FEBRUARY 5 — I tell people I feel blessed to not be diagnosed with cancer in the US.

Right now pauses on federal funding, including grants, in the US has affected student aid, Medicare and of course, cancer research.

Meanwhile in Malaysia I have to deal with my mother sending me WhatsApp messages about cancer-curing cassava.

I think I have finally reached that point where I need to tell my mother to stop sending me supplements and forwarding me various hokey cures because misinformation is a dangerous thing, especially to public health.

Here’s what I think everyone should know about cancer and what they need to explain to well-meaning loved ones asking them if they need more soursop leaves.

1. Cancer isn’t a single disease and thus does not have one single, magic cure

The various misinformation peddlers keep screaming about how Big Pharma is refusing to share the cure for cancer and that it wants us sick.

In truth cancer is an entire umbrella of diseases, with differing causes resulting in the need for different cures.

It was mind blowing for me to find out there isn’t even one single type of breast cancer, and that you could have cancer in both breasts, of different types.

You cannot cure pancreatic cancer with the same drugs you use for lung cancer.

Treatment plans will also differ widely, depending not just on the kind of cancer but its stage as well as the patient.

As I’m considered “young” (my doctors keep saying that, probably due to the majority of their patients being senior citizens) I am being prescribed as much radiation treatment as possible just because I can endure it.

I do not look forward to being baked like a potato daily for more than a month but I am hoping my doctors know best.

2. So-called natural supplements might harm instead of heal you

One thing that has been sold to us as healthy really isn’t.

That thing is juice.

Fruit juice is concentrated sugar and drinking a lot of it might increase your diabetes risk more than anything.

Eat an orange. Peel an apple. Drink juice when you feel like it but don’t delude yourself into thinking it’s healthier than a can of soda.

Supposedly natural supplements, whether mushrooms, root or leaf extracts and the like could be dangerous especially if you do not know what went into the preparation of said pills.

There are too many random pills being sold on the market, with no safety guarantees and dig around enough and you’ll find reports of dangerous amounts of cyanide and arsenic in traditional medicines.

Green tea extract is also found in many weight loss products but studies have shown that it can cause severe harm to the liver.

Stick to drinking green tea when you feel like it, just don’t believe that concentrated amounts of it is safe.

3. Your doctors want you to live

It’s sad to see on Reddit and social media people asking if they could somehow skip chemo or other treatments they are prescribed by their doctors.

With so many unqualified pseudo health experts promoting so-called magic cures such as ivermectin (no, it will not cure your cancer) on podcasts, people are desperate for supposedly less toxic panaceas for cancer.

What I want you to remember is this — your doctors want you to live.

They do not benefit from hurting you and they do not get paid extra by Big Pharma to pump you full of “poison” as the woo-woo peddlers call lifesaving treatments such as chemotherapy and hormone blockers.

Cancer cells are also human cells.

They are not parasites or foreign bodies but cells that have gone haywire, thus requiring their removal or eradication via other means.

To target cancer cells, your other cells will also get in the line of fire, which is unfortunate but that is why you are given other medicines and protections to keep your body strong.

Decades of cancer research have produced better outcomes and cancer diagnoses are no longer the death sentences they used to be.

Many children now survive getting cancer as children, as do many adults, young and old.

Breast cancer is one of the most researched in the world and thanks to that has become more survivable than ever, which is a good thing because one in four women will get cancer in their lifetimes.

Update on my own cancer: I saw a surgeon on Tuesday and it was an over four-hour wait but fortunately I had snacks to distract me.

The good news is that I will likely avoid major surgery and instead have just a lumpectomy and lymph node removal, which is a relief as in the beginning I thought a mastectomy was my only option.

It helps that my cancer is not overly complex with just one lump and a few involved lymph nodes.

Here’s a quick summary of how the appointment went down:

  • 7.30am: Arrive at the specialist building, head to the second floor via lift (there is a long line already in the lift lobby)
  • 7.40am: Drop my appointment form in the box for 9am appointments
  • 7.50am: My name is called and I am given my number for the day
  • 7.51am-11.20am: Sit in the waiting area snacking, staring out into space because I had a stomach upset the night before and barely slept
  • 11.20am: Get called into the doctor’s office where I get a breast exam and then told my surgical treatment plan
  • 11.40am: Wait for a Grab to go home

It sounds very tiring to take half a day for a consultation that takes barely 10 minutes with another few minutes being dedicated to waiting for my medical leave chit.

That’s the reality of the public hospital experience so don’t forget to ask for your medical leave slip if you don’t want to use up your annual leave days.

I felt a lot better at the end of it all because my bill for the day was exactly RM0.

Yes, the first consultation with a surgeon will cost you nothing unlike in private hospitals where it can range from RM150-500 for the first consultation or RM80 at University Malaya Medical Centre.

The public hospital experience isn’t ideal but at the very least you won’t hurt your wallet much in the process so my advice to anyone getting surgery is to find ways to kill time or ease the discomfort.

I saw people working on laptops, with another woman next to me playing multiple rounds of Solitaire on her phone but my heart goes out to the woman with two small children who were clearly upset about being there.

Yes, small children, I too did not want to be there.

At the moment I tire more easily and my heart rate keeps spiking, likely due to my red blood cells plummeting and causing my heart to work a lot harder to keep me alive.

I try not to think too hard about the fact that one in four people on my upcoming Herceptin regimen develop heart issues.

Feel free to send me a Ko-fi as I still have surgery to pay for in the coming months once my Perjeta is done and another 13 rounds of Herceptin to endure and pay for.

It is still the beginning for me on this cancer journey and so many more Cancer Diaries to write.

I think it is fitting at this juncture to mull JRR Tolkien’s The Road Goes Ever On from the first book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the road is long and at the very least, it won’t be boring.

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.