Just wondered if anybody had any experience of Cancer Treatment in the Philippines.
I'm currently on 2 weeks leave from work and had planned to take my wife away when we received a phone call from the Philippines to say that my Nanay had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer which knocked us for six. She's not been well for a while and unfortunately tends to rely more on the power of prayer for recovery rather than the power of medicine despite the fact there is money available should it be needed. Tatay was taken ill last year and we sent more money on top of the monthly allowance for his treatment.He subsequently made a full recovery and I remember lecturing him that health comes before money and they should always phone if there was any problems.
Anyway seemingly Nanay has not been well for some time and has recently been losing quite a bit of weight which set alarm bells ringing for us and has left us in this current situation. Although we've already bought tickets to go in November, I bought a ticket for Mary Grace to fly over immediately as she was naturally very upset. Apparently Nanay has recovered some of her appetite since my wife arrived but she's still quite weak.
I gather from my wife that the current situation is that they intend doing another biopsy and they are talking about the possibility of Chemotherapy although my wife told me today that Nanay is upset and doesn't wish to have the Chemo.
This has come as a real body blow to us as she's only 60 and I was wondering has anybody else had any sort of experience in dealing with cancer in the Philippines. I've read up on stage 4 online and whilst it's not generally good reading there are some cases where people have at least gone on for a few more years. Is this possible with the treatment available in the Philippines ?