure for cancer after news of preliminary laboratory tests on rats.

Dr Ian Gibson, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on cancer, warned that increasing numbers of British people were purchasing such products, and urged the government to do all it could to highlight the problem and block sales from the websites. Their arrogance.

So I looked at Quackwatch, its name sounded helpful, but the doctor running the site is a retired psychiatrist, so I rate the site as useless. It rates diet as questionable. To quote:

"Today's questionable methods include plant products, special diets and "dietary supplements". The dangers of using questionable treatments include delay in getting appropriate treatment, decreased quality of life, direct physical harm, interference with proven treatment, waste of valuable time, financial harm, and psychological damage."

It makes me mad......it states "The dangers of using questionable treatments include delay in getting appropriate treatment." Yet our NHS botched Jan's WGL surgery, lost Jan's test results for 68 days, inserted someone else's mammogram in Jan's records, refused to tell us how many lymph nodes they had removed, lost records that Jan was a patient on their booking system, then have a 10 week delay for radiotherapy when their guidelines suggest it should be four weeks maximum. Just who causes delay and psychological harm in Jan's case?

And from an American site:

"The prevalence of use of questionable cancer methods was nine percent overall. An increase in use was directly proportional to increased income and education. Prolonged illness and certain types of cancer were more commonly associated with use.

Important discrepancies were found between patients' and physicians' perceptions of questionable therapies. CONCLUSIONS: While some questionable therapies are harmless or inexpensive, others have toxic effects and may be costly, and none have scientifically proven efficacy."

So why is it that use was directly proportional to education? Could it just possibly be that bright people understand statistics and real science, and can see through unscientific government hype? I do read the scientific papers looking at long term mortality over 5, 10, and 15 years, not just local recurrence. I wrote earlier that the government website to allow patients to choose between hospitals details car parking and disabled access, but ignores cure and death rates...whereas the alternative clinics freely publish their auditable data of cures, follow up and deaths.

Jane Plant who advocates diet is a Professor with a PhD in science from London University, more scientifically qualified than most politicians trying to block our access to DCA. It's not that I want DCA, its just I hate government arrogance and stupidity in denying benefits from diet

Do the NHS miss the best?

2008-04-25T23:22:00.000-07:00

I earlier said Jan's radiologist had given her advice that was not in her best interest.

There is a product named Cavilon that helps protect against damage to the skin during radiotherapy. I can find trials for its use in Australia, South Africa, USA, and even references in our NHS at Leeds and Bath. Yet when we twice ask can we use it the answer is NO. They prefer their traditional moisturising cream....

Jan's radiologist seems unaware of such developments, even though the Australian trial started in 2004. How come I can find it with a simple Google search yet our NHS radiologist is unaware of it? Just as they were unaware of the PRIME radiotherapy trial which could cut the need for any radiotherapy for people like Jan. This is a trial that my taxes are funding, why cannot we even be aware of the possible benefits?

I despair......80% or folk get skin reactions to radiotherapy, yet our team are unaware of this treatment, which cuts the incidence of some cases by 33% from trial data to date. Is 33% not worth it?

Yesterday Jan's friend who has now completed radiotherapy phoned. Her skin continues to deteriorate, and is so bad her doctors reckon she will need to be off work until 23 June. Yes, it doesn't stop deteriorating once radiotherapy ceases. So another 8 weeks loss of pay and work from her, when Cavilon costs less than £12 a bottle. Is it the cost of Cavilon hits the NHS budget, whereas 8 weeks loss of pay does not?

For more info on Cavilon see my post dated April 1st, where I link to photographic evidence.

I will willing to pay for Cavilon myself, and have no links to 3M, the makers of Cavilon. This is not a commercial! Yet does it illustrate a more serious underlying problem?

Cavilon is not a quack product with unscientific claims unlike so many health food remedies. It is made by 3M, the makers of Post it notes amongst other plastic products. 3M already supply to the NHS. Their research is done by university professors. If radiologists at one of the top NHS hospitals are unaware of this, would they also be unaware of important breakthroughs in cancer treatment and care, such as may have been found by Professor Jane Plant?

Can we trust their dietary advice? Would they recognise a better treatment if it was available?

Parish Nursing - good christian links

2008-04-25T05:05:00.001-07:00

Having said in the previous post that I would rather see eminent scientists guiding the NHS instead of Joan Saddler, what is the role of the church with the sick?

I attend a church that is pioneering Parish Nursing in the UK.

I was introduced to the chaplain of the hospice at the hospital treating Jan. She had a strong faith, and wanted to see the NHS more willing to cry "enough" and pass dying patients over to her hospice rather than the typical 8 hours before their death. Thinks, would government stats rate the hospice as poor, as many of their patients died within 8 hours of arriving, or good because of their low budget for food!

On a more serious and positive note I liked the American Elmbrook Church resources. I have used their audio archive of the Briscoe's teaching many times. Stuart Briscoe was a banker in England, so he and his wife Jill Briscoe have UK connections. I am humbled by the breadth and quality of their resources. They have a disability ministry, honestly, I am not against them! This church resource covers prayer and cancer so well that I printed it out for Jan. It is written by Dianne, a lady who has survived breast cancer for 8 years. She worked in the medical imaging department of a major hospital so mixes Christian faith with sound medicine and personal experience. She says:

"My eight plus years of prayer since cancer came have left me feeling insulated. Again, look up, not around. I daily look to God first. I thank him for each day, and ask him what his will is for me. Again he has answered, by getting me to reorder my priorities. I have started doing some new things (for instance this ministry), and stopped doing others. I also ask him how he wants me to do the things he has given me to do. For instance, what to teach my two sons. And we talk more about God and life and truth. I am affected far less by things "around" me. I look "up", and I have joy and peace I could not have imagined. Prayer is answered. I am so thankful."

The curse of political meddling

2008-04-25T04:10:00.000-07:00

I struggle to work out why if Jane Plant has an answer or more useful treatment for cancer how is it that our NHS have missed such treatment? Surely our "National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) or NHS Healthcare Commission should lead our hospitals and doctors to the best practice .....but will they when they seem obsessed by equal opportunities and political correctness? I despair at the political meddling in the NHS.

As Jan has cancer we are looking for good treatment, and if not a cure maybe the best possible odds or longest survival. Jan's odds are good for a cancer, but without cancer she would have had a mean life expectancy of another 25 years, the cancer has dropped that by 10 years. I think we can restore some of those lost 10 years by diet and or lifestyle changes.

So I use the Internet. 95% of the sites quickly lead to crack pot ideas from cranks. But I place enormous value on respected universities and professional sites. Before we chose Jan's treatment we looked at statistics by county in the UK, looked at hospital websites, and the CVs of the two consultants who are treating Jan. Their CVs cannot be faulted, just a shame Jan has yet to meet the oncologist, we have only seen her registrar and houseman, and the surgeon failed to turn up at our last appointment.

What if I look at government sites.... after all this year's mantra is patient choice and involvement under PPI. The government run an online hospital comparison site.....just like those that get best value car insurance. I compare the 2 hospitals we have been offered for Jan's radiotherapy, and look for info such as death and cure. NOTHING.

So what do I find. One hospital is satisfactory, the other weak.... but why, did they offer less cures, more deaths or what? I am not told, just it failed to meet one financial target so was automatically rated as weak. I guess the most likely reason is they worked flat out relieving suffering, so treated and cured more sick folk, had shorter waiting lists, and spent more on staff fees and medicines. To the government stats that is weak performance, to me it is praiseworthy!

What else does the government comparison site tell me? The hospital scored 79 out of 100, because it had facilities such as an induction loop, signing for the deaf, car parking, and disability access. It seems not to matter if they cured or killed.

So I look at the new NHS patient and public involvement known as PPI. Joan Saddler OBE has been appointed by the government to revitalise PPI. How did she come to be so involved in the National Health Service? A far as I can see she is a political activist, her contribution so far has been in women's and ethnic minority equality issues and in singing with the London Adventist Chorale.

At an interview Joan Saddler said: “I am very pleased to accept this exciting new role. I am passionate about community engagement and look forward to working with groups across the NHS, so that patients and the public are true partners in the delivery and improvement of healthcare"

Why do we need to consult with the public over all issues? Surely developing cancer treatment needs some scientific training, just under half the members of the public are below average intelligence and lack such training. Why concentrate on access by minority groups or the disabled when what we need first of all is effective treatment for anyone. Personally I would rather see an eminent scientist heading such work.

My GP is similarly hamstrung by government targets, in my case to have no-one waiting more than 48 hours for an appointment. Why????? I book a holiday 6 months ahead, why should I not book a non urgent appointment with a doctor more than 48 hours ahead? But Tony Blair stated I must not.

When I phoned one afternoon for a non urgent appointment to see a doctor say within the next week, maybe even at the start or end of a day to save excessive interruption to my work, I was told that was impossible, it would breach the targets. I must phone again the next day at the 08:30 scrum, and keep dialing the normally engaged number until I got through to book an emergency appointment. As a fit man I can do that, but could a weak bedridden person keep dialing?

I despair of our NHS with this present government control.

Due diligence Jane Plant Dove Clinic

2008-04-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Before a business takeover it is said that the only way you can determine if it's right and what the future looks like is by conducting such an exhaustive due diligence investigation that by the time you're done you'll know more about the business than the current owner does.

I have done it in business, so why not for Jane Plant's cancer cure? In summary the more I look the more I like her ideas....

The following is not a full detailed investigation, but records some of my research and thoughts. I still like Jane's ideas, and question why the NHS seem to overlook them.

1: Professor Jane Plant's background. It could be said that one should only "trade" on relevant qualifications. Some criticise her use of the title doctor as her doctorate is in geology / earth sciences rather than medicine. Is this fair? I think not as further investigation shows she worked for a time with Chinese doctors to study health effects of growing food in the selenium deficient Chinese soils. So she has looked at health effects of geology in a team with medical doctors.

2: Her background is one of personal success, she has a CBE etc, and has survived breast cancer for 20 years so far.

3: I rate her scientific approach. She quotes peer reviewed scientific research, not too many "unproven health food fads"

I then went on to look at one of her recent employments at the Dove Clinic, a private clinic specialising in cancer care. I am not endorsing this clinic, and have never used it, but I think it important to understand the clinic to assess her abilities.

There are publicly available reviews of the clinic. Their private audit gives me great confidence, the government review so misses the point that I think I see why our cancer care is so appalling...

4: The Dove Clinic audit. It covers 227 cancer cases. The horror of cancer brought tears to my eyes. 52 folk died within 6 weeks of seeing them from advanced metastases. I believe this does not reflect on the Dove clinic, more that the patients saw them too late as a last resort.

Of those treated for 4 months or more there were many deaths, but NOT ONE BEFORE NHS predictions. many had at least double the predicted life span, say 6 months extends to 14 months. So they do NO HARM, unlike some NHS treatments which are sometimes worse than a placebo (see my earlier post on Placebo).

The clinic also concentrates on quality of life rather than length, so in keeping with my views as a Christian, after all death is not a failure or defeat.

5: The government's Healthcare Commission. How do they audit a cancer clinic that I think is ten times as effective than many NHS treatments, and may even have a cure for some cancers? Their first report I can find is here. It is a 43 page report making 27 recommendations to improve the service...I look for items such as death and cure to see the effectiveness, NOTHING!!!!!! So the government inspectors look at cleanliness of hand basins and loos but do not look for cancer cures, or deaths prevented.

What burdens do I find our government inspectors lay on the organisation which employs some of the UK's leading doctors? I quote a few of their findings:

a) the clinic needs a documented procedure to handle patient deaths....... but they have had NO DEATHS on site, that is the point, it is an effective outpatient hospital a point which seems to be missed by the government inspectors.

b) a written human resource policy needs to be developed...... why? They employ the doctors who have the answers, what more do we need? The NHS have such written policies and employ doctors who dare I say so often fail.

c) written policies were needed on the prevention of harassment and bullying......what? This is an upmarket private clinic, patients don't return if they are not satisfied or bullied...

So if the government watchdog can so miss the important data yet burden a leading clinic with what I see as 27 irrelevant recommendations maybe that is why the NHS is failing to provide effective cancer treatment. They cannot see the wood for the trees. Did Jane leave the clinic to escape such bureaucracy?

Cancer, pain and death

2008-04-23T02:52:00.000-07:00

I said we had two "encouragements at church last Sunday. In reality one sufferer was so ill she couldn't get to church, and another told of the death of her sister. It gets worse! The friend of a member died that same day from cancer, leaving a husband, a three and a six year old. We only heard about it yesterday.

We had a phone call from another of Jan's friends who completed her radiotherapy yesterday, she was triumphantly looking forward to a rest. Yet in reality her skin was so burnt she could not sleep, wear a bra or tight fitting clothes, and she was told the skin reaction was yet to peak, it would get worse for at least the next 7 if not 10 days.

I also worry about a UCSF Professor whom I had used for diet tips. I have had no response to my emails, and her regular blog suddenly stopped on 18th March 2008. Is she too ill to continue?

Sadly Samantha Hughes, a 4 year old's death from cancer hit the press today. A tribute to her is here. Beware, it is begging for money! Seems God does not shield Christians from the problems that everyone else has, we have no charmed life.

And another sadness, we had a letter from "Telling the Truth" by Jill Briscoe, apparently Laura Meleski, who had been their administrator has had to stop work due to progressing cancer. Interesting list of prayer concerns from her church...

