So here is the wisdom of life change for cancer patients suggested by Dr. Zhang:
Although there are at least a dozen reasons that could cause cancer, Dr. Zhang believes the combination of several factors could be responsible for cancer growth whereas stress could be the No. 1trigger. Prolonged stressful situation can destroy people’s immune system and cause a lot health issues, not only cancer but also some other severe issues including cardiovascular issue.
How to handle stressors is a very important topic for everybody. TCM can treat many stress-related issues but eliminating the stress trigger is of most importance. Slowly, as the patient becomes calmer, then the key problems of health are solved which is one of the important methods and reasons for their survival.
How to handle stress
Human bodies take a break during the sleep and try to fix any problems happened during the day time. Enough sleep is very important to everybody but it seems a big issue for people nowadays. A lot people suffer from insomnia and may need medical attention for this. TCM can help patients with their insomnia and allow the body to heal.
A healthy diet is important to everybody as the food we eat right now is completely different than what our parents had 30 years ago even under the same name. Please see Dietary Suggestions section for more information.
Adopt a healthier diet and get enough sleep
The battle with cancer could be a long and tough journey, full of tears and hopefully a little bit smile. To survive in this journey, every cancer patient needs strong support from somebody around. It could be the spouse, closest friends or young kids. In short: find the hope to make yourself survive rather than giving up.
Find support from your life
Thus far surgery is still the No. 1 general and reliable treatment to get rid of any cancerous tissues in human bodies. If any surgeon offers a surgery to remove your cancerous tissues, do it tonight rather than tomorrow. However, after the surgery, cancer patient’s life style has to change in order to get rid of patient’s environment that raised cancer already. If the environment is still there, cancer will come back sooner or later.
The first gastric cancer patient in this section was not told to change anything in his life after the surgery. Just imagine after the stomach was removed completely he still ate like an average American with full menu of hard-to-digest food. If this patient had received guidance and changed his diet to small, easily digestible meals 6 - 8 times a day or even adopted some natural methods to improve his immune system (Original Yang in TCM), would his cancer have come back in 6 months?
There are a certain percentage of cancer patients that do not have any opportunities to get surgery because of metastasis. This kind patients are usually offered chemo/radiotherapy. It is very common that patients suffer from severe side effect from chemo/radiotherapy due to the fact that chemo/radio therapy agents could kill normal cells in human body. Under this kind circumstance, how to improve cancer patient’s immune system or Original Yang is so important. For example, the third cancer patient actively tried methods to treat herself after she was told that only 2 years left in 2008. She tried some natural healing methods including moxibustion and Qi Gong on herself, so her first recurrence came 3 and half years later and she ultimately had 10 more year’s life since 2008 which is nothing short of a miracle.
How to collaborate with medical professionals
The 3 policies Dr. Zhang suggests about how to collaborate with medical professionals:
Policy No.1
If any surgery is offered, do it ASAP, but after surgery, try to improve the Original Yang to prevent recurrence.
Policy No. 2
During chemo/radiotherapy, try to improve Original Yang to make sure the chemo/radio therapy could go smoothly as scheduled.
Policy No. 3
If surgery and radio/chemotherapy all fail, improvement of Original Yang is still important for all cancer patients, hopefully the cancer patient’s life quality will improve, a longer life span will be reached and a delicate balance between Original Yang and external pathogen can exist.
Dr. Zhang has met many cancer patients and survivors since 2010, not only as a patient but also as a healthcare provider, both in the hospitals where he was a patient and in his own clinic. He has found that majority of cancer patients can be categorized into three groups, each represented by a typical case described in details below.
A 75 year old gentlemen was diagnosed with gastric signet ring cell carcinoma. A gastrectomy was performed and PET scan showed he was cancer free after the surgery. Unfortunately, the cancer came back after 6 months. We suspect this was largely due to the lack of change in his daily life. He passed away in a month during the first recurrence.
A 70 year old gentlemen was diagnosed with terminal stage lung cancer in a routine check even though he felt completely normal. He talked to people around with medical background, trying to search for answers. In about a week he was admitted into a famous cancer institute and started his treatment. In two weeks, he died from lung infection contracted in the hospital, not lung cancer.
a 41 year old female was diagnosed with terminal stage adenocarcinoma in a routine check in 2008. The upper and middle lobes of her right lung along with some lymph nodes were removed. Her oncologists estimated that she had roughly 2 years left. However, she successfully survived in three recurrences before she passed away in 2018. The first recurrence in 2012: metastasis in left cerebellum. A craniotomy was done and the tumor was removed. The second recurrence in 2013: positive Lymph nodes in the hilum of left lung were treated by radiotherapy. The third recurrence in 2017: multi lymph nodes and sacrum metastasis.
About 30 to 40 percent of the cancer patients fall into the first category. As soon as they learn of their cancer diagnosis, they are mentally as well as physically depressed. They die soon after because of fear more than cancer. Additionally, removal of tumor alone, if not combined with the change of patient’s environment that gives rise to cancer in the first place, does not reduce the chance of recurrence.
The second category represents patients who are over treated. The result is that their immune system is so undermined by the powerful chemo/radiotherapy that they die of some other diseases rather than cancer itself. Improvement of Original Yang is very critical for cancer patients to go through chemo/radiotherapy smoothly as scheduled because chemo/radiotherapy kills not only cancer cells but also healthy cells.
The third category, unfortunately, is not a very big percentage. These patients have the wisdom, the attitude toward life, the mental toughness and the grateful mindset that help them survive for a longer period of time. Instead of giving in, they refuse to let the disease define them. They make every single effort to lead a happy, fulfilling and meaningful life. Although the disease has changed their lives, it also gives them a fresh perspective on life in general and relationships in particular.
When first diagnosed with cancer, a lot patients simply can't accept their diagnosis. They think it’s unfair since they haven’t done anything wrong. People in the third category, however, tend not to blame others. They view it as another roadblock that life has thrown them in and they are determined to stand up to the challenge. They care about their families and people around them and they are surrounded by love in return. Their strong will to survive and their support network make them respond positively to cancer treatment therapies and rehabilitation process.