Cancer: Its Cause and Treatment, Volume 1 (of 2)Bulkley, Lucius Duncan
Science
Cancer: Its Cause and Treatment, Volume 1 (of 2)
Bulkley, Lucius Duncan
Cancer
On February 9th, 1914, she returned to the Hospital and was placed under
medical treatment, with vegetarian diet. There was then an ulceration
along the line of incision, from the second to the fourth rib, with many
nodules around it, averaging a third of an inch in diameter, raised and
reddened. The liver extended two inches below the edge of the ribs, with
a hard and nodular margin; the right arm was enormously swollen and
helpless. When she left the Hospital, June 20th, 1914, the ulcer had
entirely closed, many of the cutaneous nodules had entirely disappeared,
the arm had returned to normal size, like the other, by measurement, and
the liver had retracted to a trifle below the margin of the ribs, with
hardly any nodules to be felt. The treatment had included twenty-five
X-ray exposures, from 8 to 10 minutes each, about twice a week, over
three areas each time.
While in the Hospital careful laboratory investigations were made,
according to a definite schedule. The _blood_, studied weekly,
maintained a hæmoglobin of 80+ for over two months, then fell a little,
and again rose. The erythrocytes were 3,262,000 on entering, and rose
within two months to 4,282,000, then fell a little and rose again to
almost 4,000,000: the leucocytes were 9,000 on entering, and fell to
5,200 just before leaving, the poly-nuclear 69 per cent. on admission,
fell to 60 per cent., and again rose a little, and the proportion of the
other forms remained about normal. The _urine_, volumetrically analyzed
every three days, was kept a little below the normal acidity, and the
specific gravity a little low, with a free daily amount of excretion,
largely by Bethesda water: in spite of the vegetarian diet the urea
excretion was not much below normal, and sometimes above, the chlorides
were diminished, owing to the rather small amount of food taken, the
phosphates varied a little above and below normal, there was never any
indican, and the sulphates averaged a trifle below normal. The _saliva_,
tested before and after each meal, was acid at first, but became neutral
and alkaline off and on. The _weight_, taken weekly, fell a little from
the first, but maintained a good level, and rose a little before she
left the Hospital.
This was a very difficult patient to manage, as she was a very ignorant
Polish woman, who often rebelled at the diet, and wearied of the routine
and restrictions imposed; she left the Hospital June 20th, 1914, against
my wish, but with as great a change in her physical condition and
disease as could be imagined, after about four months and a half
treatment, carried out under disadvantageous circumstances.
One other case, seen recently, where the disease was recurrent after
three operations, deserves mention, although it will be some time before
any decisive result can be reported.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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