China trip
Summary
Met three physicians at Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine. All of them insist that I do the brain radiotherapy and to use conventional medicine for my bone metastasis. These will be accompanied by Chinese medicine to strengthen and support my overall health before, during and after the conventional therapies.
Saturday 23 July
KLIA. Vivien, Me Leng and I are sent off by my brother and wife, Ah Keng, Ah Meng, Ah Wei and Ah Mei. I have indulged in roti pratha and curry the whole day in preparation for the trip...haha
Sunday 24 July
Reached Harbin, the capital of the state of Heilongjiang (Black Dragon River) incident-free. My doctors initially have recommended that I increase my steroid dosage to prevent brain swelling in the flight, the cabin may be under low-pressure. I have actually lowered my dosage in anticipation of going off steroid after returning from China.
Noticed scarlet seems to be Heilongjiang's state color, many items are in scarlet including the roofs of buildings and dresses of the ladies. Checked into the student hotel which is within the university's compound; adequate accomodation for only USD6/day. Met Mdm Wang who is the manager of the hotel. She has helped us to contact Prof Liang and had made many helpful arrangement for our stay.
Monday 25 July
Met with Prof. Liang Hua who is Dr Yong's professor. We expected a gray-haired lady who is on the further side of 50s. The actual Prof Liang looks like she just stepped out of the Vogue magazine! An absolutely fashionable youngish lady came to greet us...I was thinking of my male friends who have loved to be surprised like this...haha ;)
Prof Liang Hua is the Dean of International Education College and also the Director of Foreign Affairs Office, so I guess she has to present a contemporary face of the university. I also noticed that the university has dropped "Traditional" from their name, I guess Chinese medicine, like the conventional medicine field, is constantly evolving, so no point refering to it as "Traditional".
She made a call to Dr Jiang the chief oncologist at the university's hospital, and we had an appointment immediately. Dr Jiang met me, and sent me to do chest x-ray. CT scan on the brain will be done on Tuesday. He looked at my previous scans and x-rays together with his students. They find my case very unique.
Went to do X-ray. The physician in-charge of the X-ray division was very grim when he sees my x-ray result. That is until he sees my previous x-rays and realised the progress I have made, and lighthen up a bit. At first he quietly asked my sister if I knew I have cancer...as if!!! Again, his medical students have a great time with my x-rays...hej..I should have a discount for being such a good case study!
Went to see Dr Jiang with my x-ray results, again students converged to listen to his diagnosis. He was very impressed with my progress since May, when I have the mega-breathlessness episode with 3 quarter of my lungs covered my whitish image.
I made contact with Dr Yong in Malaysia, and both Dr Jiang and Dr Yong discussed my case over the phone. Isn't cell phone roaming service great!!??
Dr Jiang diagnosed the x-rays based on his own observation. He did not look at the X-ray physician's report. Seems to be this is the principle adopted by the hospital; do your own diagnosis, the report is for the benefit of the student and patient.
We discussed about tomorrow's brain CT scan. He was very reluctant to it with contrast, which will reveal the brain tumours. The normal CT scan without injection of contrast would not show the tumours clearly. He was concerned about some side effects. So we agreed to do it without contrast but with a more powerful scan..hmmmm
Another interesting practice of the university's doctors is they accompany their patients to the various department, including the cashier! I am not sure if this is the norm, but I saw at least two doctors accompanying their patients. Maybe for special patients like me..hehe..I would have thought this kind of work a doctor would assign to their nurses.
Woke up during the night because of earthquake tremor. Felt the hotel shook twice. Went back to sleep immediately. Ha..my first tremor experience!
Tuesday 26 July
Went to do CT scan. Got the result. The physician in-charge of CT scan at first did not have the benefit of my previous scan. He did not notice the faint image of the tumor. He at first reported that dementia is setting in based on the dark lines at the sides of my brain...ugh!!!! Dr Jiang later said this is not right. Anyway, after the CT scan physician saw my previous scans, he changed his report. He looked more carefully and noticed that the bigger tumor has remained the same size.
