CANCER OF THE SWALLOWING TUBE


However, I refuse to give up a patient, even if his condition seems desperate and hopeless. One night, while thinking about my difficult cases, it occurred to me that the most horrible sticky phlegm is produced by dogs who suffer from hydrophobia. I had never seen a case of hydrophobia, but I had seen illustrations of dogs suffering from this ghastly disease, dragging behind them rope-like strands of horrible phlegm.


ABOUT a year ago Mr. C., a man 79 years old, was brought to me by his sister-in-law.

He had found it more and more difficult to swallow food. At last he could no longer swallow food at all, and had to live on soups and other liquids. Then his ability to swallow liquids came to an end, he became terribly emaciated and doctors suggested that he should be sent to hospital. There he was X-rayed, and the diagnosis of cancer of the swallowing tube, the oesophagus, was made.

The patient was transferred to the surgical department and there a more careful examination was made with the help of the gastroscope. The gastroscope is an arrangement of tubes which is inserted by way of the mouth into the stomach under an anaesthetic. There are mirrors and an electric light at the end of the apparatus, and thus the surgeon or physician can inspect every part of the stomach with leisure and with care.

After a careful examination the sister-in-law of Mr. C. was called and she was told that Mr. C. suffered from cancer, and that it was necessary to open his stomach from the outside immediately, insert a tube, and feed him through a funnel. The lady objected because the patient was 79 year old, had lost lost a great deal of weight and looked like a dying man.

The surgeon freely admitted that there was the greatest risk that the patient might die on the operating table or soon after the operation, but states that nothing else could be done.

The sister-in-law was not satisfied, and took Mr. C. away, notwithstanding the vigorous protest of doctor and surgeon, who pointed out the extreme risk of delaying the operation. Mr. C. was brought to my rooms. He looked dreadfully ill, he could scarcely stand.

He was undressed and put on the couch. I put one had on the lower chest where the growth was supposed to be, and the other hand at the corresponding part of the told me he felt easier. I gave him a glass of sherry, and to his amazement, and mine, he was able to swallow and retain it.

I treated Mr. C. the best way I knew, with Melilotus 1x for congestion, Hyoscyamus 3x for the oesophagus spasm and Belladonna for the inflammation and swelling, Phosphorus 3 which acts well on the oesophagus, and various other remedies. The patient gradually got better and kept well, and he gained 27 pounds in weight. He could eat big meals and led a full and natural life. He worked hard in garden and in his carpentry shed, went for walks, led a normal life and was very happy.

A year after the old trouble recurred. Mr. C. lost weight rapidly. He could not longer swallow food or drink, and he brought up prodigious quantities of sticky phlegm. He brought up about five or six pints every night and as large a quantity during the daytime. Apparently the whole substance of his body was converted into phlegm which was brought up with a struggle. He was in despair.

I tried the remedies which I had previously employed but none acted. The relatives and friends of Mr. C. had lost all hope, and I, myself, had the gravest doubt whether anything could be done. However, I refuse to give up a patient, even if his condition seems desperate and hopeless.

One night, while thinking about my difficult cases, it occurred to me that the most horrible sticky phlegm is produced by dogs who suffer from hydrophobia. I had never seen a case of hydrophobia, but I had seen illustrations of dogs suffering from this ghastly disease, dragging behind them rope-like strands of horrible phlegm.

I sent Mr. C. Hydrophobinum in various potencies, and a miracle happened. In a few days the swallowing difficulty disappeared, and the masses of ropy phlegm vanished. Instead of being desperate and hopeless he became cheerful, he could again take meals, but then another setback occurred. In cases of cancer or in any disease which resembles cancer, one should consider giving Carcinosinum to the patient.

It is usually given in a high potency such as the 200th, and it is a generally accepted rule that medicines in a high potency should be given only rarely. That principle has been taught by Hahnemann and his great successors. RAre doses of Carcinosinum 100 had no effect. I then gave him Carcinosinum 200 once a day, and the cleared up once more and the man improved again for months and enjoyed life.

The struggle with the disease is still going, on, and the issue, is of course, uncertain. However, this case is interesting because it shows what can be done in the most desperate diseases which are considered incurable except by operation. In the case of this old man and operation was, of course, quite useless.

J. Ellis Barker
James Ellis Barker 1870 – 1948 was a Jewish German lay homeopath, born in Cologne in Germany. He settled in Britain to become the editor of The Homeopathic World in 1931 (which he later renamed as Heal Thyself) for sixteen years, and he wrote a great deal about homeopathy during this time.

James Ellis Barker wrote a very large number of books, both under the name James Ellis Barker and under his real German name Otto Julius Eltzbacher, The Truth about Homœopathy; Rough Notes on Remedies with William Murray; Chronic Constipation; The Story of My Eyes; Miracles Of Healing and How They are Done; Good Health and Happiness; New Lives for Old: How to Cure the Incurable; My Testament of Healing; Cancer, the Surgeon and the Researcher; Cancer, how it is Caused, how it Can be Prevented with a foreward by William Arbuthnot Lane; Cancer and the Black Man etc.