Cancer comes in many forms, categories and stages. It affects different parts or the whole of the body, which subsequently copes in various ways. This creates difficulty in diagnosis, patient treatment planning and expectations. Conventional treatments have come a long way and it is to be hoped these days that there is enough history about the application of these treatments to particular cancers, to predict outcomes.
Treatment may be given for the purpose of cure, life extension and or palliation (to alleviate the symptoms). Managing patient expectations is therefore one of the most important factors in diagnosis and treatment. While the Radiowave Therapy Clinic (RTC) does not provide diagnostics, is has a strong commitment to ensuring patients are well informed and understand the unpredictable nature of the treatment. At the same time, the Clinic is extremely conscious of not undermining the fundamentals of a patient’s belief structure.
Getting diagnosed with cancer is very confronting and for most, a life-changing experience. It is vital that patients understand their disease progression and come to terms with what it is they expect of a treatment. Equally, it is most important that at the time of diagnosis, the patient’s fundamental belief structures and their foundations of hope are not undermined.
No one with cancer should ever be left without hope. All too often, those with cancer arrive at a point where their future is uncertain and they find they have invested their belief structure and control over their lives in their medical advisor. This may be fine if cure is at hand, but clearly, this is not always the case.
It is important for those with cancer to have reviewed all options, compared notes with others, remained informed and to have actually been a part of their treatment decisions, so that they have a sense of control over the treatment undertaken and the expectations from it: cure, remission, palliation, or other.
What is cure? Basically, it is to restore health. One definition is that a person is cured if the majority of the cancer cells are killed or revert to normal cells, and the patient’s immune system is at the point where their body can naturally defend against future bouts of cancer. Generally with cancer the 5-year test is applied. If there is no sign of the disease at the end of that time after treatment, then you could argue the patient is cured.
In theory, if cancer is detected at an early stage it can be cured entirely if the tumour is removed from the body. This may entail removal of the tumour, or the entire organ in which it is located. However for some cancers, such as blood or brain cancer, this is clearly not feasible.
Even when the entire tumour is removed, some cancer may remain in the body. A single cancer cell has the capacity to re-grow into a new tumour, leading to a recurrence of the cancer. For this reason, pathology of the surgical specimen is required to determine if a margin of healthy tissue is present, thus decreasing the chance that microscopic cancer cells are left in the patient.
In addition to the removal of the primary tumour, surgery is often necessary for staging, to determine the extent of the disease and whether it has metastasized to regional lymph nodes. Staging is a major determinant of prognosis and the need for adjuvant therapy.
When the cancer has metastasized to other parts of the body, complete surgical excision of all the tumour sites is often impossible. Further surgery may be given palliatively to control symptoms, compression of organs and obstructions.
The following briefly summarises the conventional approach to cancer treatment starting with the Primary treatment:
What is remission? It is abatement in the intensity or degree of a disease, as evidenced by the disappearing of some or all of the signs and symptoms of the disease, termed a partial, or complete, remission respectively. The disease is under control but cancer cells may still be in the body. The remission can be further classified as temporary or permanent. This then begs the question: What is difference between permanent remission and cure? The 5-year test could possibly apply here. Matters get more complicated when one talks about life extension not to be confused with remission.
Life extension may mean disease control, such as a slowing of its progression and this may be the best aim for some patients, especially those who have had a number of previous treatments.
Palliation can play an important role here. To palliate means to reduce the symptoms of a disease, to ease the severity of a disease or associated pain, without removing the cause.
Dr Holt argues radiowave therapy has its place with most cancers and can cure; can reduce tumours; can stabilise disease progression; can achieve remission; can bring life extension and can be a useful palliation instrument. This may be the case, as there are patients with different forms of cancer who will testify to its efficacy. The Clinic however, can make only the claim that it can provide the treatment that Dr Holt was providing at the time of his retirement – and that it is providing it under medical supervision, with high standards of patient facilities and care.
It has also been argued that radiowave therapy should be considered in certain cases as a first line of treatment because it has no long-term side effects, can be repeated, is non invasive and may work best when there has been no previous patient history of chemotherapy. An example of where this could be a good approach would be where a patient undertook the treatment and their tumour reduced to the point where they could have a more effective outcome from surgery. This would be a great outcome. However, it would have to be the patient’s decision entirely to undertake radiowave therapy in preference to other more conventional treatments. The Clinic can only strongly recommend patients talk with those they trust most and share their thoughts with their medical advisors.
All too often, it seems that the Clinic is treating patients as a last resort measure. It may well be that some people are not getting what they seek from conventional treatments or that the opportunity for their best results have passed. It is quite understandable that in these instances, people become open to other options like radiowave therapy. Radiowave therapy may well be able to help in a way that other treatments have not. Yet the same cautions must apply – the patient must choose the therapy through their own decision-making and have met the conditions of the Clinic to be eligible.
Whatever it is that you are intending to gain from whichever treatment you undertake, it is important to be realistic, have been a part of the decision-making and have sensible expectations.
A last word on this topic; it is better to meet a fair expectation than to never reach a higher one. To this end, there are options for patients. The more one knows about their condition, the better equipped they are to set, govern and meet their own objectives.