Dr Jiang concurs, but he also cautioned that there may be smaller tumors which may not be visible. He said that my tumors may be stabilised due to the Chinese medicine I am taking.
He recommended that I do brain radiotherapy, and to take a medication 153SM intravaneously. These will be accompanied with Chinese medicine. He also asked me to continue my qiqong practice.
Went back to the hotel. Mdm Wang said a physician will be coming to see another patient at the hotel, and he can make time to see me. Dr Wang is also a prominent physician who speciallised in "external" Chinese medicine. Prof Liang in the meantime has recommeded us to see one Dr Sang.
Dr Wang came to my hotel room to see me. Hej, how many doctors would do this...doing house (hotel) call at a moment's notice! Dr Want looked at my scans and results and said the best person to see me is Dr Sang, who is also recommended by Prof Liang. He called Dr Sang who agreed to come and see me, also at a moment's notice.
Dr Sang is a young physician, I think a year younger than me. He is a specialist in Chinese "internal" and skeleton medicine. He took one look at my April's bone scan and exclaimed my bone metastasis is so extensive. Yup, the scan shows me like a Dalmation; hot spots are all over my skeleton. He said normally a person with such an extensive bone metastasis would be bed-ridden wrecked with pain. He said it's amazing I am still up and about...
He looked at my other scans and said he could not reconcile the images with the person in front of him. He again said I have made tremendous progress to be able to see him today.
He also recommended to do brain radiotherapy to the brain,and concur with Dr Jiang about the bone metastasis. I was expecting both him and Dr Jiang would say Chinese medicine can handle these without radiotherapy or conventional medication..oh well...
Like Dr Jiang and Prof Liang, he also read Dr Yong report about my Chinese medicine treatment in Malaysia. They agreed with the therapy course so far. Dr Sang proceed to write his recommendation for the way forward, with a list of medication. I again made contact with Dr Yong and both of them discussed my case. Dr Sang asked Dr Yong to update him every month or whenever necessary to jointly heal me. He said my medication would need to be adjusted every month based on my condition.
He said my condition is stabilised maybe due to the qiqong and Chinese medication I am on; especially my pain-free bone metastasis. I actually tend to think the Iressa is the one which has arrested the lung tumor, and allowed the complementay medicine is catch up.
By this time, I felt my objective in China is fulfilled. I am looking forward to an early home coming to Malaysia.
Wednesday 27 July
Went to Dr Sang's clinic to get the medication. He invited me to his consultation room where his students are having their practical. Again, I was presented as a unique case, and his students eager lapped up his diagnosis. I distributed my name card which proclaimed me as a cancer patient, and my blog's URL. Dr Sang thanked me for being strong.
Paid for the medication, but the medication need to be prepared, and would only be ready Thursday afternoon 2.30pm. Went to the airline office for an earlier return, but there is no flight on Friday, only on Thursday which is not possible because of the medication. So looks like we still have to return on Saturday.
Thursday 28 July
Rained in the morning. Went to get my medication. Realised why it took some time; there are like 300 paste-like individually wrapped medication. After the clinic, returned to hotel. After a short rest, went to a "Russian" street and an "Indian" street. Quite an interesting area, Heilongjiang borders Russia, and there are a lot of Russian previously.
The Russian street is a short street where Russian goods are sold; clothing, the Russian Masytroka dolls, firearms and other army gadgets. The proprieters are all Chinese. The Indian street is another short street with Indian restaurants. The only Indians we saw are a few Sikhs guarding the entrance.
Found a restaurant which is able to prepare food to suit our palate. The food in Harbin is too salty for our taste.
Friday 29 July
Another day to do some touristic stuff. Had a final good dinner at the restaurant in Russian street.
Saturday 30 July
Homeward bound! Yeaaa...!!!
