My journey............part 4.

Ivy, Dr. Yuen's primary nurse at Credit Valley hospital, called me regarding my request for referral to Princess Margaret cancer centre for prostate FLA (Focal Laser Ablation) clinical trial. She told me that the doctor in charge of the FLA clinical trial was no longer there, so I was referred to Dr. Chung who is also doing prostate clinical trial therapy at Princess Margaret cancer centre.

I consulted one more time with Dr. Mohseni; he had no objection of the clinical trail.

On Friday, November 24, we went to see and consult with Dr. Peter Chung, a radiation oncologist, at Princess Margaret cancer centre in Toronto. The clinical trial that Dr. Chung is doing is called "MRI-Guided HDR (High Dose Radiation) Brachytherapy for Prostate Cancer." which is also sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH) in USA.
Brachytherapy is one of the standard care therapies for prostate cancer. This study, use MRI to guide the Brachytherapy treatment with the hope that it will reduce the side effects as compared to the standard Brachytherapy.

Dr. Chung explained the whole process of this clinical trial. He said that the aim is cure, which means totally kill all the cancer cells inside the prostate gland. Bernadeth, the nurse coordinator for this clinical trail explained all the steps involved. Which include inserting a gel and position it between the rectum and the prostate gland to protect the rectum from radiation.

During the consultation, I mentioned the FLA (Focal Laser Ablation) clinical trial. Dr, Chung said that he was not sure about the status of that study, but he could try to refer me for that study if that is what I wanted.
I told Dr. Chung and Bernadeth that I need more time to think about participating in this study and that the earliest I could start is in February 2018. They told me to take my time, read the consent forms and feel free to ask questions.

Decision, decision, decision......really not easy to make with so many options and none of them perfect.
After several days of deliberating and praying for guidance, I decided to go ahead with Dr. Chung MRI Guided HDR Brachytherapy clinical trail.

I called Bernadeth and asked her to set me up for the clinical trail in the summer.
June 13 and 20 are my first two appointments at Princess Margaret cancer centre for preparation for my Brachytherapy.
After making this decision I became more at ease with myself.

When I was first diagnosed with cancer, after the MRI confirmed that there were 3 tumours, I did not want to share it with anybody except my close family. This is to avoid getting more confused and stressed by well meaning 'advise' from various sources. I did not like to talk about my cancer either because most of the time people will compare it with others and confused the facts, also they might feel sorry for me; this irritated me.
Now I am more open to it. I feel comfortable sharing with other cancer patients; we do this at Wellspring. I have done my researched, read many books, searched the Internet, consulted health care experts. The prognosis of my cancer is very good. I am confident with the treatment choice I made.

This journey with cancer has been an eye opener for me. More so compared to the previous self imposed challenges, journeys, like cycling solo around lake Ontario. I considered this one a blessing in disguise, because this journey has made me a better, happier person and brought me closer to God.

In the mean time I continue to participate in The Healing Journey program that is offered by Wellspring. This program teaches to use the mind to heal the body. The founder of this program is Dr. Alastair Cunningham and our program leader is Rachel Kampf. Currently, I am completing level 2 and have registered for level 3 of this Healing Journey program.


Brampton, March 3 2018.