Yet we still welcome and need this contact, we would rather cry with others than be isolated. We are told Christ shares our sorrows. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 4 reads "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows."

Zimbabwe - God can over-rule

2008-04-20T15:12:00.001-07:00

Today's church was encouraging, a Nigerian visited. Our UK congregation had many hurting people there... seems God uses broken weak people, maybe to show his over ruling strength.

One of Jan's friends who also has breast cancer has been so ill she has missed the last four meetings, and Jan felt too weak to go in the evening herself. I sat next to an older lady who kindly asked how Jan was doing. It turns out her sister died of breast cancer about ten years ago. That's two encouragements in one day!

The guy from Nigeria worked for African Enterprise - encouraging stories about what is happening to bring reconciliation to Africa. They had recently organised a mission in Nigeria, 11,000 people joining the church in just one week of mission, held in something over 700 meetings, so presumably many small house type meetings. He didn't seem to be the type to exaggerate. He had an insight to background of the political leaders around Zimbabwe which made it far easier to understand the current situation which he described as the verge of civil war. He said it was the churches bringing water and food to prison inmates nowadays in Zimbabwe, as the government don't feed their prisoners!

We joined hin in prayer afterwards for Africa. He prayed just like any UK Christian, no more tears or strange languages!

I bought two books brought by African Enterprise. One shows the amazing power of God. It deals with how God converted a freedom fighter in Zimbabwe. He was Stephen Lungu who by the age of 11 had run away, preferring life on the streets. As a teenager, he was recruited into an urban gang, the Black Shadows, which burgled and mugged with a half-focused dream of revolution. When an evangelist came to town, Stephen was sent to fire bomb the event, carrying his bag of bombs and mingling with the crowd. Instead he stayed to listen...Today, Stephen is Africa's Billy Graham, an international evangelist who regularly speaks in UK, US and Europe. I like his smile on his web page!

The book is entitled "Out of the Black Shadows: The Amazing Transformation of Stephen Lungu"

I spent the day concentrating on God rather than cancer, which maybe has somewhat overtaken me as I search for a cure. Strangely I switched tha car radio on three times that day to listen to the BBC and Premier Radio, probably totaling 7 minutes listening in all, as it is not a long drive to church. Returning from church I heard the testimony of a UK cancer sufferer who after surgery had refused further treatment, but had gone out to an African church which had prayed for his healing.......resulting in a remission of 5 years so far, or am I showing a lack of trust in God to not just call it a permanent miraculous healing. He also said he still had to almost "claim" his healing from God each day in trust, as his UK medical diagnosis had not been encouraging, and he was well aware in human terms of the dangers of remission ór return of the cancer.

I struggle. I believe God can guide by many means including chance circumstances. In the last 8 days there have been three such incidents at church,

introduction to work of Jane Plant
introduction to an elderly lady whose sister died of cancer 10 years ago, I am sure she could open up on their path of faith, prayer, yet eventual death.
hearing this talk about the church and power of prayer experienced in Africa.

Yet God also calls me to a sound mind, I need to discern. I want to learn from others experience. I cannot see that God is so limited that we need to visit Africa to see his work.

Lies, damn lies and statistics

2008-04-19T02:08:00.000-07:00

I will delay my rant about radiotherapy for another day, and say more about Jane Plant's book that has rekindled my anger about conventional cancer treatment.

Should I as a Christian be angry?

I think of Wilberforce and the slave trade. In his day there must have been discussions amongst slave owners of the cost benefits of providing good food and health care for ones slaves. Yesterday I was reading cost benefit studies for radiotherapy! The cost benefit could easily have shown things such as a 3% increased return on investment if one provided better food for slaves, just as today's chemotherapy could provide Jan with a 3% risk reduction. But Wilberforce saw that was irrelevant, and in his anger saw through to the abolition of slavery.

Similarly I want to see a change from concentrating on almost useless conventional treatment to more effective lifestyle changes.

Jane Plant says similar things, she has re-enforced my view. How can the established medical service be so blinded to what I see as obvious? Is it our enforced multi-culturalism, whereby we cannot say something is wrong? For example the formal guides Jan has on aftercare list diet, acupuncture, meditation, Yin and Yang, Yoga, exercise, visualisation, aromatherapy etc. all as valid. No wonder diet does not stick out if mixed with quackery....

I am not knocking Professor Sir Richard Peto's statistics or work at all, I quote him as the UK's most authoritative source of UK cancer mortality statistics, the Peto method of meta analysis is named after him. But when he says chemotherpy adds a 3% benefit and we are making progress towards a cure do politicians understand that 3% is next to nothing???? Is it that because it is so close to UK target inflation figures they think 3% is goodness? It is the result of something like 50 years research and billions invested, and in my opinion rubbish!

Or is it that folk don't understand statistics? Jane suggests that reason.

I had said just by surgery Jan's chances of healthy life for at least 5 years was 4 in 5, and with conventional treatment we are trying to extend that to 6 in 7. Sounds good??? Or does it? Take Jane's airline example. Suppose you were off to Greece for a holiday tomorrow. There was a choice of seven flights, all leaving that day and scheduled for Greece. Suppose intelligence said one plane had a terrorist bomb on board and would explode that day, killing all its passengers. Would you still fly that day knowing you had a 6 in 7 chance of being OK?

Is that why a 6 in 7 chance is unacceptable to Jane and me, we are so close to the risk, albeit for me it is in a spouse? Yet for an Oxford university professor who has worked on cancer stats for the last 33 years it is old hat and acceptable. Not that I wish to discredit Sir Richard Peto, he was the first to demonstrate the magnitude of the growing worldwide epidemic of tobacco deaths.

So I stay in anger, I trust justifiably. I see another book coming to balance any bias by Jane,

"Foods to fight cancer" by Richard Beliveau. Richard is a leading authority in the field of cancer research. He holds the Chair in the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer at the University of Quebec at Montreal, where he is a professor of biochemistry. He is the director of the Molecular Medicine Laboratory of UQAM—Sainte-Justine Hospital (Centre de cancérologie Charles-Bruneau) and is also a professor of surgery at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montreal.

I like his french name! Lets see.

Is this a cure?

2008-04-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

I chose that title as in summary Jane Plant may well have ideas to save thousands of women from breast cancer and men from prostate cancer, they are both similarly hormone linked.

I reflect most of the night on Jane Plant's book. I suspect many of her ideas could save lives. I can hardly sleep because of my anger at what the NHS conventional treatment does so inefficiently, yet ideas such as Jane's cannot make the mainstream. I do not endorse all her ideas, especially on acupuncture and aromatherapy. But 70% on diet and lifestyle makes good sense.

Jan returned from seeing a radiologist yesterday. I believe his advice to Jan does positive harm. Yet he has taken the hippocratic oath. That states "I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone." More on that tomorrow, I want to sleep on it.

Back to Jane's book and my anger. She has looked as a scientist at the statistics of death from breast cancer amongst 10 countries. She finds that China has just over a third of the deaths from breast cancer as we get in the UK. That is my careful analysis of her figures, not the 10,000 fold claimed by the Amazon summary.

To review what treatment does for people with cancer like Jan's:

Chemotherapy 3 % reduction in deaths from recurrence
Radiotherapy claimed 10 %, I suspect it's no use at all if one looks at long term mortality
Tamoxifen 31% reduction in recurrence
Chinese lifestyle (as proposed in Jane's book) 300% reduction
Polish lifestyle as proposed earlier in this blog 300% reduction in recurrence.

These last two figures are not plucked from thin air, though they do not have peer reviewed accuracy. Jane is a professor at London University. I have taken my figures from peer reviewed scientific papers, typically published by professors at London, Oxford, San Francisco or Harvard Universities. These figures reflect real life horrible deaths of thousands of breast cancer sufferers, we need to learn more from them rather than inventing more useless drugs.

How can conventional medicine be so blind to what I and Jane see as straightforward facts? Why research new almost useless drugs when a simple lifestyle change would do more good? Is it vested interest? Funding of research by Pharmaceuticals? Why does Professor Sir Richard Peto proclaim that survival from breast cancer in the UK continues to improve, which is of course true, yet the drugs he advocates are almost useless? I rate a 3% improvement as not worth while, particularly after the millions of pounds spent to achieve it. Dare he not say "We have failed, fire my staff, and import a Polish nutritionist?"

Is it that a lifestyle change is too unpopular? Jane suggests abandoning dairy products such as milk, cheese, yoghurts. The Polish family I know have no car - so maybe exercise is as important as diet. Both lifestyle changes will obviously cost somewhat in comfort and convenience. But far less than the effects of chemotherapy.

So I reflect on what to do. In the meantime the UK's cancer cure rate has again hit the headlines as being amongst the worst in Europe, and way below USA. Harriet Harman was wittering on TV last night about how the government was pouring in money. A member of the audience said, "we want results, not ever increasing tax burdens". It was lost on Harriett who could only see finance as a solution.

Our latest church prayer sheet at Hoddesdon lists another lady diagnosed with a cancerous lump... my anger grows.

But how do I share this with Jan who is still weakened by Tamoxifen? Quite a challenge! As a ward sister Jan was subservient to doctors for over 20 years, and finds my attitude dangerous.....

Your life in your hands

2008-04-17T04:33:00.000-07:00

Jan is off to be measured up for radiotherapy this morning, at bit like a made to measure suit. As a joke I suggested she stop breathing whilst the scan was taken to ensure accuracy, as a breast going up and down must be hard to "image". Thinks, this precision beam isn't really precision, I bet they get 2cm of the lungs.

We received Professor Jane Plant's book this morning, Amazon as efficient as normal. Already skimmed it all, taken two hours, it is so interesting. The title "Your life in your hands" takes the theme that there is much one can do about breast cancer, one need not lie down as a victim and die. I am not yet a vegetarian nut, I still do not know what a vegan is. So I read her work as good science, not as a nutty alternative medicine crack pot.

It could provide the proof I need to persuade Jan to place more emphasis on diet than conventional treatment. Jan is coming around to that way of thinking, returning from yesterday's market with 11 different packs of fresh fruit! I hope Jane's experience in her book convinces Jan. I am hopeful, for example I notice Jane also uses red clover, a herb Jan has relied on in the past and wants to use again even though 2 doctors have already told her stop taking it.

We share Jane's view that lifestyle affects cancer. She found conventional treatment failed so looked at nutrition. We were forced to look at nutrition as the only available help after the NHS hospital lost Jan's test results, mammogram, and even said she wasn't on their computerised appointment system. Contrast this to Amazon booksellers who have yet to lose a single one of my orders. Both Jane and Jan have been forced to look at diet and lifestyle.

Jane looks at Chinese experience, I looked at Polish. See my late March post titled "In praise of Poland" for my ideas on Polish lifestyle giving a 300% benefit when the best drug gives 31%. Jane claims even more from a Chinese lifestyle.

I also agree with her horror at the lack of scientific awareness amongst our politicians and civil service who govern our food and drug safety. She pours scorn on the vested interests and lack of knowledge that allow dangerous foods into the UK. Some examples:

Yesterday's press covered the increased mortality associated with taking vitamin supplements. Yet so often these are pushed as a healthy option.
The USA bans transfats, yet they are allowed in the UK.
It is known that women taking 2 units a day of alcohol increase risk of breast cancer by 32%. Yet Europe's biggest cancer hospital, the Royal Marsden, publish a booklet which we were given for breast cancer which states "if you enjoy alcohol taking up to two units a day is OK". Why not tell the truth or give us facts so that we can decide???
Osteoporosis is a side effect of breast cancer treatments, so calcium in the body is vital. Yet on page 124 Jane quotes the government who state correctly "several populations consume calcium below the UK's RDA with no evidence of adverse effects." So who dreamt up the RDA for the UK? This becomes important as Jane's diet cuts one's calcium intake, do we trust Jane or the government?

I like Jane's feisty attitude which she mixes with faith. She refused Tamoxifen, the world standard drug that is causing Jan problems at present. It takes some guts to refuse what everyone else in the world takes to reduce risk of recurrence, and instead trust in her ideas on diet. She has of course now survived for 15 years... She lists her vicar as one of the helpful people in her recovery from terminal cancer. Her book could help save Jan's and others' lives. It is on Amazon here.

Thanks to Bob Snyder who emailed this today:

"As we submit our lives and work to God we have more than enough resources to accomplish His plans. And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)

This puts the balance back, your life is in God's hands, he provides and guides you. He provided this chance lead to Jane's book.

Fear Food Frustration Faith

2008-04-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I will tell it as it is rather than glossing it up...

First review the good news - God's provision:

Jan had successful surgery to remove the visible cancer, that has moved her chances from almost certain death within 3 years to a 4 in 5 chance of healthy survival for at least 5 years. All we are doing with Tamoxifen and radiotherapy is to try to increase those odds to say 6 in 7.

Those are very good odds for cancer, it is far worse for most other cancers. But if those were odds of being killed in an old car or bus it would still be classed in the UK as an illegal deathtrap! Think of it, 1 in 7 could kill you in five years!

Conventional treatment has been delayed by the hospital losing test results for 68 days, and not having radiotherapy available for 10 weeks. I reckon this has had 3 benefits:

We have been forced to look at nutrition, we had no other treatment option. I suspect food has more influence than drugs
I believe the delayed radiotherapy gives Jan a better chance of long term survival, as reviewed by Harvard University research in the USA. Harvard at one of their top universities!
Jan has had 68 days healthy life without any effect from cancer drugs. That is why she was the fittest person at the recent cancer clinic, the NHS didn't lose others' test results so they were on drugs!

