Aussiepeter

If you had READ the post bkk6060, you would have seen that I was SENT by my GP to an ENT specialist who has saved my life. As I said, he could not definitely say it came from the PM 2.5 in CM. but yes, in seven years he had seen four non-smoking expats from Changers with the same illness. My prostate cancer was a completely different deal. One in four men get it after the age of 40. Un-related. A Thai Dr did a poor job on me (it can happen) and I had to have female hormone back in the real world that 'gelded' me - I still have my nuts, though they no longer do anything. After 33 years in the military, I can only confirm that it is better to be alive and the father of a lovely kid, than DEAD ! Dental work only took a week and saved me 5 grand - you work it out ! Cheers.

I lived in CM on and off from 1992 to 1999, then continuously from 2000 until 2013. After arriving back in Oz in 2013 with my family I saw a GP as had voice trouble - up and down falsetto - as if I was becoming a ladyboy. I have never smoked. I was sent to a specialist who diagnosed me with laryngeal cancer, a T1 on a vocal cord.

Dr asked the usual questions - did I smoke etc but when I told him I had lived in Thailand, asked where in LOS ? When I said CM, he said I was the fourth patient he had seen with this type of cancer in a non-smoker and the only common factor was former long-term resident of CM. He asked about the air pollution and I told him it goes through the roof for half the year or more in CM. He could not say definitely, but was pretty much certain all four of us had caught it from long-term exposure to the foul air (PM 2.5) in CM. The cancer had spread too far to be lasered off, so I had three months of radiation therapy on my throat. I had to go back to be 'scoped' (horrible thing they shove up your nose and into your voice box) every six months for five years. Thankfully, it is gone. So too is my prostate, but that was the subject of my first ever post some years back, thankfully deleted by the moderator (again, my thanks) as I had given a serve to the CM doctor who removed my manhood. After being gelded back here in Oz in a last ditch attempt to kill the cancer, (successful) I now know (too late) that I should have gotten a second opinion, back in the real world ! 

My Thai family and I live in a lovely part of Oz with clean air and my wife, after six years here, says she is NEVER going back to Thailand, EVER, as she won't risk our daughter's health. I went back alone to CM in March for dental work (radiation wrecks your teeth) and the air was putrid. I too will never go back.

The air pollution, together with all the BS I read on this portal about immigration was enough to convince me. For those stuck there, wear a good mask ! Cheers all !

I'm not really a newbie, just only three replies in four years, but after having lived in CM for over 25 years I can honestly say that it is a minefield out there, so my advice would be go slow and learn to speak Thai well, including some Muang (local dialect spoken in CM) if you have the time. It took me years (and many barfines) before I realised that the only thing you get in bars in LOS is beer, nooky and lies and, not necessarily in that order. My wife had never had a boyfriend and could not speak English, but knew enough about 'Somchais' to know she never wanted one. We've been married 20 years. Good luck !