Phrompanya received gifts from the hospital

Praying to Buddha, life is still sunny

"I usually get up at 4am and pray to Buddha, beg for alms at 6am, come back for lunch at 12pm and then have some rest in the afternoon or go to the forest for meditation...... After shaving my head, I entered into the temple, following temple rules and praying to Buddha. Every day, there will be eminent monks telling me: life is not relied on lifespan but on its significance." After getting to know that there was on hope lied in cancer treatment in Thailand, I began to devote myself to praying to Buddha with a calm heart and good willingness for good deeds, and I believed that cancer just stood for another kind of lifestyle.

The 49-year-old Phrompanya has been diagnosed with rectal cancer accompanied with multiple metastases on perirectal area, lungs, liver and mesenterium, and cirrhosis as well for more than 1 year. Since his coming to Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou from January to August of 2014, he has been receiving 7 times of chemotherapy. Each treatment would witness obvious tumor shrinkage, which was really reassuring. Now, his adverse symptoms are greatly alleviated."Before admission, I almost needed to go to the toilet every one hour, and I experienced severe bloody stool, diarrhea, rectal tenesmus, thinning stool, bearing-down pain in the rectum, extreme fatigue, poor sleep and sharp weight loss (11kg within half a year). Now, I may just need to go to the toilet twice a day with smooth bowel movement; I restore normal and healthy sleep and diet habits; my weight gradually regains normal. What is more, my therapeutic evaluation is PR (qualified by at least 50% shrinkage of tumor) as always; I am recovering from hair loss…” he said with a warm smile, “I believe it is the care and love from my family as well as from my friends has been supporting me, and they also feel relieved for me.”

Technology was too traditional which made me refuse chemotherapy twice

　“I ran a grocery store in Chiang Mai, but since April of 2013, I felt frequent abdominal discomfort and had to prolong toilet time, and then experienced emergence of bloody blood, so I went to a local hospital for a comprehensive inspection. Both colonoscopy and CT suggested rectal cancer. The doctor advised me to have systemic chemotherapy, as I have seen too many cases having not gained any improvement after 2-3 years of chemotherapy but only got much severe side effects like hair loss, etc., and besides I also consulted with different doctors and gained different explanations, I felt so disappointed that I refused chemotherapy.” Phrompanya recalled from fresh-remained memory.

As the illness aggravated, he gradually sensed the threat of cancer. Due to failure to find appropriate therapies, and with the persuasion of his family, he agreed to receive chemo, however, the day when he came to the hospital for chemotherapy, it was such a coincidence that the chemotherapy equipments suddenly broken. "On September 24, I once again came to the hospital, but the doctor said my rectum cancer had been developed to the fourth stage with liver metastasis, and there was no cure in Thailand. I was so desperate at that time and simply gave up treatment totally and then devoted myself to praying to Buddha.” he said bluntly, but all of us could sense his unwillingness to give up life, his love to his family, etc. “Who would look after my family? Who would protect my wife and children? How mournful for older people burying their child?” he kept thinking. During the temple practice, his senior fellow apprentices and master were constantly looking for private herbal medicine, while his family was also seeking for better treatment therapies. His elder daughter learned from the Internet that Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou had set up a branch office in Thailand, so they went to the office and met Manager Yang Hongbing.

Minimally invasive treatment brought back comfortable life

On January 14, 2014, he came to Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou China. After inspection, CT showed "rectal cancer with multiple metastases on perirectal area, lungs, liver and mesenterium, and liver cirrhosis with ascites." Multidisciplinary expert team of Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou immediately had a joint clinic consultation. Taking into account the patient having chronic hepatitis B and poor liver function, they decided to give anti-virus medicines and liver-care drug first, and then interventional therapy. “After two courses of treatment, his stool frequency dropped to four times a day with gained size like toe, and his weight gained by 4.5kg. CT showed there was 60% tumor shrinkage while multiple pulmonary nodules basically disappeared." Lai Peisheng in charge of Phrompanya’s case told.

A series of signs of improving greatly convinced Phrompanya. “During my first hospitalization, Dr. Lai told me that if without treatment, I may get only 2 months left. Now it has been 7 months during which I have been receiving interventional therapy through which I could feel my body has been restoring quickly. My family is also consent with my improvement. Even my elder daughter promised me that she would build a new house for me to enjoy the rest of my life. All people here could make me confident about the future: doctors and nurses are gender and always ready for you.” he said with great emotion. When we asked him that what he would say when he met other cancer patients who were in great pain, he said: “sickness is nothing when you treat it like nothing; you shall keep the confidence and never give up life and start treatment no matter how severe it is already. If I knew this hospital earlier, I would come here right away. Now my greatest wish is to treat this cancer as soon as possible, so I can go back home and run my grocery business well or spend more time with my friends. This is really a kind of comfortable life." he exclaimed.

*Surgery, in addition to the appropriate chemotherapy and radiotherapy, are effective in treating early cancer, but certain patients in late stage of cancer may not be tolerate surgery well as they can be relatively weak. A combination of carefully planned minimally invasive therapy, chemotherapy or radiotherapy can effectively reduce the side effects and discomfort of treatment and may help patient get better efficacy.