Fear - the bad news:

For the last 2 days Jan has been losing fitness, and is now taking 2 pain killers each day to overcome what we guess are side effects of Tamoxifen. She is beginning to go down the road of worse health, and a greater dependence on a growing cocktail of drugs warned about in so many of the alternative cancer treatment guides. We had not been warned of these side effects, the oncologist stressed Tamoxifen is the safest anti cancer drug they have, which I believe.

So we don't know whether Jan is getting the side effects of Tamoxifen, or sickening for flu......When I look at Internet forums Jan's symptoms are common side effects. One describes Tamoxifen as making one feel like an 80 or 85 year old.

What I guess is going on:

I suspect we are losing the benefits Jan had from health foods and she is getting poisoned by Tamoxifen, a double whammy

Why? The test results tell us the cancer responds / grows more rapidly in the presence of estrogen, a female hormone. Jan had been taking "red clover"and vitamin E for the last ten years. Both are such powerful "health foods " that she has been told by doctors to stop taking them, as red clover interferes with Tamoxifen. At least it is not a placebo! Red clover was blocking the effect of estrogen on her body, this role is now taken over by Tamoxifen which in my opinion is a stronger anti cancer drug but not as effective in fighting other estrogen effects, hence Jan's side effects.

I suggest to Jan either skipping some doses of Tamoxifen, or resuming red clover. I suspect Jan will not go against medical advice. We check formal advice and I quote:

"Use this medicine only as directed by your doctor. The exact amount of medicine you need has been carefully worked out. Taking too much may increase the chance of side effects, while taking too little may not improve your condition.

Tamoxifen sometimes causes mild nausea and vomiting. However, it may have to be taken for several weeks or months to be effective. Even if you begin to feel ill, do not stop using this medicine without first checking with your doctor. Ask your health care professional for ways to lessen these effects."

This jars on me..... if the dose has been carefully worked out how come there are only two tablet sizes, 20mg and 40mg? If there is exageration and lying here, how can we trust info on side effects? I look deeper, and find the following side effects of Tamoxifen from a US site :

* Coughing up blood
* Leg swelling or tenderness
* New breast lumps
* Pelvic pain or pressure
* Sudden chest pain
* Unexplained shortness of breath
* Vaginal bleeding
* Anxiety
* Blistering, peeling, or loosening of skin and mucous membranes
* Blurred vision
* Chest pain
* Confusion
* Cough
* Dizziness
* Fainting
* Fast heartbeat
* Lightheadedness
** Shortness of breath or trouble breathing
* Weakness or sleepiness
* Yellow eyes or skin
* Change in vaginal discharge
* Chills
* Fever
* Hoarseness
* Lower back or side pain
* Pain or feeling of pressure in pelvis
* Pain, redness, or swelling in your arm or leg
* Painful or difficult urination
* Rapid shallow breathing
* Skin rash or itching over the entire body
* Sweating
* Vaginal bleeding
* Wheezing
* Bloating
* Constipation
* Darkened urine
* Diarrhea
* Difficult breathing
* Indigestion
* Itching
* Joint or muscle pain
* Large, hard skin blisters
* Large hive-like swelling on face, eyelids, lips, tongue, throat, hands, legs, feet, and sex organs
* Loss of appetite
* Pain in stomach or side, possibly radiating to the back
* Red, irritated eyes
* Red skin lesions, often with a purple center
* Sore throat
* Sores, ulcers or white spots in mouth or on lips
* Unusual tiredness or weakness
* Vomiting
* Cataracts in the eyes or other eye problems
* Liver problems
* Bone pain
* Headache
* Skin rash or dryness
* Confusion
* Decrease in amount of urine
* Feeling of warmth redness of the face, neck, arms and occasionally, upper chest
* Lower back or side pain
* Nausea
* Noisy, rattling breathing
* Painful or difficult urination
* Swelling of fingers, hands, feet, or lower legs
* Troubled breathing at rest
* Vaginal bleeding
* Weight gain
* Weight loss
* White or brownish vaginal discharge
* Abdominal cramps
* Black, tarry stools
* Bleeding gums
* Blood in urine or stools
* Bluish color changes in skin color
* Discouragement
* Feeling sad or empty
* Irritability
* Itching in genital area
* Lack of appetite
* Loss of interest or pleasure
* Pain
* Pinpoint red spots on skin
* Stomach or pelvic discomfort, aching or heaviness
* Swelling
* Trouble concentrating
* Trouble sleeping
* Unusual bleeding or bruising

Phew, would you take that drug described by the doctor as the safest anti cancer drug she has? It claims a 31% reduction is cancer recurrence, when aspirin has been documented as giving 20%. There are other proven side effects such ovarian, uterine and vaginal cancer, plus some that effect men only so I won't list those! The list finishes with:

Other side effects not listed may also occur in some patients. If you notice any other effects, check with your healthcare professional.

Food: With those side effects dare I tell Jan to stop taking the drug, and trust in prayer or nutrition?

Frustration: I want equally solid scientific data on health foods such as red clover. I need such info if Jan is to switch from Tamoxifen back to red clover.

Another I find is Avemar. This looks a seriously useful product by a reputable supplier, more effective than Tamoxifen in trials. Avemar inhibited human ER+ cancer cell growth (such as Jan's) by 49%, Tamoxifen 42%, Aromasin 25% and Arimidex 25%. Each agent was enhanced by 5 to 10% when combined with Avemar. Most effective was a combination of Aromasin and Avemar, inhibiting breast tumors by 60%. Maybe that is why they say it must be used as an adjunct to conventional therapy rather than as a replacement.

I want a complete replacement for Tamoxifen. Thinks, I read a report of an Irish investigation looking at whether prescription drugs could work just as well if left in a box as taking them. Only the Irish could need such research! Unfortunately they found conclusively that one had to take the drug to get any effect, shame!

Faith: Our bible reading today covered Psalm 119 verses 143 and 144:

"Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight. Your statutes are ever right, give me understanding that I may live"

I am taking it out of context, but wonder whether we need understanding of nutrition that Jan may live healthily. We await Jane Plant's book with expectancy.

Cancer's chaotic calendar

2008-04-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

I had said one of my interests is caravanning. Yet that has taken a back seat to cancer. Sorry, no tips here on which site to use etc., the caravan was moved even deeper into my storage space yesterday to make way for a new bathroom suite.

Cancer arrives without any respect for one's other commitments or diary appointments, even for this simple cancer it seems one has to blank out about six months from the diary.

Diary clashes so far include:

Initial diagnosis on 29th. Jan, when our ferry booking to caravan with my sister this summer had to be made by 31st. Jan. My sister goes ahead alone, we hope we may catch up with her later, subject to radiotherapy.
The day after Jan's operation my son had a hole drilled in his skull to remove a dental abscess. Thankfully it went smoothly.
Yesterday a builder arrived to start rebuilding the structure of our house. Yes, the house really is falling down around us. The work is the result of about 30 months of monitoring and delayed insurance claim, so it will now overlap with Jan's radiotherapy. The new bathroom suite arrives today, hence the need to move a caravan to provide temporary storage space.

The builder's is most understanding, and will work around Jan's treatment. He expects to finish the bedroom before radio starts, so she can relax in bed whilst the later work continues. Yesterday when he started we learned his sister was diagnosed with breast cancer this January, she is currently undergoing chemotherapy, so he is very aware of the potential for Jan's exhaustion. Thanks!

I read this helpful article on the web which ties in with our current experience. I quote:

"Ecclesiastes chapter three and verse one tells us that there is a time for every purpose. For whatever struggles you are going through, for whatever trials, for whatever joy, for whatever you feel or feel not, for whatever you do or do not there is a purpose and an appointed time in our lives that these things will take place.

Not may take place, but will take place.

There is a season and reason for all things. There is a definite purpose and God predetermines the outcome of every situation

I like this guy's articles. This one titled $20 an hour had me in tears....

And this one by Charles Finney is great. The wonderful resources that I find on the web, including classic preachers.

Professor Jane Plant

2008-04-14T03:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I said I will be guided by university professors rather than health food cranks and religious nuts. At that time I had no idea where such advice would come from, God provided such a lead within 2 hours, and I ordered the book within another 2 hours.

This is all thanks to a friend for a lead to Jane Plant, an English professor who has written a book on surviving breast cancer. Jane is the Chief Scientist of the British Geological Survey. She suffered breast cancer and four subsequent recurrences, at which time her prognosis was deemed terminal and she was given only months to live. She is still alive and well, she sat next to my friend at a recent university dinner. Her book on breast cancer is reviewed here.

Initially I like her ideas of looking at Chinese experience which ties in with mine of looking at Polish experience. It is a bit like a light had switched on for me, lifestyle is more important than conventional drugs. But the more I reflect on it I doubt it can be as easy as merely removing dairy products from the diet, which is the summary I read of Jane's ideas. I read several worrying reviews of her ideas.

A review of Jane's book by Dr. Sandra Goodman states Jane Plant attempted to cover too much territory for her expertise (she has after all a Ph.D. in Geology, not in Nutrition or Immunology). Most of her dietary advice is to avoid alcohol, red meat, caffeine, chemicals, and to eat a wholefood diet with plenty of greens, vegetables and fruits, drink filtered water and nutritious juices. Despite her somewhat bossy, quirky and intolerant manner, this book is worth reading, particularly regarding the dairy connection to breast cancer.

Jane Plant's site is here

So we wait and pray, the book has yet to arrive. Jan is still very pro conventional treatment, they are after all her old colleagues, and she hates any change in diet.

Sort the wheat from the chaff

2008-04-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today is London Marathon day. I love this quote from Amy Holden one of today's runners:

"a brain and some shoes are essential for marathon success, although if it comes down to a choice, pick the shoes. More people finish marathons with no brains than with no shoes."

I take this to mean that for success one has to make several choices, not necessarily between the good and bad, but between the good and even better or best. Her story may be found here

I question "what is the best choice for me and Jan". That is if we have any choice, as we are "committed" to the UK NHS treatment route.

I still struggle with the whole issue of conventional cancer treatment. I have said I see radiotherapy as the con trick of the century, and now have serious doubts about Tamoxifen, the drug Jan is on for the next 2 years. To explain this I am not saying the conventional treatments do not work at all, it is just their effect is so minimal I doubt they are worth it. I have already posted rather old but learned research showing that for the simple breast cancer such as Jan has a placebo is more effective than radio or chemotherapy. In other words the conventional treatment can do positive harm.

I read Professor Sir Richard Peto's work, I regard him highly as probably one of the UK's top cancer authorities, I used his research when studying asbestos induced cancers in industry. Yet even in 2007 he only claims a 3% benefit from chemotherapy for breast cancer which is why we would reject chemotherapy if offered.

So I looked at similar treatment for bowel cancer. Guess what, just a 5 - 6% gain! That figure comes from a BBC report which says in more detail "Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are increasingly being used to treat bowel cancer once surgery has been carried out, especially in more advanced tumours, and may increase survival by 5 to 6 per cent."

On a positive note I see they report this. "British surgeons pioneering a technique known as total mesorectal excision claim to have one of the lowest recurrence rates in the world, with the cancer returning in only five per cent of cases." As most bowel cancer treatments claim a 50% recurrence, a drop to 5% is a ten fold reduction. Read their claims and copies of their published evidence at Pelican Cancer Foundation." Amy runs the marathon today to raise money for this work. I rate it, it talks about precision surgery, something so lacking it Jan's treatment so far, and why in my opinion Jan now needs radiotherapy to mop up the mess left behind.

What else needs discernment?

Christian cancer cures:

I looked in more detail at this site which claims to be Christian. I agree with its questioning of conventional treatments, but I question:

is this guy really a christian? Too much jars on me.
why does he give no facts, one has to buy his book?

When I compare the extracts of his book with learned university papers that are all free I question it. But I will keep reading. This site has info for free, it is run by a mormon missionary with no medical training. Sad the mormon gives out for free what looks like similar information. I hope I find them better than my initial impression.

Christian TV:

Last Friday evening we watched the "Healing School" that promises certain healing if only we will visit South Africa. I doubt that. Is God a racist or limited by geographic boundaries?

So we switched to UCB. We thank God for UCB, so often finding their broadcasts helpful. On Friday evening we watched and heard a talk by Margaret Stunt. I had never heard of her before, a lively mature lady talking to a convention of over 1000 young people. Half way through her talk she mentioned she had breast cancer two years ago. Very encouraging to us, how many people in the UK even admit to having had breast cancer? I believe God guided us to her broadcast. Oops, she emigrated three months ago from London to South Africa!

Christian books:

Sorry to say, I had recommended Janet Thompson's book "Dear God they say it is cancer". On reading in more detail it shares experiences of 44 American breast cancer sufferers. But their experience does NOT match the UK, treatments differ, and they are NOT cancer experts. I found it sad that when I research "chemo brain" Janet's book has one lady who blames her "chemo brain" on Tamoxifem. I believe this could unnecessarily scare us when Jan is just starting Tamoxifen. But nowhere in the scientific papers can I find such evidence, I suspect the lady is confusing chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, they are both "pills". So Janet's book is dropping to the "may do more harm than good" category for us in the UK.

