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CANCER OF THE LYMPH SYSTEM
Case Histories Include
Hodgkin’s Disease
Patients with
Hodgkin’s Disease who do not use Laetrile
but choose orthodox therapy instead have a
better statistical chance of long-term
survival than those with most forms of
cancer. This is because, as a rule, it does
not progress rapidly. One person in five,
however, will die as a result of the
side-effects of radiation or chemotherapy
(1). (Typical causes of death are pneumonia,
blood poisoning, tuberculosis, or fungus
infections.) It is important to note also
that Hodgkin’s Disease patients who accept
radiation and chemotherapy develop cancer at
secondary sites at a rate twenty-nine times
greater than those who accept no treatment
at all( 2). The use of Laetrile and
metabolic therapy does not include such
risks. These facts should be kept in mind
when reading the following case histories.
*(1)Ultmann,
ci at.: "The Clinical Picture of Hodgkin’s
Disease," Cancer Research, 26:1047, 1966.
(2) Arseneau,
ci al.: "Recently Recognized Complications
of Cancer Chemotherapy" Annals of the New
York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 230, op. cii.,
pp. 483, 484.
J154LT: Nodular Sclerosing
Hodgkin’s
Disease, Stage IV-B
Just prior to
her sixteenth birthday the once active,
alert teenage girl was diagnosed as having
Hodgkin’s Disease.
In March,
1974, a lymph node in her neck was biopsied
at a hospital near her Coeur D’Alene, Idaho,
home. The results of that biopsy began a
nightmare for this young lady.
Her spleen was
removed in April, 1974, and the girl’s
parents were advised that she would have to
have approximately one month of daily cobalt
treatments as soon as she recovered from the
surgery. These were administered from
mid-April to mid-May, 1974. Later, the
parents and Miss J. were told she would have
to have chemotherapy consisting of nitrogen
mustard (1) plus Matulane and Prednisone.
This was administered from late-August
through late-September, 1974.
(1) It should
be noted that it is against the Geneva
Convention to use nitrogen mustard against
an enemy in war.
Blood platelet
count during the period of chemotherapy
ranged from 815,000 to 165,000 (lab normals,
140-440 mil.). Her white blood count varied
from 17,300 (which coincided with a lung
X-ray change indicating probable
inflammation on September 9, 1974) down to
5,500 on September 2, 1974 (lab normals,
4-10,000 min).
The Idaho
hospital sent ten of this patient’s
pathology slides to Stanford University
Medical Center in Los Altos, California, on
July 5, 1974, with a request that the
university evaluate them. The Idaho hospital
identified her as having "Hodgkin’s Disease
involving the mediastinum, spleen, and intra
abdominal lymph nodes with subsequent
development of sixth nerve palsy ... and a
recent left posterior iliac crest needle
biopsy contains a disturbing lesion."
Stanford’s dliagnosis based on the slides
was:
1. left
cervical (neck) mass, biopsy—consistent
with Hodgkin’s
disease, nodular sclerosing type.
2. Spleen,
splenectomy—nodular sclerosing Hodgkin’s
disease.
3. Bone
marrow, iliac crest, needle biopsy— focal
involvement by Hodgkin’s disease. (1)
(1) In
Hodgkin’s Disease, Stage IV means the
disease has extended to the bone marrow,
lung, pleura, skin, gastrointestinal tract,
liver or other non-lymph tissue. The
designation "B" means the patient has fever,
night sweats, and/or itching.
The
technicality of all these data does not tell
us what this sixteen-year-old girl was going
through as a result of her diagnosis and the
best efforts of her doctors to save her
life.
The following
description of what Miss I. went through is
taken from a letter her father wrote to his
company’s insurance carrier. First he
describes her orthodox treatment as he saw
it:
Radiation
treatments were to start as soon as she had
recovered from her splenectomy. During this
time, the size of the swelling on her neck
increased four to five times, as if it were
angry from being disturbed.
Radiation
therapy, which did reduce the swelling,
brought on nausea and loss of appetite. By
the time the twenty-six treatments were
complete she weighed 105 pounds.
Our daughter
had chills and fever and she was burned on
her neck and under her arms.
Many nights
her bed and nightgown were sopping wet and
had to be changed three or four times.
Sometimes within a period of twenty minutes
the sweats would change to chills so bad her
teeth would chatter.
My wife and I
would attempt to relieve the chilling by
heating blankets in the dryer and many
nights the blankets were changed every five
or ten minutes for a period of an hour. The
doctor recommended aspirin to relieve her
fevers.
During this
same time our daughter would have leg aches
so bad she would sit doubled up with tears
in her eyes. The doctor stated the leg aches
were from the fevers and to take aspirin for
relief.
Following the
radiation during a rest period from
treatment she began to see double when she
looked straight ahead and she lost the
ability to look to the left out of her left
eye. The doctor was called for an eye exam
and our daughter was told her sight would
never return to normal. She went to a
neurologist who ran many tests including a
brain wave and spinal tap. No specific cause
of the eye problem was suggested to us.
During this
time she continued to grow weaker and had no
appetite whatsoever despite the fact that
the radiation treatments were finished. She
continued to have chills and fever, and leg
aches. She lost hair on the back of her
head.
Because her
bone marrow tests were positive she was
scheduled for chemotherapy.
One of the
drugs created an acute ugly acne condition
on her face. We were told this usually
happened.
For thirty
minutes before the nitrogen mustard
injections and for fifteen minutes afterward
her head was packed in ice to reduce the
chance of hair loss. Five minutes prior to
the injection a small rubber tube was fixed
tightly around her head to reduce the blood
circulation.
