It was by a mere coincidence a young life was saved and that prompted me to write this book.
I have been in medical practice for more than 46 years. I have devoted myself in cancer research mainly on cancer of the digestive system for 40 years and have been focusing on cancer treatment with my colleagues for the last 10 years. I have experienced successes as well as failures; there were occasions of joy, regret and agony.
There are more than a hundred kinds of cancer and they are unpredictable. From my experience as a doctor, I find that to treat cancer, doctors should maintain good communication with their patients, understand the thoughts and thinking of patients. Patients should likewise understand their doctors.
I have always wanted to tell my patients that as a doctor, will take into consideration in coming up with a treatment plan, in carrying out treatment and post-treatment analysis. Based on outcomes of the treatment, I would try to analyze what I did right, what I did wrongly and what lessons I could learn from it.
I failed to write this book for a long time, not because I did not have the time but because I was perturbed whether I should write a book on cancer and their treatment. I was not trained as an oncologist but rather as a gastroenterologist. I started to do research into cancer related to the digestive system since the late 1970s. This included liver cancer, gastric cancer, and pancreatic cancer. I also have some clinical experience in treating these cancer cases. However I was hesitant to write a book on cancer. I was held back by a nagging question as to what others would think of me, a gastroenterologist, writing a book on cancer.
However, I cannot dismiss the fact that I am a doctor who was once a cancer patient myself suffering from liver cancer aka the “king of cancer”. As a cancer patient I had put in a lot of efforts to find the best way to conquer cancer for my own survival and I had gone through moments of agony and joy, and finally had a preliminary triumph over the “king of cancer”. I am a doctor who has been doing research on cancer for decades, and one who is the president of a cancer hospital. As such I am a “4-in-1”: doctor, patient, researcher and head of a cancer hospital. I believe there are very few people who are in the same position as I. I always jokingly ask my patients to “follow me”; sometimes they would answer in a confident tone, “I will follow you!” I believe that there is no better way than writing a book to let cancer patients understand the thoughts, thinking and experiences of the doctors who are treating them.
On 19th December 2009, I came across an incident that greatly inspired me and made me even more determined to write a book on cancer.
For the next two months, my colleagues and I were involved in saving the life of a young lady, aged 28. After a battle of life and death, a life was saved and our skill and knowledge on cancer treatment were enhanced. This unexpected fight on cancer made me realize what doctors are and what it means by doctors with “parental love” for their patients. It also gave me the courage to write this book and to share it with all cancer patients and those who are concerned about cancer.