The answer

God is sovereign. The maker of the universe can control cancer, take it to him in prayer.

God gives us and calls us to use a "sound mind". I will still research, I am becoming more and more an organic fruit and veg case coupled with exercise. I will skip today's marathon, and will be guided by university professors rather than health food cranks and religious nuts.

I find some support for this need for discernment in this book extract by a christian Professor here. Quoting the second letter to Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 it says, "For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind".

Humour - breast reconstruction

2008-04-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Time for a weekend joke. I read Janet Thompson's book, "Dear God, they say it is cancer" where it discusses breast reconstruction. To quote

"Breast cancer changes the outside. One reconstruction left one breast tear shaped and one round. Another had one perky, the other sagging, and a third asked for a size B, and got a C." So what is the author's advice?

"Weigh all your options"

I think I want to remove this book from our list of recommendations!

Tamoxifen, aspirin and or cabbage

2008-04-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

Jan has no problems with Tamoxifen so far. We had looked up on Internet for the best time to take it, just before sleeping. One sleeps through any flushes etc!

I look for results and am horrified, The manufacturer claims a 31% reduction for recurrence of cancer and deaths. I had expected a modern drug that is the treatment of choice to at least halve recurrence and risk. Even the 31% must be an optimistic claim by the drug manufacturer, when we know Tamoxifen is a carcinogen, and causes other cancers whilst curing breast cancer. Do they claim a death from uterine cancer as a success in their 31% reduction in breast cancer deaths? I suspect they do, but need to do more research.

Independent tests give aspirin a 20% benefit, not much worse than Tamoxifen at a hundredth the cost and risk. I have seen cabbage rated at 70% and reckon a full Polish diet and lifestyle could give us 300% with none of the associated risks. I read a telegraph article about Sheryl Crow who has survived breast cancer, she is also now a convert to exercise and organic veggies.

Yet though I keep buying and lightly steaming cruciferous veggies (cabbage and the like) Jan wants little to do with them, and places complete trust in doctors recommended foil wrapped tablets. She has tried a little pickled red cabbage and sauerkraut, and bought a Polish recipe book though! But she returned yesterday with three red meat joints of beef and pork...I want to throw the beef away, as I read a diet of overcooked beef can increase breast cancer risk by 400%. Maybe Jan feels let down by the health food industry, after all she has taken red berries and red clover for years. yet she still got cancer. But I wonder whether the berry and clover diet had given her years of protection.

So do I go along with her trust in Tamoxifen to keep her confidence in her treatment which must be part of the cure? On reflection maybe the answer is easy, use Tamoxifen and cabbage, and pray that Jan will escape the nasties of Tamoxifen. We need to trust God to over-rule whatever drug, diet or treatment she takes. I will do further research on Tamoxifen.

Hormone treatment started

2008-04-07T23:50:00.000-07:00

Jan is pleased......results phoned through to say her cancer was both ER and PR positive. This is the norm and makes conventional hormone therapy the treatment of choice. The prescription was faxed through that day, and she started the drugs for a 2 year course to be followed by 3 years of Aromasin. The fax would make us believe we are urgently starting a life saving drug! WRONG.

I worry......

We had deliberately not looked hard at hormone treatment effects too soon, we didn't want to worry about drugs she may never take, radio is giving us enough concern!

So I look for trials showing effectiveness of Tamoxifen, the drug she will take for the first 2 years. I find little hard evidence of its effectiveness. So either the breast cancer is so "benign" that an aspirin or placebo can help as I said in previous posts, or Tamoxifen is no great deal. The advice we had from our surgeon and oncologist was also different, surgeon said wait till radio is finished before taking Tamoxifen, oncologist wants earliest possible start. If the drug was powerful surely there would be a clear cut sequence, not a disagreement between these 2 doctors treating Jan?

I have already posted that we reckon chemo is not worthwhile, radiotherapy makes no difference to long term survival, so now hormones are coming across to me as equally questionable. I am a Christian and looked at this site called cancertruth which is written by someone claiming to be a Christian and wanting to pass on helpful information. I want to discredit it, the author is not a qualified doctor, and he gives no facts unless one pays him money. Yet he says the book will help one "Learn how the Cancer Industry manipulates statistics to make it appear that chemotherapy works when it really cures less than 3% of all cancer patients!" That ties in exactly with my reading of the figures for Jan's case which is why we have already dismissed chemo. It rings true on some points.

I look at the figures for Aromasin, the drug Jan will take for 3 years. This site is written by the mamufacturer, so will present the drug in the best possible light. Three things worry me about this drug:

all the side effects are worse than Tamoxifen, some of these are heart effects.
the 3 year figures look better than 5 year, almost as though aim of the drug is just to give just 3 years of life, and then who cares. It was after all designed for late stage breast cancer, and has only just had its use extended to early breast cancer in patients who have already survived 2 years of Tamoxifen.
the overall mortality gains are not statistically significant. Wow, what an admission for a drug with worse side effects. How did this get approved?

So I am concerned and confused by a complex issue. If one thinks about yesterdays post, where I said a ten week delay in starting radiotherapy may help Jan when the NHS say this should be between 4 and 8 weeks max it means either our NHS have it wrong, the differences are small, or radiotherapy is so grueling it is better to let the breast recover for ten weeks before such treatment.

Another concern we have is that Jan has been taking "red clover" for the last ten years or more. It is known to have similar effects to Tamoxifen, so similar that both a nurse and the oncologist have told Jan to stop taking "red clover". I am happy about that whilst Jan takes Tamoxifen as it is known they compete with each other. But if they are similar has Jan already been enjoying the hormone benefits just by taking "red clover" without the side effects Tamoxifen can give? This book suggests she may have been, so we are losing a valuable natural natural remedy whilst we use Tamoxifen.

I query our NHS treatment. But if mental state is part of the cure do I keep these concerns to myself and let Jan rejoice in the fact that she has started treatment? She still has complete trust in our medical service, after all she worked in the service for over 20 years.

Delayed radiotherapy could help

2008-04-07T08:15:00.002-07:00

We return home late last night to see a hospital letter saying there is a 10 week delay for radiotherapy. Jan is disappointed, silent. She wants it all over so that she can "start her life again". Does this delay matter? Or has God got his perfect timing yet again?

In summary though this is a delay beyond NHS guidelines, government targets and what had been suggested several times by the hospital I believe it is for the best. How God over rules even our NHS! A long post, skip it if you just want summary, God continues to provide his best for us, and seems to know more about correct radiotherapy timing than our NHS.

I read the archives of our newspapers, and yes, it seems delay gives a 60% increase in the risk of Jan's early death. Thanks!

Here is just one of the many newspaper articles One newspaper says "write to your MP, complain etc." Jan is so upset she wants me to stop looking at the Internet for such data. Maybe I should, but I ignore her and after an hour or so of research till 00:45 I find I can re-assure her that all is OK, the delay does not matter, and we sleep peacefully....

In more detail the next morning, I go to the original serious article quoted by the newspapers. It is in the Journal of Oncology dated 2003,

It does indeed state the delay increases the risk of recurrence of cancer in the same area by 60%. Yet read more carefully it also states risk of the far more deadly distant metastases and death remain the same. I had earlier said I thought radiotherapy was the con trick of the century, this confirms my belief. Radiotherapy controls local recurrence, but makes little difference to long term survival, which would be the measure I more care about. Thinks, does this mean a recurrence of breast cancer hardly matters, if it recurs one has a mastectomy, so maybe that is why local recurrence makes no difference to long term survival? Maybe Jan would disagree!

But this is just one Canadian oncology paper which surveys 46 earlier papers and 15,782 patients. Its conclusion is "There was little evidence about the impact of delay in RT on the risk of metastases or the probability of long-term survival in any situation. Delay in the initiation of RT is associated with a decrease in LRR in breast cancer. Delays in starting RT should be as short as reasonably achievable."

I look deeper at the replies in later journals and find:

An excellent list of papers here

And this from Harvard which states that for certain radiation doses the optimum is SRI of 9 to 12 weeks. We know the hospital plan a high dose for Jan using a local boost which is why treatment has risen from the discussed 3 weeks to 4, though they have not told us the dose.
This second article concludes "I believe that the complex details of the interactions of the SRI with other parameters must be better understood to design optimal programs of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy for individual patient subgroups with different cancers." I would say this was one doctor calling another a "wally"!

A French reply states the first report "produced a result in contradiction with the conclusion of the largest study" In other words, "Dear sir, you are a wally". It does add "In recent years, delay in access to radiation therapy has been highly publicized. On compassionate grounds alone, treatment for cancer should always be initiated as early as possible after diagnosis. However, we believe that at least with respect to breast cancer, firm evidence concerning a specific delay that would have a detrimental effect on outcomes is still lacking, despite this ambitious work by Huang et al."

So we are now happy that the delay could well be for the best. Thank you Jesus. If the hospital letter had just said "Dear Jan, we believe that in your case radiotherapy is best commenced after 10 weeks" she would have gone to bed thrilled that all was being done for her best possible treatment.

I have not covered all papers, there are more worrying learned papers which say don't delay. Another says 8 weeks max. In contradiction another says wait at least 12 weeks for best results. So I am confused, or are even the doctors confused? Or is it that if radiotherapy makes as little real difference as I suspect it follows that timing makes little difference, hence the disagreement in these learned papers?

And a recent BMJ article showing how doctors grapple with prioritising radiotherapy is here. It makes one understand the complex issues facing doctors when resources are stretched.

New wonder drug named Placebo

2008-04-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

We are currently denied hormone treatment due to delays in getting the pre-req test results, and radiotherapy due to delay in access to the equipment. The wonder drug placebo gives us hope whilst we wait, after all veggies, placebos and telling jokes is all we can do! Oops, and leave it in God's almighty hands!

I am still trying to understand why we give such trust to radiotherapy. I looked at this old but scholarly research that compares three treatments, radio, chemo, and the new wonder drug "placebo".

The details looked at 5 year survival from breast cancer:

From page 724 of the report for post menopausal women 56% survive using radio, whereas 60% survive after chemo and 62% survive using a placebo. So Placebo was the best! It means at the time of this report (dated) the best conventional treatments did more harm than good. This scares and annoys me. I have seen business fire folk for such poor results.

Admittedly placebo only wins in the less serious cancer cases, real treatment wins in more serious cases. But Jan's is in the simpler category as she has no node involvement. Placebo, maybe we want it!

It shows the utmost importance of mental state upon cure. Faith in a sovereign God that has this all under control must help enormously. I am not saying that prayer is a placebo, after all I believe Jesus physically rose from the dead. But the mental state one has from faith must aid any cure.

Oncologist consultation - test delay

2008-04-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

Attended the hospital today for a consultation. What do we expect? FRUSTRATION. We arrive at 10:40 and leave at 15:20, still without test results for the ER status of the cancer. We have waited 63 days so far! Jan states it is he most aweful, tedious and slow outpatients she has ever attended. The patient in front of us at reception was asking for her notes to pass to her lawyer - re-assuring!

We wait for over 2 hours in an overheated overcrowded corridor before being ushered in to see an oncology registrar. She still does not have the test results for ER status. She phoned the pathology lab during the meeting, yet still no results. I can only presume that the results have been lost and will need re-testing, lets hope the hospital can find the original sample! This poor organisation must double the workload on the pathology lab for Jan's tests.

We are told they plan no chemotherapy but 4 weeks of radiotherapy whatever the results of the tests, so we are to plan for radiotherapy within 4 weeks.

We are told that the cancer was invasive ductal, rather than the invasive lobular that we had expected - it makes little difference to Jan's risk, I believe a slight increase in relative mortality of 11%.

We were told that the ER tests should have been done after the three biopsies taken on 30 Jan, so we have now waited 63 days, and expect to wait at least another 7 days. I reckon they will start testing again from a sample held hopefully in the freezer, and wonder what that does to accuracy of the tests! We are told the testing takes 2 days to complete! So why in the USA does one wait for 7 days max, when in the UK we test just as fast yet lose the results? The test lab is at the hospital entrance, we pass each time we visit, so there is no transport difficulty.The lack of test results means Jan is denied possibly useful hormone treatment for 70 days, yet once on hormones the hospital give one leaflets stating how important it is no to miss a dose!

We also go on to two other outpatient areas for blood and a lung cancer check in case breast cancer has already spread. Hence the late return home. We are phoned later that day to say lungs all clear, so those tests can be done in a day!

So how does one react? The doctors are hard working pleasant folk, probably seriously overworked because of poor organisation. For example on all three of the last visits where we have seen a doctor they have worked overtime right through lunch till 14:30 even though their lunchtime is scheduled for 13:00, and for one his private patients should have started at 14:00 at another hospital.

I believe it is chronic dis-organisation by hospital management. I consider sueing but believe one has to be able to prove a mistake has at least halved Jan's life expectancy before one can sue successfully.

In the meantime Jan is more composed and at peace than any of the other cancer patients we saw waiting, we continue with diet and exercise, and trust in the Lord. We remember the Chinese nurses comment that when in a Chinese village where there are little medical resources one just prays and sees God answer. I said to Jan, at least we have diet and exercise to to work on, her reply was "and prayer". I go out and buy two packs of broccoli, two of watercress, one spinach, two of fresh salad, and some root veg. We are going mad!

