Grace Gawler Interviews Dr Bruce Whelan a specialist GP who has been in Practice for 45 years. A previous guest on the show, episode titled ‘Spinning Gold from Straw: How trauma transformed a Doctor’s Life and Practice’; today I will be asking him about his role as a GP. ersonal involvement with the Bali bombings in 2002 made an impact of his life & practice leading to his interest in psychiatry. His special areas of interest are general psychiatry, drug addiction medicine, pain management & issues related to cancer medicine.
Navigating the Cancer Maze – with Grace Gawler:
How to Navigate the Cancer Maze with the Help of your General Practitioner—Cancer Practice & Emotional Support
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Dr Bruce Whelan is a specialist GP who has been in Practice for 45 years. A previous guest on the show, episode titled ‘Spinning Gold from Straw: How trauma transformed a Doctor’s Life and Practice’; today I will be asking him about his role as a GP. The role of the GP is ever-changing; once the family doctor who made house calls and knew the names of all of a patient’s family members, the role of the GP has morphed into rapid delivery medicine with time constraints. However, there is a new and emerging role for GP’s in cancer and supportive Care medicine. The need is great for patients and families and a new model of care is timely. A graduate of the University of Queensland School of Medicine-1967, Dr Bruce Whelan has been in general practice since 1971.
He also specializes in pain management, so I will be specifically asking him about pain management in cancer medicine.
BIO DR Bruce Whelan – Specialist GP
Dr Bruce Whelan has been in general practice since 1971. He has worked in challenging rural Australia practice environments including indigenous health.
With 45 years experience, his ethic is treating the whole person using the best of modern psychology & general psychiatry in combination with the best of modern medicine. Personal involvement with the Bali bombings in 2002 made an impact of his life & practice leading to his interest in psychiatry. His special areas of interest are general psychiatry, drug addiction medicine, pain management & issues related to cancer medicine.
He has been involved with teaching medical students at Bond & Griffith Medical Schools Gold Coast Australia. He has a deeply inquiring mind, sharp differential diagnosis skills, & his experience as a GP who understands his patients’ grief and trauma is invaluable. He lives on a yacht, loves fishing, oil painting, classical music & life!
In the Australian Media this week, Medical Reporter Julia Medew writes: A 55-year-old man recently presented to a Brisbane hospital with a black hole in his temple after applying an unproven alternative medicine known as “black salve” to a lesion on his face, which he believed was cancerous. I discussed this media piece and so called remedy in my last segment of Navigating the Cancer Maze on Voice America today.
Holistic or Hole-istic? – Naturopathic Medicine was Never Meant to do This!
In the Australian Media this week, Medical Reporter Julia Medew writes: A 55-year-old man recently presented to a Brisbane hospital with a black hole in his temple after applying an unproven alternative medicine known as “black salve” to a lesion on his face, which he believed was cancerous. I discussed this media piece and so called remedy in my last segment of Navigating the Cancer Maze on Voice America today.
Results of Using Black Salve
Writing in the Medical Journal of Australia, doctors from the Princess Alexandra Hospital said the man had been applying the unlicensed product, which is sold online as an alternative skin cancer treatment, to his face for four months.
The doctors, Natalie Ong, Eric Sham and Brandon Adams, said black salve preparations often contained an alkaloid derived from bloodroot and zinc chloride which could both eat away at tissue, leading to significant scarring and disfigurement. “In the absence of a biopsy, some patients may commence alternative treatment before attaining a diagnosis of skin cancer, and a very real risk of recurrence and metastasis (cancer spreading) remains….
Having worked with cancer patients for most of my naturopathic life; I am well aware of the nature of cancer and the inherent dangers in applying Black Salve to human or animal tissues. Far too many times I have seen first hand the destruction caused by this so called natural remedy.
( Folks there is nothing natural about zinc chloride which is often compounded with Bloodroot to create the paste – that is recommended to be applied to many different types of skin lesions). Zinc Chloride is an escharotic and tissue fixative; not to messed with! It is claimed by proponents that “the cancer salve made from zinc Chloride and Bloodroot is safe and effective, and has never harmed anyone, in thousands of years of use”.
The photograph above is just one small example of the damage I have seen from applying this paste. Cancer patients have used it on breast tumors, all kinds of skin tumors malignant and benign. One client used it on her genital area for an SCC ( squamous cell carcinoma)! The erosion and pain was horrendous. My own patient records with photographs of tissue damage are vile viewing. Many melanoma patients are delaying treatment due to this remedy and their belief in it to “cure cancer”. Professor Dr Alexander Herzog, Germany keeps a photo album of the black salve disasters he has to try to repair when it all goes belly-up for patients. Gaping holes in breast tissue, some large enough to insert a fist are displayed page after page…and then there is the mother who applied the Black Salve paste to a melanoma located on her son’s skull. She used the paste for 6 months – you could see his brain through the hole! Professor Herzog says he cant understand why cancer patients are using this paste.
The whole history of Moh’s chemo-surgery – margin controlled microscopic surgery using zinc Chloride – an interesting read.
What is about this preparation that gives it allure? Is it the mystique of purported native American history? Is it the supposed safety level that is claimed? Is it because a former Hollywood movie star has promoted it? Is it because we hate science and love cottage medicines?
Scab created by black salve
The allure has even defied logic as many of Naturopathic friends, not only cancer patients believed in the salve to the extent that the paste “got it all” only to die from their metastatic melanoma and squamous cell carcinomas. Why is it that even bringing science and logic to this preparation will generate hate mail?