Met three physicians at Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine. All of them insist that I do the brain radiotherapy and to use conventional medicine for my bone metastasis. These will be accompanied by Chinese medicine to strengthen and support my overall health before, during and after the conventional therapies.
Saturday 23 July
KLIA. Vivien, Me Leng and I are sent off by my brother and wife, Ah Keng, Ah Meng, Ah Wei and Ah Mei. I have indulged in roti pratha and curry the whole day in preparation for the trip...haha
Sunday 24 July
Reached Harbin, the capital of the state of Heilongjiang (Black Dragon River) incident-free. My doctors initially have recommended that I increase my steroid dosage to prevent brain swelling in the flight, the cabin may be under low-pressure. I have actually lowered my dosage in anticipation of going off steroid after returning from China.
Noticed scarlet seems to be Heilongjiang's state color, many items are in scarlet including the roofs of buildings and dresses of the ladies. Checked into the student hotel which is within the university's compound; adequate accomodation for only USD6/day. Met Mdm Wang who is the manager of the hotel. She has helped us to contact Prof Liang and had made many helpful arrangement for our stay.
Monday 25 July
Met with Prof. Liang Hua who is Dr Yong's professor. We expected a gray-haired lady who is on the further side of 50s. The actual Prof Liang looks like she just stepped out of the Vogue magazine! An absolutely fashionable youngish lady came to greet us...I was thinking of my male friends who have loved to be surprised like this...haha ;)
Prof Liang Hua is the Dean of International Education College and also the Director of Foreign Affairs Office, so I guess she has to present a contemporary face of the university. I also noticed that the university has dropped "Traditional" from their name, I guess Chinese medicine, like the conventional medicine field, is constantly evolving, so no point refering to it as "Traditional".
She made a call to Dr Jiang the chief oncologist at the university's hospital, and we had an appointment immediately. Dr Jiang met me, and sent me to do chest x-ray. CT scan on the brain will be done on Tuesday. He looked at my previous scans and x-rays together with his students. They find my case very unique.
Went to do X-ray. The physician in-charge of the X-ray division was very grim when he sees my x-ray result. That is until he sees my previous x-rays and realised the progress I have made, and lighthen up a bit. At first he quietly asked my sister if I knew I have cancer...as if!!! Again, his medical students have a great time with my x-rays...hej..I should have a discount for being such a good case study!
Went to see Dr Jiang with my x-ray results, again students converged to listen to his diagnosis. He was very impressed with my progress since May, when I have the mega-breathlessness episode with 3 quarter of my lungs covered my whitish image.
I made contact with Dr Yong in Malaysia, and both Dr Jiang and Dr Yong discussed my case over the phone. Isn't cell phone roaming service great!!??
Dr Jiang diagnosed the x-rays based on his own observation. He did not look at the X-ray physician's report. Seems to be this is the principle adopted by the hospital; do your own diagnosis, the report is for the benefit of the student and patient.
We discussed about tomorrow's brain CT scan. He was very reluctant to it with contrast, which will reveal the brain tumours. The normal CT scan without injection of contrast would not show the tumours clearly. He was concerned about some side effects. So we agreed to do it without contrast but with a more powerful scan..hmmmm
Another interesting practice of the university's doctors is they accompany their patients to the various department, including the cashier! I am not sure if this is the norm, but I saw at least two doctors accompanying their patients. Maybe for special patients like me..hehe..I would have thought this kind of work a doctor would assign to their nurses.
Woke up during the night because of earthquake tremor. Felt the hotel shook twice. Went back to sleep immediately. Ha..my first tremor experience!
Tuesday 26 July
Went to do CT scan. Got the result. The physician in-charge of CT scan at first did not have the benefit of my previous scan. He did not notice the faint image of the tumor. He at first reported that dementia is setting in based on the dark lines at the sides of my brain...ugh!!!! Dr Jiang later said this is not right. Anyway, after the CT scan physician saw my previous scans, he changed his report. He looked more carefully and noticed that the bigger tumor has remained the same size.