We read 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1 "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." So in our discussions with the doctor we work alongside them. We have taken the attitude "how do we proceed when the notes contain a mammogram of somebody else's breast (see earlier post) and the ER tests are lost". The doctor took on board these issues. The challenge is how to find where the tumour was to apply radiotherapy when it has gone and records are lost! She phoned back later that afternoon and promised a CT scan before radiotherapy which will solve any confusion.

Cavilon for radiotherapy

2008-04-01T22:55:00.000-07:00

Technical post of no relevance to anyone not preparing for radiotherapy or with deep concern for Jan. Skip if not relevant. It is NOT for the squeamish.

The NHS recommend that Jan uses a moisturising cream during radiotherapy. Maybe as part of God's provision we came across this product by 3M which claims slightly better results. It provides a protective barrier to the skin whilst undergoing radiotherapy.

I attach a link to an Australian trial in PDF format. The photos of skin reactions to radiotherapy are nasty, and show that radiotherapy is not the same as listening to the radio for an hour a day, even Terry Wogan! I have not researched in detail but remember reading these side effects can occur in 25% or so of cases. Yuk! I personally reckon radiotherapy is the con trick of the century for people of Jan's age and risk. Jan trusts them! Remember we are trying to "radio" or more accurately irradiate cancer cells to death, so it is not nice.

Cavilon product link

Cavilon trial including photos showing the potential horrible side effects to the skin here: link

Why we will refuse chemo

2008-04-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

We prepare to meet the oncologist tomorrow. We don't know what to expect. We arm ourselves with as much info as possible, in an attempt to have a sensible discussion about options.

We expect the recommendation to be take radiotherapy and follow on hormone therapy. A a non oncologist the following could have mistakes....treat with caution!

I read Sir Richard Peto's report to the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December 2006, where he reports polychemotherapy improves overall survival rates after 15 years from 75% to 79.4%. I discuss with Jan "is chemo worth it for a gain of 4.4%?" To help us understand that I reckon she has a greater than 20% chance of dying in the next 15 years from other causes, such as in a car accident with me driving! So 4% is quite a small additional risk. As Christians we are quite happy discussing these statistics on death, I think they can "phase" many.

I also read that 25% of breast cancer chemo patients suffer from chemo brain. The NHS describe this as "short term memory loss" almost as though it is a short term transitory effect. It is NOT, as far as I see it is a permanent state where the brain becomes almost "read only" in computer speak. So one can remenber ones early life, Jan's training as a nurse and teacher, our family history, but one cannot remember new information such as what one had for breakfast. This horrifies Jan, we reckon we will refuse chemo if offered.

See next post on Cavilon to undertand some of our other fears of radiotherapy, yet we pray and leave these fears with God.

April fool

2008-03-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

In the UK we have a tradition known as April fool. Up until 12:00 on April 1st. it is OK to fool folk with any tall story you like. So here are three cancer related ones. TWO ARE TRUE - ONLY ONE IS A LIE!!!!!

1) More orgasms can protect against breast cancer.

2) You can treat breast cancer successfully with ordinary aspirin.

3) A plumber can fix a blocked toilet with aspirins.

To prove you are not an April fool, which one is untrue?

This last tale comes from our breast surgeon. He got home late one night after a heavy day. Returning at 23:00 he found his toilet blocked. He immediately phoned the plumber who exclaimed, wait till the morning, I am already in bed. No way said the doctor, I am a senior surgeon, I can get called at any time of the day or night to attend to urgent needs. My toilet is in urgent need of unblocking, I need you to come right away.

After 15 or so minutes of complaining the plumber could still not get the arrogant doctor to wait till morning, so reluctantly agreed to call that night. He deliberately drove slowly and reached the doctors house at midnight. Knocking on the door, the doctor answered and ushered him up to the blocked upstairs toilet.

The plumber took two aspirins from his pocket, dropped them into the toilet bowl, and made for the door. As he did so he passed the doctor his bill for a late night call out fee of £70.

But you've done nothing exclaimed the doctor, those aspirin will do nothing!
Oh yes they will said the plumber, if they don't fix the problem within 24 hours call me again and we can try another treatment.

The correct answer is number 3 is untrue, but for the others...

Orgasms are referred to by the BBC here

And for aspirins: Anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin may reduce breast cancer by up to 20 per cent, according to an extensive review carried out by experts at London's Guy's Hospital and published in the March issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

"Our review of research published over the last 27 years suggests that, in addition to possible prevention, there may also be a role for NSAIDs in the treatment of women with established breast cancer" says Professor Ian Fentiman from the Hedley Atkins Breast Unit at the hospital, part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

"Recent studies of NSAIDs use have shown about a 20 per cent risk reduction in the incidence of breast cancer, but this benefit may be confined to aspirin use alone and not other NSAIDs."

Good Christian counselling links

2008-03-31T14:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Google ads for these links. I cannot endorse them, they seem somewhat commercialised, Roman Catholic and American, but the summaries I have read match our experience exactly:

Cancer brings us closer to God
We need to plan for death
Our anger at friends who trivialise or say "buck up"

A comment posted to the blog was from someone caring for a parent with advanced lung cancer. These links could be a help

Wrestling with God and cancer

Being there for a parent with advanced cancer

Lift your life above cancer

These are all taken from a site named "caring spot"

In praise of Poland

2008-03-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

I had said Google look at this blog. Do the hospital staff? Or is it an answer to prayer?

So soon after moaning here we received an appointment in the post today to meet the oncologist next Wednesday. Hopefully she will give us the test results, if we get test results then it will have taken 34 days! Remember in the USA it is normally no more than seven days.

The letter arrived in an opened envelope that had been resealed with tape, almost as though our repeated phone calls of two days ago had awoken someone's conscience to check why Jan was not on their appointment system. Or do we praise the hospital for re-use of old envelopes?

Jan who trusted hospital team to extend her life and had felt completely let down is now back on track and eating again. But what damage has those two days of "knowing" yet again that the hospital is out of control done to her emotionally and even physically? Her wound opened today, leaking a clear fluid from the cut. Without the emotional stress would she not have had this?

I had said I would explain why I thought veggies might be more effective than radiotherapy. I am not an oncologist, so please excuse any errors in this explanation!

I have only researched figures and results for primary breast cancer in ladies past the menopause who have had the cancer surgically removed with good clear margins. The argument does not apply to younger women or lung cancer cases.

In typical breast cancer for older women the rate of recurrence is typically quoted in the UK as 22% over five years, conventional radiotherapy drops this to 12%. The absolute best radiotherapy results I have seen claim a drop to 9%, but their technique of hypofractionation is NOT endorsed by international experts, I presume either because they do not trust the figures or the technique is too new to have definite long term results.

Even using these best case figues radiotherapy only cuts the incidence of recurrence to just under a half. (22% drops to 9%).

These figures are in my opinion misleading because they ignore the damage radiotherapy does to other parts of the body, and the increased rate of deadly distant metastases in those who receive radiotherapy, plus heart and lung damage which can be fatal. There is a study underway at Edinburgh University that suggests these effects are so serious as to obviate any benefits from radiotherapy for ladies over 65 years of age.

Yet if we look at Polish women who emigrate from Poland to America their risk of cancer rises threefold. So I reckon if only we could find the secret that living in Poland gave these ladies we could cut risks to a third, better than the halving claimed by radiotherapy. Else of course one could emigrate to Poland. My son will help you, he runs a service here.

I only know one Polish family. What I see is far more alcohol use and smoking. As I posted yesterday they don't get worms! The plus points I see are they take far more exercise, they walk for miles as the family we know lost their car when communism fell. They also love cabbage, mushrooms, and eat fermented cabbage in sauerkraut.

So I cannot prove this, it may be a hunch, but I rate veggies and exercise. They also do NOT cause distant metastases. So if offered radiotherapy I expect Jan would take it, she has more faith than me in UK medicine. But we then add exercise and vegetables.

Veggy may beat radiotherapy?

2008-03-28T03:24:00.000-07:00

The Professor who had specialised on cancer and nutrition had agreed to give a talk on nutrition the the local breast cancer support group. He normally spoke at learned international conferences, where he used technical jargon, talked about risk, probability, and produced scientific charts of his results. How was he to convey such a message to a group of local ladies? He hit on the idea of usinga simple visual aid.

He had four key points he wanted to make, don't drink, don't smoke, don't eat fat but eat healthy vegetables. To put this into a visual aid he hit on the idea whilst gardening of putting four worms, one each into four jars.

The first jar had a worm put in it, and he then poured in some Russian Vodka, to the initial delight of the worm. The second jar was prepared, he dropped in the remains of his still smoking joint. He was after all a university professor! The worm initially looked ecstatic. The third jar was prepared, into which he dropped pork crackling. And for the fourth jar he put the worm into a little soil in which was growing a baby carrot.

The next day he gave his talk, and produced the four jars for all to see. The first three all had dead worms in them, just as he expected. But the fourth had worm casts all over it, obviously the worm was happily enjoying his new environment. What does that teach us he asked the audience, hoping for an expected answer of keep a healthy lifestyle.

Quick as a flash a lady at the back raised her hand. When asked she responded "If you smoke, drink, and eat plenty of fat you won't get worms"!

We still wait test results and expect radiotherapy. The hospital have been so dismissive or useless when we chase them that were it a commercial arrangement we would go elsewhere. Remember the surgeon failed to attend the after surgery consultation, we still await test results, and when we expect to plan radiotherapy the hospital say Jan is not on their computerised system! Maybe as a protection measure I convince myself that we could do better by feeding Jan a diet high in vegetables than having radiotherapy. More later on the argument for vegetables.

So I carefully steam an evening meal with fresh carrot, potato, onion, cabbage, runner beans alongside a vegetarian mousaka. I am devastated that Jan refused any of it, maybe she is even more hurt by the hospital's callous handling of her case, and wants nothing to do with them or my diet.

But I am sure we will "recover" in time! Just when mental state is part of the cure why do our NHS do so much harm?

Not proud to be British

2008-03-27T05:42:00.000-07:00

Every time we deal with the treatment hospital we get depressed! So we carry on enjoying life and waiting. Two emails from Zimbabwe and South Africa put our troubles in context!

I do not want to lambast our health service, after all most of us need to use it.

Two weeks ago we were told to expect an appointment with the oncologist either 8 days ago or yesterday, we would be told by letter. We have had Easter disrupt post, but unfortunately cancer takes no holidays.

To make sure we did not miss an appointment I phoned the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, after 10 minutes of being passed from pillar to post over three phone numbers and two answering machines I got a message saying "we have all gone home at 15:00, please do NOT leave a message"

We try again every 30 or so minutes all yesterday, nobody can talk sense, but are told Jan does NOT appear on their computerised appointments system.

It has left us both feeling we no longer wish to deal with the hospital staff. How sad when Jan has worked at that hospital for 6 months, and at the one chosen for radiotherapy for about 20 years. How can our NHS so demotivate even their own? We know the University College Hospital London where we expect radiotherapy claims an international reputation, and had thought that was a good thing. But a reputation for what?

I look at a University of California San Franciso (UCSF) professor's blog and find this "Looking at all nations with some form of socialized medicine, other than England--which is apparently abysmal for cancer treatment and survival--outcomes are far better there than the USA" In other words she views the UK reputation as being for abysmal treatment. The blog entry is here

From the telegraph last year, so its not old news:

UK cancer survival rate are the lowest in Europe. England is on a par with Poland despite the NHS spending three times more on health care. "We have good evidence that survival for lung cancer has been compromised by long waiting lists for radiotherapy treatment."

A second article, which looked at 2.7 million patients diagnosed between 1995 and 1999, found that countries that spent the most on health per capita per year had better survival rates. Britain was the exception. Despite spending up to £1,500 on health per person per year, it recorded similar survival rates as Poland, which spends a third of that amount.

An accompanying editorial said the figures showed that the NHS Cancer Plan, published in 2000, was not working.

And again another article:

Thousands of women have been forced to wait years for hospital test results that will show whether they have inherited a deadly breast cancer gene. All breast cancer patients with a family history of the disease are supposed to be offered NHS tests to discover if they carry the faulty gene. However, an investigation by the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer has found that half of the groups running the NHS laboratories that perform the tests are failing to meet a government target to provide results in eight weeks But in reality some women are forced to wait for up to three years for their results.

On the car radio today the UK cancer research charity was begging for funds. If we cannot use the info we already have what is the point of further research, unless to look for cost saving techniques or DIY cures using vegetables?

It ties in with a course my daughter ran for NHS management, when she said" if you pour money into the NHS without sorting out the organisation you will merely get an expensive health service". She was of course not invited back!

However there are obviously gems in the NHS. We still trust the surgeon, and I had dental treatment today. I discussed with the dentist when I should return for a checkup. NHS guidelines state after 2 years, she said that was rubbish, she recommended 6 months.

You are what you eat

2008-03-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

Many of the health food sites I visit claim "You are what you eat". What a load of claptrap! Jan and I eat the same diet, she gets first choice, I get the leftovers. She has breasts and long hair, I have little of either. A living organism has the ability to synthesise complex molecules such as eyes, hair and a brain from simpler molecules such as fish and chips. So folk who claim "you are what you eat" miss out that God's gift of life makes us far more than just what we eat.

