Nearly 500 years ago, Swiss physician and chemist Paracelsus expressed the basic principle of toxicology:
“All things are poison, and nothing is without poison;
only the dose makes a thing not a poison.”
Another way to say this today would be to “quit while you’re ahead.”
Seven years ago, two patients presented to our hospital for follow up and ongoing treatment of colon cancer in the cecum, which is the beginning of the colon on the right side of the lower abdomen. They were the same age (80 years), same gender, same diagnosis, same stage, same surgical treatment, and the same chemo. They had the same complications from their treatment, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anemia, dehydration, a weakened immune system and weight loss.
Gertrude and I had a long conversation on her third day in the hospital.
I told her, “Your cancer treatment seems to h…
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