Personally I am tired of attending Black Salve funerals. I am glad it is banned in Australia however you can find it all around the internet still and even in the back end under the counter of some health food stores! My best advice – DON’T GO THERE! First and foremost – Find out what you are dealing with before embarking upon any treatment and please realize that this can be a sinister remedy with associated complications that make chemotherapy side effects look like a walk in the park!
In 2012, the Therapeutic Goods Administration warned people to avoid black salve, which is also known as red salve, Cansema, or Bloodroot.
More coming soon about discussions from today’s Navigating the Cancer Maze on Voice America- please visit again……
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What does it mean to be diagnosed with familial polyposis? The condition involves the growth of numerous polyps that form mainly in the epithelium of the large intestine. While these polyps start out benign, malignant transformation into colon cancer occurs when left untreated. Listen to an interview with recovered patient Angela on Voice America’s Navigating the Cancer Maze hosted by Grace Gawler.
Part ONE:
Why I am Passionate about Prevention of Colon Cancer:
The subject of colon cancer is not ‘everyone’s cup of tea’ as they say! However I have a distinct and very personal interest in colon cancer and colon health. My early work with cancer patients activated my interest and concern for this group of patients who in those days seemed to left in a no-mans land to cope with a horrendous change to their bodily function as well as the psychological challenges that go with such a life-changing trauma. Assisting bowel cancer patients soon took over from my work with women with breast cancer. “Women of Silence – the Emotional Healing of Breast Cancer” was based on the unspoken issues that affected a woman’s self esteem, body image, psychology, lifestyle and relations to name but a few. However I was so awe-struck by the plight of patients with colon cancer; both men and women who had ileostomies or colostomies, that I was compelled to research more on how I could assist them with diet, lifestyle, adaptation, reclaiming their lives and dealing with the consequences of uninvited life change. Eventually this area became a speciality part of my Naturopathic Practice. Not only cancer patients, but those dealing with IBS and all varieties of colon issues began to consult with me. I studied the anatomy & physiology of the colon in depth and helped thousand of patients.
But….little did I know what the future had in store!
Ironically I had been well prepared for the next stage of my life when after a routine gynaecological surgery in 1997; I was unable to do what most of us do every day – that is go to the loo! My husband had just left the family, I was financially and physically compromised and I had 4 teenage children at home. So began my annus horribilis.
Me after 1st ileostomy and colectomy in 2000
It is a good thing we cannot see into the future as I did not know there would be 13 more similar years ahead. All tolled I had 21 surgical procedures and ileostomies and colostomies! Five feet of large Colon was removed and 5 feet of small bowel due to massive faecal impaction. The stomas leaked causing severe burns on my belly. Each time I had a surgical reversal (the bowel was re-joined); what remained of my colon would violently and unsuccessfully; try to push material through my paralysed rectum. Many times what was supposed to come out one end – came up via the other end. It was a debilitating, socially difficult and the most challenging thing I have ever experienced. The stoma area herniated due to strain. At times it was hard to see a way through but despite the down times, I was committed to finding solutions.
I travelled to Holland and underwent experimental surgery and basically became a world first for a bionic implant surgically placed in my buttock with wires and electrodes implanted through my spinal foramina. This device (like a heart pacemaker) worked successfully at 6volts to give me enough stimulus to empty my what remains of my colon. It works by mimicking the nerves that allowed rectal emptying. That was in 2012-2003. Suddenly my empathy ran deeper for my past patients; for as well as managing stomas – they were also dealing with cancer.
But regardless of the cause – like my patients, I was also now dealing with a life-threatening situation.
I learned a lot first hand from my experience to apply in my cancer work-more than I could possible have learned during my many training courses. My issue had been a ‘post surgical complication’ & maybe unavoidable. But I reasoned that if patients with known bowel conditions could do something to avoid what I had been through – then I could have a valuable contribution. I knew that early diagnosis of bowel cancer and & subsequent intervention could save a life. In particular I knew there were approaches reported in medical literature about the value of High EPA Fish oils and anti-inflammatory complementary medicines in helping those afflicted with the precancerous condition known as FAP.
So when patient “Angela” came to me in 2011 diagnosed with Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and facing a permanent ileostomy I knew what we could try safely while her situation was monitored medically.
So …. what does it mean to be diagnosed with familial polyposis? The condition involves the growth of numerous polyps that form mainly in theepithelium of the large intestine. While these polyps start out benign, malignant transformation into colon cancer occurs when left untreated.
(The medical solution is usually a colectomy – a surgical resection of any extent of the large intestine (colon) and a colostomy bag or in some cases an ileostomy, when the polyps invade the colon tissue changing it’s structure and causing fragility).
Angela asked me what could be tried as she like myself had already had some colon section removed and had endured the failure of a temporary ileostomy. Listen to my interview with Angela and learn what she decided to do about regaining bowel health. Still clear of polyps (Dec 2013) and with a regenerated colon (confirmed with colonoscopy) she has successfully navigated the maze, using the best of conventional diagnostic medicine in combination with targeted complementary and lifestyle medicine. Her entire case (complete with medical data) will be published in a Journal in 2014. More info: email: institute@gracegawler.com
Select the image below to be redirected to Voice America and my interview with Angela on Navigating the Cancer Maze. Or… click here. More about colon cancer in my next blog.
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He has worked in challenging rural Australia practice environments including indigenous health.