But obviously what we eat has a major impact on our health. Thanks to a blog by a female professor at UCSF, University College of San Francisco. It is here

She speaks more sense than most, she is motivated to understand as she had triple negative breast cancer, as we suspect Jan may have. She mentions nutrition is part of her follow up plan. Her blog has two excellent links: The first is a very simple list of "good foods" that even includes chocolate, so enjoy!

The second is an even more comprehensive list here.. Click on the link at the top of the page for a PDF version. I revisited this link at completion of treatment in June 2008, and find this data stands the test of time. After studying many other diet experts such as Professor Aggarwhal and having bought Professor Richard Beleveau's book "Foods that fight cancer" this summary still covers all their ideas, and gives scientific reasoning behind the claims.

It suggests that carrots, and cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, sprouts etc. protect from cancer, and can even kill cancer cells in the body. Wow!!!! I compare this detailed report with the fact sheet given us free by the UK NHS. Our NHS say "eat 5 fruit and veg a day" but don't list which ones, and mix it with data such as some find Chinese Yin and Yang philosophy helpful. I tended to discard the UK advice as it mixed in the "multicultural" talk of Yin and Yang with what is good science on nutrition as detailed by one of the USA's top universities.

Great fun. Our guests on Sunday helped us devour a pomegranate smoothie, and on Monday just four of us eat more than one whole cabbage. Have we gone overboard? I have a feeling diet could have more effect on Jan's outcome than a whole course of radiotherapy.

Easter Sunday

2008-03-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday service at church, followed by four family friends round for meals. We remembered that death was defeated, it could not hold Jesus, and it can no longer terrify those who believe in him. That certainty gives us great freedom.

We also celebrated Jan's birthday. I don't think we will ever treat birthdays so callously in future, as each year survival after cancer will be a successful landmark for which we will give thanks. No longer can we just assume life goes on unchanged.

James chapter 4 verses 13 onwards has: "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

Cancer makes us more aware that we live only by God's grace.

Easter Saturday

2008-03-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Easter Saturday

Thanks to a friend who emailed me today with these thoughts.

What were disciples doing on Easter Saturday, and why do we so concentrate on Good Friday and Easter Sunday? Our current state of waiting for results is so like the disciples state on that Saturday. Their world had been abruptly turned upside down by Jesus who they saw as their leader being crucified, and they were in fear of their own lives. Jan's has been put on hold by cancer, and indeed fear is part of that. The disciples' faith was tested as they waited to see if Jesus' promised resurrection would come true. Jan's faith is similarly stretched.

We empathise with their situation, and look forward in faith to the same power of Jesus that was demonstrated by his resurrection, be that by healing, or taking us with him through the "valley of the shadow of death" mentioned in Psalm 23.

Designed for us by God?

2008-03-22T14:38:00.001-07:00

John Piper says "You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God"

We have yet to have it confirmed, but Jan and I are sure she has the rarer and tougher invasive cancer. The simpler more common DCIS cancer can have a 98% survival rate after 5 years. Is her cancer even receptive to simple hormone treatment? We wonder. Jan has waited now for 24 days for results of tests. To save costs the NHS test first for hormone receptivity, which most cancers are and which means cheap simple follow on treatment. If that test is negative one tests for progesterone, and then HER2 receptivity. The further one needs to go in testing the harder, more risky and expensive the treatment becomes.

We wonder if the delay in getting Jan's results means bad news. I found today a blog by a US lady who has the "triple negative" breast cancer. If Jan is triple negative all tests come back negative which could explain the delays in getting Jan's results.The blogger is a professor at a Californian university doing cancer research, so talks more sense than many. Her blog is at http://goodcancer.blogspot.com/. She states in the blog the far higher risk of recurrence if the cancer is triple negative, and in her opinion the need for chemotherapy in these cases. Interestingly the doctor Jan last saw closed with a comment that chemo might be necessary, are they trying to break news slowly?

In the meantime we know Jan has cancer, that it was awoken by multiple biopsies etc. about 2 months ago, and apart from surgery no treatment has begun. So Jan has restarted her Vitamin E capsules. One study we read suggests it cuts the growth rate of cancer cells to a third if the cancer is ER positive. However we know that other studies suggest Vitamin E has no beneficial effects on breast cancer, yet increases ones risk of a stroke by 10%, so don't let me push it too hard.

Another study suggests cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) kill cancer cells. So we bought a cauliflower and two cabbages!

Two other concerns arose:

I read more about Kylie Minogue, the more serious reports say she is "in remission", not definitely cured.

By chance we found an old tape of a medical missionary doctor in Pakistan who had breast cancer. During her radiotherapy it was discovered her cancer was more extensive than had been thought, she needed further treatment. Yet her testimony was that thanks to prayer of many the side effects from the second dose of radiotherapy were miniscule in comparison to her first treatment. Why does God change the way he deals with us? She later returned to work as a doctor in Pakistan.

So can we trust that God designed this cancer and these circumstances for us? Some may think I am going mad, but I believe we can. God is using it as a "thorn in the flesh" to stop us relying on ourselves, our life needs to show his strength. Psalm 28 verse 8 says "The Lord is the strength of his people"

A blessing or curse?

2008-03-21T23:42:00.000-07:00

Two days ago we attended "Stainer's Crucifixion". Thanks to the local Methodist Church for opening up this performance to all. What the non believing world saw as a curse on Jesus in reality was the means for us to receive the blessing of our sins forgiven.

So God turns curses into blessings. John Piper says "You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift". His book adds "The blessing comes in what God does for us, with us and through us." He quotes the bible to explain this from:

James chapter 1 verses 2 to 5
1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 to 9
Romans chapter 5 verses 1 to 5
and Romans chapter 8 verses 18 to 39.

We prayed for healing but received Jesus. We read today in Colossians chapter 2 verse 1 how St. Paul "was struggling for the Colossians, and those at Laodicea". He meant he prayed earnestly that they would stay true to the gospel of Jesus.

God enables Jan to share her hope that she has in Jesus and struggle in prayer for others in similar circumstances:

Three weeks ago our church service had been led by a lady recovered from breast cancer about 9 years previously. A week later she hugged Jan, asked how we were, then said she had found a second lump. This happened whilst on her "holiday of a lifetime" with her husband, and to save spoiling his holiday she kept it secret until her return home. How horrible! She undergoes surgery this week by the same surgeon who operated on Jan, without even a biopsy beforehand which shows how seriously the medical team take it. Jan phones her regularly to re-assure her.
Another friend whom Jan encorages is now on her first week of radiotherapy.
Jan has waited now for 24 days for results of tests. It means she can empathise and encourage a friend who invited us for a meal this week and shared she is also awaiting test results.

So through these three recent examples we can see how God is turning what could be thought of as a curse into a blessing.

Celebrities with cancer

2008-03-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Watched a lovely concert by Kylie Minogue the other night. She looked fabulous, seemed energetic, able to throw her arms around, which is giving Jan trouble at present after removal of underarm lymph nodes. So we took heart.

It seems Kylie was one of the first to openly admit to having breast cancer, before that it was something of a taboo. She has probably helped no end to demystify and make the disease more normal. Only snag is she was wearing a wig. I'm sure that was for the show and not that her hair had yet to recover after treatment! http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity/Kylie+Minogue-8117.html.

She reports that cancer has had some positive experiences. She says "“What I believed before my illness has only been enhanced since, and that’s that beauty comes from within." http://fametastic.co.uk/archive/20071008/7962/kylie-minogue-cancer-utterly-changed-how-i-think-about-my-body/

As Christians we agree with Kylie, but would say its more that God uses cancer to refocus one's direction, and make one more loving to others - same as Kylie's "beauty within".

Another famous encouragement is Lance Armstrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Armstrong He is one of my son's heroes, as he recovered from testicular cancer that had spread to his brain, yet went on to win the "Tour de France" cycle race seven times in a row. He inspired my son who races cycles internationally, and started his DVD business selling DVDs of Lance's exploits. His DVD store in at http://www.classicmoviestore.com

Lance does great work to raise cancer awareness here

Both these folk give encouragement that cancer need not be the end. It also shows something of power of mind. Those who rise to top in their very competitive careers have the mindset to not give way to cancer. I also see this in medical trials where placebos are so often effective!

I don't want to go too far into "Power of Positive Thinking" as we believe Jesus is the power healing Jan, but it does show the need for a positive attitude full of praise. Jan has some of these characteristics, after all she won in a competitive field to marry me! She interrupted me last night to show me how far she could now raise her arm, still in pain after lymph node removal.

Can we complain to God?

2008-03-15T15:39:00.001-07:00

I believe I was right to complain to the hospital. If one studies Nehemiah one sees a man who used both prayer and practical skills in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. But can I complain to God?

A wise lady who had hugged and encouraged me two weeks ago said "Don't worry, complain to God, he is a great God and he can take it"

Yet I read this morning about the Israelites murmuring against Moses and even God in Numbers chapter 11. And I received this email from Bob Snyder, again warning us to trust in God, not to murmur or complain http://www.pursuantgroup.com/ihs/0308_2.htm

Murmuring sees what is negative rather than the possibilities for good. When I’m murmuring I focus on unbelief rather than belief. A whining, grumpy mood overtakes me rather than a spirit of gracious gratitude.

The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 verses 10 and 11 gives a warning to me, "And do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us......."

I need a spirit of gracious gratitude and trust that God has his best plans for us in this disease.

Yet if I go wrong I am sure God can take my grumbles and still bless us. If one looks at Exodus chapter 11 verse 24 one sees the people grumble at Marah because there was bitter water, yet soon afterwards God leads them to Elim where there was an oasis, and God promises in verse 26 to put on them none of the diseases that he put on the Egyptians

That promise of disease free living made a great impression on me in my youth, when I read the book "None of These Diseases". The author, who was a medical missionary has already lived to 102, and has recently updated his book available on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/080075719X/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop/002-3182446-1820

One reviewer says:

This book really could change the way we eat, the way we live has serious health consequences, therefore higher doctors bills etc. This book will help you to cut through so much of the rubbish being written about diet and health, and help you to set a lifestyle that is healthy. Forget fad diets this is the way to go, not just for losing weight but for every aspect of healthy living.

Also it goes a long way to proving that God really knew what He was doing all those 1000's of years ago, as science plays catch up with Biblical revelation.

The original book written in 1963 and 1984 was a wonderful example of explaining how the Bible can be used to help us live healthier. This book, however, is so full of sermons and posturing, that it is difficult to see where the Bible is being quoted.

We purchased this book and after reading half of it, decided to purchase the original book (through the used books section of Amazon.com) and now wish we had the option of returning this book and only keeping the original book. The original book is really a great read and extremely helpful.

Another review: The book is well written. I found it very informative and a good guideline for living life in the 21st century. I first read NONE OF THESE DISEASES in the middle 70's and was very pleased to find the revised edition. Please read and take it to heart.

Time to complain

2008-03-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

The hospital encourage me to attend consultations and to take notes on what is said. This is good advice that we follow, for example Jan is in such a turmoil that after our last visit she didn't know at which hospital her next appointment with an oncologist would be. We are now after all now planning going to our fifth NHS location for this treatment.

During the last consultation I took detailed notes on results that were available, timings etc. and documented 10 inconsistencies. On return home Jan read these notes, and we talked till 00:30 the next morning trying to understand how such inconsistencies arose.

We discussed for an hour with a wise christian friend. He said we should look at it from the oncologists point of view, in other words the viewpoint of the next doctor to treat us. What would she need to give Jan the best treatment, and push for that. He felt it was so urgent that we should ask the medical staff to check the accuracy of the results if the oncologist would be using these to plan follow on treatment. He would hate the next appointment to be wasted, and treatment delayed by two weeks because of incorrect hospital records that we had not asked them to check.

Armed with his carefully chosen words I phoned the consultant's secretary this morning, to ask for such a check. I suspect she labeled me as "insane", or in denial. A Google research documents testing problems in Newfoundland, so I am sure that I am not mad! http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2007/06_15/4_patients_practice03_11.html

In considering this I listened to program on Premier radio by "Focus on the Family" yesterday. http://www.focusonthefamily.com/ Focus on the Family is not my normal fare, however today's broadcast spoke to this situation. It dealt with how to complain to schools if your child was being bullied, and again suggested that non aggressive open questioning was the best approach.

I also read in Exodus chapter 15 verse 28 how the Israelites "grumbled against Moses" who with God had earlier saved them from slavery in Egypt. I do not want to complain against a team whom we need to extend Jan's life, nor show lack of trust in God's over ruling provision.

It throws us back again onto Jesus, and the necessity of prayer to find peace whilst also using polite common sense with the medical staff.

Fortunately I was phoned back five and a half hours later by a nurse who understood exactly what concerned me, and said she would get accurate mamagrams available for the oncologist. Eventually I believe our concern was handled very well. I can wait another two weeks for test results, after all they make no difference until one is planning treatment.

Post op consultation with surgeon

2008-03-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

90% good news, we await follow on radiotherapy. However key results were NOT present at that morning's multidisciplinary discussion of Janet's case. The possible need for chemotherapy was mentioned dependent upon the awaited test results. The ER, PR, and HER2 results were NOT available though these are vital for planning suitable follow on treatment. Without those test results surely Jan's case might as well have been discussed by my plumber and car mechanic?

Neither the consultant nor registrar who operated on Janet were available to us, though the consultant had set the time for the meeting.

I feel I may need to post less frequently to this blog for the time being, and will restart once test results are known by us.