The injections
also killed good blood cells and caused the
walls of the veins to deteriorate which made
it very difficult to obtain the required
daily blood samples. The blood vessels in
our daughter’s arm were turning brown. The
doctor advised us they were dead, but not to
worry; there were plenty of veins to take
care of the circulation.
During the
"rest period" of the first chemotherapy
cycle (between the 4th and 28th day) she
began to develop a dry hacking cough. X-rays
showed cloudy areas in the lungs and the
doctor could not determine whether they were
caused from cobalt or cancer without doing
exploratory surgery, which we would not
allow. Lee had already suffered so much.
The hacking
cough continued to worsen during and after
completion of the second chemotherapy cycle.
By the time we made the decision to go to
the Richardson Clinic, the cough was
constant except for occasional no coughing
periods of no longer than three minutes.
By the end of
the second chemotherapy cycle Lee had fevers
of 104 degrees and more chills and severe
leg cramps. She was taking aspirin every
four hours day and night. She was very weak,
had no appetite and would only drink one
glass of water all day.
From the
beginning of the fall term of school in late
August, 1974, until November 4, 1974, she
was able to attend school only three days.
She was so
weak she was seldom up more than four hours
a day. She went only to the doctor’s office
and then back home to her bedroom to lie
down.
Her mother and
I felt our daughter’s life was being
poisoned away by the toxicity of the
chemicals and the burning of the radiation.
This is the
background against which the decision to
seek metabolic therapy was made. This
teenager came to the Richardson Clinic and
began treatment October 2, 1974. She was
practically carried into the clinic by her
parents because she was so weak she could
hardly walk.
Miss J's
father continues to explain to the insurance
carrier, in a letter dated April 16, 1975,
what happened following the change in
treatment modalities:
Six days after
beginning metabolic therapy the cough was
gone, and only returned temporarily during a
winter cold.
A calcium shot
was given her which immediately relieved her
leg aches.
Upon returning
home after the initial twenty injections,
Lee began attending school. By this time she
no longer had the high fevers, chills, leg
aches, or continuous coughs. Her appetite
increased.
In January,
1975, she returned to Albany, California,
for a check-up. She had gained eleven
pounds, still had a good appetite, and still
no fever, chills, etc.
During the
winter semester she only missed twelve and
one-half days of school, five of which she
was home with Herpes, three days she went to
the doctor’s office in California, two days
she had the flu, and two days she had an ear
infection
At this
writing she continues to gain strength, is
generally feeling well, goes out with her
boyfriend, and has signed up for a night
class which meets for three hours twice a
week.
The letter was
written in hope that insurance company was
willing to pay for the metabolic therapy
which was costing about half as much as the
previous cobalt and chemotherapy treatments.
(The surgeries and diagnostic studies were
not included in that financial summary. If
they had been, the cost difference would
have been even greater.) Sadly, the
insurance
company would have gladly paid for
additional chemotherapy at twice the price,
but it would not pay one cent for metabolic
therapy.
Miss J. now
works part time and continues her schooling.
It has been more than two years since she
abandoned orthodox therapy in favor of
metabolic therapy, and she continues to lead
a symptom-free and active life of a normal
healthy teenager.
K112MJ: Hodgkin’s Disease, Stage II-B
This
twenty-six-year old woman was pregnant at
the time she first began to feel that there
was a lump in the back of her throat.
Diagnostic X-rays were postponed until after
delivery in mid-October, 1975. X-rays and a
biopsy of the largest lymph node on the
patient’s neck confirmed the diagnosis of
Hodgkin’s Disease, probable clinical Stage
II-B. (1)
(1) In
Hodgkin’s Disease, Stage U means the disease
Involves more than two areas but is confined
to one side of the diaphragm only. The
designation "B" means the patient has fever,
night sweats, and/or itching.
Reports from
the University Hospital, University of
Washington, Seattle, Washington, read in pan
as follows:
Chest X-rays,
November 4, 1975
Impression:
Large anterior mediastinal and retrosternal
lymph nodes compatible with lymphoma.
Pathology Report, November 6, 1975
Specimen:
Supraclavicular node biopsy
Diagnosis:
Hodgkin’s disease, nodular sclerosing type
(cellular phase).
Liver Scan,
November 10, 1975
Impression:
Normal liver and spleen scan. Bone Marrow
Report, November 10, 1975
impression: No
evidence of involvement of the bone marrow.
Lymphangiogram,
November 12, 1975
Conclusion:
Normal pedal lymphangiogram without evidence
of abdominal Hodgkin’s disease.
Exploratory
surgery to determine the extent of
involvement was strongly recommended, but
the patient refused for religious reasons.
The patient
was considering accepting the recommended
radiation and chemotherapy when she heard
about metabolic therapy and Laetrile. She
first came to the Richardson Clinic on
January 8, 1976.
In her words:
It seemed to
make so much sense, and after much prayer we
decided to make an appointment with Dr.
Richardson. It was a little "scary" for the
first couple of days [because they weren’t
following their local doctors
recommendations], but our confidence was
boosted after several days of sitting in the
waiting room talking to the different ones
that had really been helped with vitamin
therapy. After three weeks of my treatments,
I was convinced.
The patient
stated that her local doctor is pleased with
her apparent improvement, for there has been
a reduction in the size of the lymph nodes.
The patient
states she still gets tired and tries to
take naps, but she is continuing to stay on
the diet and vitamins, and her condition is
responding favorably as of our last contact.
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