Dr Jiang concurs, but he also cautioned that there may be smaller tumors which may not be visible. He said that my tumors may be stabilised due to the Chinese medicine I am taking.
He recommended that I do brain radiotherapy, and to take a medication 153SM intravaneously. These will be accompanied with Chinese medicine. He also asked me to continue my qiqong practice.
Went back to the hotel. Mdm Wang said a physician will be coming to see another patient at the hotel, and he can make time to see me. Dr Wang is also a prominent physician who speciallised in "external" Chinese medicine. Prof Liang in the meantime has recommeded us to see one Dr Sang.
Dr Wang came to my hotel room to see me. Hej, how many doctors would do this...doing house (hotel) call at a moment's notice! Dr Want looked at my scans and results and said the best person to see me is Dr Sang, who is also recommended by Prof Liang. He called Dr Sang who agreed to come and see me, also at a moment's notice.
Dr Sang is a young physician, I think a year younger than me. He is a specialist in Chinese "internal" and skeleton medicine. He took one look at my April's bone scan and exclaimed my bone metastasis is so extensive. Yup, the scan shows me like a Dalmation; hot spots are all over my skeleton. He said normally a person with such an extensive bone metastasis would be bed-ridden wrecked with pain. He said it's amazing I am still up and about...
He looked at my other scans and said he could not reconcile the images with the person in front of him. He again said I have made tremendous progress to be able to see him today.
He also recommended to do brain radiotherapy to the brain,and concur with Dr Jiang about the bone metastasis. I was expecting both him and Dr Jiang would say Chinese medicine can handle these without radiotherapy or conventional medication..oh well...
Like Dr Jiang and Prof Liang, he also read Dr Yong report about my Chinese medicine treatment in Malaysia. They agreed with the therapy course so far. Dr Sang proceed to write his recommendation for the way forward, with a list of medication. I again made contact with Dr Yong and both of them discussed my case. Dr Sang asked Dr Yong to update him every month or whenever necessary to jointly heal me. He said my medication would need to be adjusted every month based on my condition.
He said my condition is stabilised maybe due to the qiqong and Chinese medication I am on; especially my pain-free bone metastasis. I actually tend to think the Iressa is the one which has arrested the lung tumor, and allowed the complementay medicine is catch up.
By this time, I felt my objective in China is fulfilled. I am looking forward to an early home coming to Malaysia.
Wednesday 27 July
Went to Dr Sang's clinic to get the medication. He invited me to his consultation room where his students are having their practical. Again, I was presented as a unique case, and his students eager lapped up his diagnosis. I distributed my name card which proclaimed me as a cancer patient, and my blog's URL. Dr Sang thanked me for being strong.
Paid for the medication, but the medication need to be prepared, and would only be ready Thursday afternoon 2.30pm. Went to the airline office for an earlier return, but there is no flight on Friday, only on Thursday which is not possible because of the medication. So looks like we still have to return on Saturday.
Thursday 28 July
Rained in the morning. Went to get my medication. Realised why it took some time; there are like 300 paste-like individually wrapped medication. After the clinic, returned to hotel. After a short rest, went to a "Russian" street and an "Indian" street. Quite an interesting area, Heilongjiang borders Russia, and there are a lot of Russian previously.
The Russian street is a short street where Russian goods are sold; clothing, the Russian Masytroka dolls, firearms and other army gadgets. The proprieters are all Chinese. The Indian street is another short street with Indian restaurants. The only Indians we saw are a few Sikhs guarding the entrance.
Found a restaurant which is able to prepare food to suit our palate. The food in Harbin is too salty for our taste.
Friday 29 July
Another day to do some touristic stuff. Had a final good dinner at the restaurant in Russian street.
Saturday 30 July
Homeward bound! Yeaaa...!!!
posted by Hee Boon at 9:39 am
<< Home