I had earlier said we need to rely on God's provision, rather than medics. This waiting throws us back onto God. Do not worry about us, 90% of news was good. We plan assuming the most likely outcome of the tests.

Our plan is to return to the East coast and celebrate Easter as normal.

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting

2008-03-12T00:54:00.000-07:00

I believe folks in USA would not be able to understand why in UK we wait after 13 days, when their standards would be seven days maximum. After waiting 13 days we are told to wait another week or two for the important ER, PR and HER2 test results. The analysis lab is at the entrance to the hospital where Jan's tumour was removed, so there is no excuse for transport delays.

But if I trust God does it matter? I don't worry or complain about waiting.

Talk about death

2008-03-11T00:07:00.000-07:00

I need to be sensitive, two of our friends attend a funeral today. One of Jan's relatives was run down and killed by a car last Friday, so we can "mourn with those who mourn" as commanded by Paul in Romans chapter 12 verse 15. I don't know how long the newspaper will keep this event as news, at present it is here http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/news/story.aspx?brand=EADOnline&category=news&tBrand=eadonline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED09%20Mar%202008%2011%3A51%3A46%3A847

An interesting blog entry on the passage in Romans is at http://tiffsniff.blogspot.com/2007/07/mourn-with-those-who-mourn.html

Cancer does not take us away from the day to day joys and tragedies of life, we share the care and grief of our friends.

In writing a sympathy card to this lady's son I scanned the first ten entries in the obituary column of our paper. All ten described the event as "so and so passed away". It seems we cannot talk about death! I found no help in the sentimental clap trap of the obituary column, so instead wrote to remind the son of the great impact his Mum had on us during her life, and reminding him of Jesus' promise of eternal life in John chapter 3 verse 16.

It reminds me of the epithet of a friend of mine, Pastor John Barr. He would have enjoyed the epithet on his funeral programme – ‘gone to another meeting’. He excited my Christian life. Details of John can be found here http://www.river-church.org.uk/NetSite/?Page=History

In looking at Jan's cancer we have had to face death. Earlier I had said the five year statistics were good, but the 10 and 20 year far more alarming. It seems to me there are three likely reasons:

if you have had one cancer it seems likely that your body is more susceptible than general. Frequently women with cancer in one breast have a second in the other breast at a later stage unless hormone treatment is used.
radiotherapy is good at stopping local recurrence, but after 5 or so years it seems to increase risk of distant metastases, or even start second cancers in lung or heart. These new cancers are probably caused by damage from the radio treatment itself. Radio is so damaging it cannot be repeated to the same breast. Two colleagues' wives have died from matastases, one in the liver, the other in the brain.
the standard drug Tamoxifen seems to lose effect after 5 or so years, the cancer gets adapted to it and even thrives on it.

I read there are about 1 million women in USA taking Tamoxifen. There must be a similar proportion in the UK. At first I think it means we need a mission to such people who should be prepared to meet God. But on reflection we are all in this situation, death is part of God's plan, even Lazarus who was raised from the dead by Jesus eventually died.

As John Piper says "you will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death". Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 2 says "it is better to go to the house of mourning rather than feasting. for death is the end of every man, the living should take this to heart."

When I worked with young people I used to point them to http://www.deathclock.com/ to remind them that they should plan for certain death. Maybe it is not a site for the squeamish! But deathclock is a serious site bringing home the importance of our life, the certainty of death, and how to increase our healthy life. For example it has many good links to general health at http://healthclock.healthology.com/main/condition_centers.aspx and specifically for breast cancer here http://healthclock.healthology.com/breast-cancer/breast-cancer-treatment/focusareasub.htm

Preparation for consultation

2008-03-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

This could be a boring post to anyone who is not battling breast cancer. I had researched what treatment was available in readiness to discuss with the surgeon. On reflection it was a complete waste of time, he didn't turn up. Skip forward a day unless such preparation is of interest. Don't expect the UK NHS to have time to discuss such matters!

I guess one could just sit back and trust the doctor to give one the best possible treatment. I am 90% sure he would, but prefer to understand what is happening. Look up proceedings of the St Gallen 2007 conference on "primary therapy for early breast cancer" for good information on what current best practice is. I do not attach a link as I believe the medical staff restrict access to this information to medical professionals.

To review the possible outcomes I expect we will be told on Wednesday in ascending order of risk:

1) we could be told all clear, no need for extra treatment - highly unlikely
2) could be told all clear, we need radiotherapy and hormone therapy - expected result.
3) could be told we need a second lumpectomy to get adequate cancer clear margins - 10% risk
4) could be told cancer found in lymph system, needing further radio or chemo therapy - 10% risk
5) could be told the impossible has happened, there is more extensive cancer than expected, immediate chemo needed....should be impossible after what we have been told already, but lets prepare to handle the worst. The aim is to remove the cancer without disturbing it to minimise risk of spread around the body via blood or lymph systems. However every biopsy, guide wire etc. raises this risk and Jan's two guide wires were a bloody shambolic mess. Sorry, I am not swearing here, the ultrasound was covered in her blood, and what the nurse assured us was impossible happened to Jan.

Option 1: possible, see http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=10250#prime

Option 2: To prepare for option 2, one needs to know whether cancer is estrogen receptor positive. 80% are, and in these cases Tamoxifen is effective for the first five years, expect to take Tamoxifen for at least 5 years, and worry about recurrence once that is stopped unless replaced by aromatase inhibitors.

In 15 - 20% cases the cancer is HER2 receptor positiive, where herceptin may be a wonder drug. Is this cancer HER2 positive? http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=19867
If so will NHS pay for it? It believe it costs up to £25,000 per patient and many NHS trusts refuse to pay for such expensive treatment. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/333/7578/1118?ehom= The BBC ran a report http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6176008.stm It also has nasty effects on the heart.

If radiotherapy is given, the doctor has already stated he favours hypofractionation (the use of fewer, higher fractional radiotherapy doses. This eases our transport to hospital, cuts cost to NHS, increases risk of cosmetic damage to skin, yet seems to have same effectiveness in preventing cancer recurrence.

I would like to discuss a safer option in research http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=10250#targit

Option 3: I want to know how they find site for next incision, after the previous shambles in using wire guidance that needed two wires. I presume the scar tissue shows up easily, but want re-assurance

Option 4: I would hope we just need radio therapy, without chemo. This link supports this view
http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/16/3/383

To get a Christian perspective, let me quote John Piper "you will waste your cancer if you take comfort from your odds rather than from God." In 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9 Paul says "in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." We need to trust solely on God.

Secret of contentment

2008-03-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

I feel I need to know about the side effects of cancer treatment before next Wednesday's meeting with the surgeon to discuss follow on treatment. I looked at how to minimise the side effects, it shocked me. Side effects discussed included hair loss, lymphedema, peripheral neuropathy and memory loss. But on lymphedema and hair loss I believe we have some encouraging tips:

Jan had been told by our UK medical team that she should not lift more than 15 to 20 pounds with her left arm. If true how could she do heavy washing, or vacuuming? In looking at lymphedema on American web sites I found their view is that the jury is out. Some doctors say that a gradual return to full previous activity and lifting helps protect against lymphedema. I pass the good news on to Jan immediately, and within a hour hear the vacuum being used again. Great news, the power of the Internet!

For those of you who think I am a callous chauvinist this data came from a top team in the USA, which included an MD from Cornell University, not a group of health food quacks. It is still available as an audio from http://www.cancercare.org/get_help/tew_details.php?tew=breast_112906&ret=%2Fget_help%2Fhelp_by_diagnosis%2Fdiagnosis.php

We went to church today, it was a great encouragement:

the service started with an interview of a Chinese christian nurse. She had worked treating the rich and famous alongside probably the world's most famous doctor. She had given that up to work for a pitance at risk of persecution in a chinese village. The life changing power she saw bringing young drug addicts and HIV sufferers to new life in Christ was "unbelievable". I would love to say more, but as yesterday's Observer newspaper said there are now 54,000 Chinese government officers checking emails for "unlawful" activity to say more could jeopardise her ministry in China
the sermon was so relevant to our needs: based on Philipians chapter 4, verses 4 to 13. St Paul says "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation." This is a repeat of what we read ourselves 2 days previously, God must be emphasing it to us"

Some of Paul's secrets must include giving up his claim to safety and wealth, laying it all before Christ, just like the chinese nurse. Then Paul says twice in verse 4 "rejoice". And in verse 6 "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

replace worry with prayer

replace complaining with thanksgiving

After the service Jan spent so long encouraging a fellow cancer sufferer that I was able to talk to the Chinese nurse at length! We were the last to leave the church that lunchtime. To say more about the situation in China, I attach a link to a book we read over our last summer holiday, titled "The Heavenly Man" http://www.crossroad.to/Excerpts/books/faith_under_fire/heavenly-man.htm This link has excerpts from the book, quite a read. It is reviewed, and gets five stars here: http://www.amazon.com/review/product/082546207X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?_encoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Power of Google

2008-03-08T01:42:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we had some wonderful weather, I walked for hours through woods on the ancient Roman road of Ermine Street. I probably saw three cars and five people in a two hour walk, wonderful unspoilt countryside with broom now in flower.

It gave me time to listen to two sermons by John Piper. They were so relevant as we come towards Easter, when we remember Christ's sacrifice, the greatest proof of God's love for us.

Google is amazing in the relevance of some of the adverts it places on my blog! Yesterday on Ermine Street I listen to John Piper, today they had a link to John Piper's sermon backlog http://www.logos.com/piper?googleads&gclid=CM_n7pmc_ZECFQxTQgodBkDp9w Scarey! I am being watched!

I find John Piper a treasure. His material is available free of charge from http://www.desiringgod.org/

A relevant study for us at present is http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/AskPastorJohn/ByTopic/24/2649_What_is_so_important_about_Christian_hope/

John would sum it as:

"The most important verse in the Bible for me, probably, is Romans 8:32:

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Now that last part is hope producing! But it's grounded in the rock-solid statement that "God didn't spare his own son.""

Prayer replaces worry

2008-03-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

For years I subscribed to an encouraging Christian email by Bob Snyder. He sees his mission as training doctors in Hungary to match their care with Christian testimony. His site is at http://www.internationalhealthservices.com/pages/ihs_about_author

He produces a weekly devotional email at http://www.internationalhealthservices.com/pages/ihs_llj The last two issues have spoken directly to our situation. One follows, so applicable to winning a battle against cancer:

"Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing." These words from the famous Green Bay Packer football coach, Vince Lombardi, express the ultimate preoccupation with results. While playing college soccer, focusing only on winning resulted in my failure to enjoy any part of the practice process.

At times in my spiritual life I focus only on results and fail to enjoy the lessons to be learned on the way to the end point. Since the journey to the results can take time and occasionally the result can be fleeting, finding joy in the results alone leaves much joylessness on the journey. Spiritually, joy on the journey can be as important as the results.

The apostle Paul told us to Rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4: 4-6) - implying that the journey to God-ordained results can come with joy. How?

	By replacing worry with prayer
	By replacing complaining with thanksgiving

Results are important but the journey is important as well. Enjoying the journey can be harder for me than enjoying the outcome.

This makes an interesting challenge for us as we so worry about results of Jan's treatment.

I found a useful NHS web site for anyone in my position. It has a booklet produced by the NHS, so I had ignored it for the first five weeks. On looking it is a useful tool to help spouses of cancer sufferers or probably any other major illness such as stroke or heart attack. The whole NHS site is good, the booklet is available as PDF download or free booklet from this link

http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/content.php?page_id=3067

Physical setbacks, faith advances

2008-03-06T01:33:00.000-08:00

We are thankful for the support of a christian friend who is about four months ahead of us in going through treatment for breast cancer. Jan was regularly phoning her to support her, now she is doing the same for us.

She was triumphant that she had just managed to take a week away at a friends 10 miles away from her city flat. How cancer reduces our horizons, our last week away was to the Italian lakes and alps.

She phoned last night somewhat depressed as her planned radiotherapy was postponed on the day it started. No explanation was given, she must wait for a week to see the consultant for an explanation. How callous the NHS is in handling the emotions of those they treat.

Fortunately Jan was able to lend a sympathetic ear, promise prayer, and a group from her church will visit within 24 hours.

We again read from the bible in Ephesians chapter 5 verses 19 and 20. "Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is so similar to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16 to 18, "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

We struggle with these passages. John Piper and David Powlinson who have both had cancer take them literally, that we thank God for our individual cancer, whereas a book by Michael Baughen suggests one thanks God in our circumstances, but not for our circumstances. We are not sure of the answer, but certainly at present Jan sees our circumstances and this cancer as God ordained to draw us excitingly close to him.

We wonder whether singing in our heart as commanded by Paul to the Ephesians could be a technique to help us put God and his power first in our minds and lives

Use of time - purify your life

2008-03-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

Since diagnosis we have tried to use the time to best prepare ourselves. We have spent more time with the family, and daughter will visit next weekend.

In preparing for treatment I had see the risks as:

Surgery - very small risk
Radiotherapy - slightly more risk such as damage to heart and lungs
Chemotherapy - really nasty, far worse than just hair falling out
Hormone treatment - nasty effects such as causing cancer of the uterus, but one can stop at any time.

We therefore concentrated merely on emotional / faith issues and preparation for the surgery, ignoring the later treatments until the surgery was complete. We tried to spend about 10 hours in prayer and considering God's provision and goodness for every hour we spent thinking or learning about cancer. It may seem strange, but I think that ratio was correct.

