Cancer tales: Myths about chemotherapy

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Yet another day in the cancer unit.

So I had a patient who came in with shortness of breath and required oxygen. We commenced oxygen and she became fine.

She didn't have any form of pleural effusion. She had a lung disease from the spread of the breast cancer

So let's go back to the past

She noticed a swelling in her breast about 5 years ago and surgery was done to remove the lump.

The lump was sent for tissue histology.

Tissue histology refers to the examination of tissue to determine if it is cancer or not.

Unfortunately, the histology came out and it was malignant meaning it was cancerous.

We told her that it was cancer and she needs to start chemotherapy.

At this time, her cancer was in its earliest stage. She had a localized tumour. It had not metastasized to any part of the body.

She absconded.

5 years later she presented with a persistent cough. She went to a clinic and they thought she had Tuberculosis. They kept on treating her till she couldn't breathe without support.

Then she was brought to UCH.

After we stabilized her, my senior colleague spoke to her and told her that we need to give her 6 courses of chemotherapy.

Her reply was the most shocking thing I have heard in a long time.

She said, "my spirit doesn't go with chemotherapy".

I was then instructed to counsel her husband and daughter.

I wanted to understand the origin behind her resolution.

After much prying, her husband said what they heard from testimonies in the church was one of the major reasons they didn't do anything.

Then secondly, they know 3 people who didn't survive chemotherapy treatment.

So I went on to ask them how long is a testimony session in their church?

He said 5 minutes.

I went on to ask him if he thinks five minutes is enough information to guide you about your health.

I also asked him about the people who claimed to have died as a result of chemotherapy treatment.

I asked him how much information he had.

I finally discovered they had a lot of preformed ideas.

Anyways, he and his wife have agreed to have chemo but I feel it's too late.

This is more like palliative chemotherapy.

What then is the point of all these stories?

1. The first miracle or testimony when it comes to cancer is discovering it early.
2. One of the modalities of treatment for cancer is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy stands at the forefront of management in countries like Nigeria where we do not have a lot of Radiotherapy centres.
3. Chemotherapeutic drugs are drugs that attack cells at different points of the cell cycle. Remember the cell cycle in biology
4. Chemotherapy drugs are not just given anyhow. You have to be fit before you are given the drug. A Series of tests are run to check your fitness levels before it is commenced.
5. It is always best to do something about cancer when it is discovered. If you don't do anything about cancer, it is going to do something to you.
6. Any cough in a patient with breast cancer should be properly investigated. I will always advise that you see your oncologist once you have a cough.

Thank you for reading another tale of cancer from me.

The first miracle is discovering the disease early.