Laurie fights for his brother’s colon cancer

Dolf prompted me to write this letter and we hope in doing so, my story will reach many who are going through battles with cancers in their lives.

Hi, my name is Laurie and this is a story about my big brother who is fighting colon cancer at this stage in his life. We’ve been living separately and independently in Taiwan for quite a long time since we are both adults and know how to care for ourselves. From time to time, when our mom visits us from the Philippines, we will arrange to see each other. Sometimes if I have  a new movie from the internet, he would come to my house and we would watch it together.

Last November 2010, when mom and my younger brother visited me, my big brother came to see them as well. He complained about his difficult bowel movement and some abdominal pain with a thin sized-stool which isn’t normal because it’s always been regular-sized (this given the fact that he’s a meat eater since childhood).

He went to see a doctor sometime in February 2011 due to his busy work schedule where he was given some laxative medication. The doctor also asked him for a 3 day fast for a colonoscopy. I was with him when he had his colonoscopy and we were thinking maybe “polyps” was the case for the bowel obstruction. Perhaps the doctor could perform minor surgery by cutting the polyps off during the process. The doctor instead asked to talk to me. I felt coldness in me as I slowly discovered that my big brother had a tumor in his colons.  

Since he was still waking from his sedation, I slowly told him the news and he absorbed it quite openly. We decided to have this surgery performed in Taipei because the government here does a wonderful job in insuring its citizens, as most medical assistance and expenses are shouldered by a single, national health card.

My life changed abruptly. Work and hospital was now my new routine. Fortunately, my younger brother was there to coordinate with me as we waited for his surgery day. The longest day of my life happened during the operation after which the doctor asked me to look at the removed sigmoid part of his colon but I declined. His appendix was taken off as well because from the doctor’s past experience, a lot of patients complain about the inflammation of the appendix which creates complications and we were glad we made the right decision.

We waited about a week on the decision for chemotherapy as they found 2 tiny cancer cells on the lymph nodes. He is scheduled to get his first chemotherapy on April 11, 2011 and we asked about the side-effects and the procedures. The doctor teased him that a 70 yr old patient had less to complain about compared to him. Anyway, the side-effects might be shaky hands that will last for 3 years and the procedure will be around his collar bone where an artificial vein will be inserted for the transfusion of the chemo meds ( oxiplatin added with 5FU). In preparation to this upcoming battle, I instructed my brother to drink barley grass in the morning and veggies extract around 10am. He is independently doing this routine in the morning and some molasses with lemon of about 30cc. with water. He’s very positive about this and that’s why when the doctor saw him again, he said to him that he doesn’t look sick at all. I guess if he keeps a positive energy at home, this will help him to live normally and will also help him prepare to fight this battle. This is what I can share for now.