Before surgery one has to face the possibility of death, and spend time in prayer. To do this we reviewed our lives. Some challenges we faced were:

How can one claim the promises on Malachi chapter three if ones finances aren't right in God's sight
James chapter 5 verse 16 says "the earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and produces wonderful results."
John chapter 12 says we must pray according to God's will. We must clear out selfish motives.
Colossians chapter 4 verse 12 records how Epaphrus "wrestled" in prayer. We need to learn how to pray that earnestly.

John Piper says "you waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before". Only when we were clear on these issues could I peacefully allow Jan to go to surgery. Between surgery and the next consultation I want to learn as much as possible about follow up treatments.

So far I only have two regrets:

We took the decision on lumpectomy versus mastectomy with poor preparation. It was not explained that lumpectomy almost always has follow on radiotherapy. However I suspect we would have made the same decision, but options and relative risks were not discussed sensibly beforehand.
I had not researched surgery options until after surgery started. Only that day did I learn of alternatives such as carbon nanotube or laser surgery, ROLL versus WGL and ELIOT to almost completely remove the risks from radiotherapy. But in discussing with Jan we agreed these were esoteric new treatments for which we would probably have to travel abroad, and even had we known about them beforehand we would probably not have taken them up. I am using initials to save time in this blog. Anyone suffering with cancer can look them up in Google for more information.

So we rest trusting in God's support through this, and will continue to place more importance on our fellowship with him than worry about cancer.

Premier radio

2008-03-04T02:00:00.000-08:00

We have stayed near north London to get treatment, where Premier Christian radio is easily heard on 1413 metres medium wave. It is on the Internet at www.premier.org.uk.

Many of their broadcasts have helped us in the past, and two helped this week. One was by Chuck Swindell, http://www.insight.org/. I ordered the CD recording from their UK office on 0800 9159364. Chuck was talking about Jesus going to Calvary. He said "remembering your mission helps one navigate through any storm". We need to see that this cancer is just a rock in the path on our walk with Jesus.

The second was a session by Rev John Ryeland from http://www.healingmission.org/. He answered phoned in questions about healing, and said that sometimes prayer made things initialy get worse, only for God to finally triumph. He then answered phoned in questions on the Premier Radio lifeline. May I commend these ministries:

Premier Lifeline: 0845 345 0707, email lifeline@premier.org.uk, www.premier.org.uk/lifeline - It is a christian run helpline offering information and a listening ear to the general public on a range of emotional and spiritual issues.

Waiting

2008-03-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

Seems waiting is part on the strain of cancer.

Firstly has one got it
Then what has one got / how dangerous is it
Then has surgeon got it all out
Then what else has one got.....i.e. lymph nodes, even secondaries?
Is follow up radio or chemo needed
Then every year an annual exam to see if one hasn't got another or a recurrence.

It is dawning on us that what we had hoped would be a quick snip, and away with cancer like my earlier scare with a suspected skin cancer is more a long term membership of a club. Recurrence will be a constant risk.

Trusting and resting in Jesus can take some of the strain. A friend emailed to encourage us. Having had cancer himself he stated he just rested in Jesus, and trusted him to keep to God's perfect timing.

But could the doctors help? Do they make us wait unnecessarily? We have still only been told it is cancer to be treated by a lumpectomy and to expect radio and Tamoxifen afterwards. We are expected to wait till 12 March to be told any more.

So who is playing what game?

By 29 Jan we had worked out it was invasive cancer near the chest wall.
By 20 Feb we could give it the medical name "Non palpable invasive lobular breast cancer"
By 26 Feb we could see the ECG was OK
By 28 Feb we could say that only one lymph node had been taken.

So why increase our agony by not confirming this information as we go on? Instead we have to wait another 13 days. We need to be treated as equal members of a team treating this, not second class "bodies" on whom they work. As from the 28th Feb. we have to take care to prevent lymphedema. Why even after we asked three times do the doctors refuse to tell us how many nodes they removed?

The apostle Paul must have had similar waiting experiences waiting for years in prison in Rome before his execution under the emporer Nero. Yet in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 he writes "let us run with perseverence the race that is set before us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross."

I read some bible notes which suggest we should meditate on heaven for 15 minutes each day. The certainty of heaven encourages Janet, the healing merely changes when she gets there. So much of the strain of waiting is taken away.

Getting the right perspective

2008-03-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

We read the bible on God's grace and peace that is offered to us. We read the early chapters of Job, where four disasters happen to Job in just one day, yet he will not blame God.

I went to church by myself today, Jan felt too week. The service was led by a lady who had overcome breast cancer herself nine or so years ago, and the piano was played by a widower whos wife had died when breast cancer spread to her brain. So two people, both with the same faith, prayed for by the same church, one healed and one went to be with Jesus somewhat earlier, leaving young children without a mother. So I believe God works to his plan, and it can be a mystery to us as to who is healed and who is not.

The service focused on AIDS orphans in Uganda, and showed a film about a 13 year old girl named Rachel. She was left as an orphan at the age on 6, and was acting as head of the household bringing up three of her siblings, and three other orphans from another family. So here am I worried about managing the washing, when in Uganda a girl of 13 is managing to bring up a family of 6, albeit with the help of a local church pastor. Info on TEAR fund here http://tilz.tearfund.org/hiv

Just weeks before a friend had explained how his wife was trying to stop girls going into prostitution to earn a living in Zimbabwe. He said that he thought that for a small sum he could buy them a sewing machine, and teach them to make and sell souvenirs to tourists or clothes to Africans. For what Jan's treatment must have cost the NHS so far he could set up 20 girls in such industry.

When asked what he would do if money was no object he said bring some of his church folk from Zimbabwe to visit us here in the UK. He said they were poor materially, but rich spiritually.

I pray that I will get my problems in perspective, and catch some of the spirit of these Africans. I want to see God glorified across the world, not just for my selfish needs.

Thanks to a friend who lent me the book on prayer "Getting through to God" by Michael Baughen, bishop of Chester. He states God answers prayer for his glory, not for our selfish whim. I know that he is working for our ultimate good through this trial, and is bringing us closer to him. Michael's book is here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Getting-through-God-Michael-Baughen/dp/0850095662

God uses our difficulties

2008-03-01T03:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were reading about how the eagle teaches its young to fly. Last night we watched "Spartacus" on TV, which showed Roman cruelty in St. Paul's time. Today we read how God used the apostle Paul's imprisonment in Rome. It is in Philippians chapter 1 verses 12 to 26. Paul says "what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel". He emphasises the unlikely truth of this by using the word "really". Paul's imprisonment in Rome was costly, it was the last step before execution. Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote in the fourth century, states that Paul was beheaded in the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero.

However had not Paul been imprisoned he would probably not have written Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon.

We pray that God will use this suffering of Jan to increase our usefulness to Jesus.

Recovery from surgery

2008-02-29T14:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had read Malachi, and had claimed the promise in chapter 3 verse 10, "God will pour out an overflowing blessing on you."

We had expected elation to think that the cancer was out. But it is our worst day so far, no elation at all. There were so many shambolic incidents yesterday that our confidence was dented. For any technical folk, what was planned as a WGL needed two wires to be inserted. Jan was on a mixed sex day ward that mixed breast with endoscopy patients.

To put our mood in context I also read that depression is a standard side effect of general anesthetics.

I read the "Independent" newspaper today, which has an article by a reporter who suffered a stroke. After surgery she awoke to find herself surrounded on each side by a male patient who was masturbating. Thankfully Jan's recovery is in a comfortable clean home with good food and service as required. The Independent article is here: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/features/a-rush-of-blood-to-the-head-one-woman-tells-the-story-of-her-stroke-789282.html

A similar article is here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060711/ai_n16523942

We read a book we were recently given. It is based on Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 11, which explains that God teaches us like an eagle teaches its young to fly. Once the chicks are ready, the mother throws the chicks out of the nest one at a time. They fall towards earth in terror, and the mother sweeps underneath and catches them in her wings before they hit the ground. This is repeated until the chicks learn to flap their wings, fly, or even soar. If they stayed in the comfortable nest they would never learn to fly. The book is listed here http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/THE-DIVINE-EAGLE-Selwyn-Hughes/9781853451904-item.html?pticket=wlmel1n5gdgwb2550znkvd45X07baoSvmQCIfuLnMBWXhbF1ECg%3d

Maybe God needs the shambles to force us even more onto him. Its uncomfortable, but Jesus can gather us up in his wings if needed just like the mother eagle.

Surgery

2008-02-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

All done at Welwyn Garden City as a day case, leave home 07:45 return by 16:20.

Bits now missing, but no great pain. Jan says she felt like she had been hit over the head, and comes back looking pale, unsteady on feet, but able to walk to the car.

The hospital refuse to say how many lymph nodes they removed, they will tell us in 13 days time! Whose body is it?

Tips to help us

2008-02-27T06:41:00.002-08:00

We went through Janet Thompson's book in more detail. Its a guidebook running to 388 pages, though the treatment assumes American practice.

Janet's testimony started as a child of ten when her policeman father was shot dead. She accepted Christ at the age of eleven as her heavenly father in place of "my dearly loved earthly father" whom she had just lost. She is also a breast cancer survivor, and works with the Saddleback Church in USA. It gives her book authority.

More details on Janet are here:
http://www.womantowomanmentoring.com/cancersite/author.html

She gives a list of 13 things to do to help a cancer sufferer, and 13 things not to say. As cancer seems to scare some folk, and they are afraid they may offend us if they talk about it, I attach a few tips from that book that could help, along with some we found for ourselves:

Please do:

Show Jan the love of God.
Hug us around shoulder, not breasts! This cancer is not contagious!
Keep normal contacts with Jan
Show genuine compassion and concern
Keep calling and leave a message, we love to hear from you
Be patient, the illness and stress makes one forgetful, tired, etc.
Stay in for the long haul, this takes months
Talk about how God is loving and active, rather than talk about cancer.
Feel free to share your healings, blessings etc. We are not so selfish we cannot rejoice with you even if Jan has a harder time.
Tell us your concerns and needs. This illness has made us more aware of others' needs and deepened our prayer life. Don't think we have got enough on our plate, we would love to pray for you too.

We would rather you didn't

Talk about others' breast cancer stories, good or bad. There are so many variations that there is at least a 90% chance they are irrelevant. We have 44 documented in Janet Thompson's book already, but we found we had to stop reading it!
Tell us God has a plan for this - we know that already.
Avoid Jan, it makes her feel rejected
Act like nothing is happening, minimise the situation, or compare Jan to anyone else.
Tell us that there are wonderful new drugs. The one discussed for Jan is over 50 years old, the patent expired and now it is made and used generically but has nasty side effects. After 5 years the side effects outweigh the benefits.
Tell us treatment is wonderful these days. Radiotherapy is a mainstay of treatment, there is currently a study underway at Edinburgh University to see if radiotherapy offers any long term benefit at all. See http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/trials/trials/selectsearch.asp?freetextsearch=prime&x=27&y=23&searchtype=freetext

God is mighty - earthquake

2008-02-27T03:37:00.002-08:00

A quote from Harnhill Christian Healing Centre "We would go to the ends of the earth to find healing, when actually what we are seeking may be right here amongst us."

We would happily go across the world to find healing. The challenge is to advance our faith so that we touch Jesus directly ourselves! I look at Mark chapter 5 verse 28 about the woman with the discharge of blood who touched Jesus' cloak and was healed. All she did was touch Jesus' garment. I pray that I have that same faith and fellowship with Jesus as she had. She saw miraculous immediate healing!

God's timing is amazing. Woken at about 01:00 by an earthquake shaking us in our bed. The BBC reports "The biggest earthquake in the UK for nearly 25 years has shaken homes across large parts of the country". God is mighty and woke us to remind us of his power.

Thanks to friends who kindly invited us to stay to share fellowship at this time. A kind couple sent us the programme for the Harnhill Christian Healing Centre, and today Google ads put an advert for a similar Christian centre on my blog. I allowed the Google ads to increase the chance of these pages being indexed by Google, please excuse the commercialism. I cannot endorse the adverts. But one appealed here http://www.headtoheart.org.uk/

Harnhill are here http://www.harnhillcentre.freeserve.co.uk/home.htm

I have not been to either so cannot endorse them, but they appeal. But is their appeal that I want to pass responsibility on to another, rather than me taking my cares direct to God myself?

Pre-op ECG - expectant waiting

2008-02-26T10:56:00.000-08:00

We go to Hertford hospital for the pre-operation heart check. Glad we were able to bring appointment forward from the hospital's suggested 5th March so that it was done before the breast surgery. From smile on nurses face all is well, though she said she was not allowed to tell us, we will not know before the operation day next Thursday.

Thanks to friends who join us for lunch and tea at a lovely garden centre after this. They helped relieve our anxiety during the wait by doing "normal activities". Jan went home and did washing, drying ironing etc. afterwards.

I think on how God could heal Jan miraculously. In the Wesleyan revival that often saw God heal. I believe we need to see God act in our generation too!

We were encouraged to read Janet Thompson's book that ties in with Jan's friend's testimony based on Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 8. It states "The Lord himself will go before you and be with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged."

Jan already agrees with these two other sufferers that they go to hospital not only sure that Jesus is with them, but that he got there before them and prepared the way.