All posts by Jeffrey Poehlmann

Nutritional Advice: Sometimes It Doesn’t Feed You

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When people believe that you are not healthy, they often want to give you really genuine advice about what they believe will make you better. In a way, this is one of the nicer aspects of human nature. And many people truly, fervently believe that their advice is not only worthwhile, but absolutely correct to almost mystical proportions. This can be especially true of information that is not even relevant to the person’s direct experience, but instead is based entirely upon anecdotal information that the person simply, deeply wants to believe. And this is the problem with so much advice about how to get healthy: it is based on belief and not on knowledge.

Diet is one of the first topics that is likely to come up when talking about cancer treatment. There are a lot of good reasons for this, including
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Cancer: What You Think It Is May Be Just Bad For You

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Cancer Is Not Intelligent, Cancer Has No Will

Discussing cancer in general terms often leads to insinuations that Cancer has a motivation. It “overcomes” the immune system. It “figures out” how to defeat a drug. It “is surprisingly good at mutating” into something that can continue to grow in spite of whatever is attacking it. It is “nefarious.” All of these descriptions, and there are hundreds more, imply that Cancer wants something, that it is making an effort, that it has an agenda or goal; the implication is that Cancer has a mind. This is a fallacy of thought that not only makes general discussion more difficult, but it actually can impede treatment and healing. Continue reading Cancer: What You Think It Is May Be Just Bad For You →

The Chemo Diaries: Round Two

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So the second round of chemotherapy began even smoother than the first. The nurse and I had a good chat about how it really ought to be more of a “spa experience,” perhaps with at least a good foot massage thrown in. I would also like to see some umbrella drinks. Because the patient is essentiality stuck there, attached for several hours to a drip IV, making it as pleasant as possible is always a good idea.
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Cure for Cancer Discussion on Quora

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I recently participated in a discussion on Quora that was framed as a question about the possibility of finding a cure for cancer. The other responses were largely interesting, though it was clear to me that the question itself (and some of the responses) indicate that there is still a lack of understanding with regard to the progress already made in the field(s) of cancer research, as well as a lack of understanding about what a “cure” really means.

Click the link to read my contribution to the discussion and explore some of the other voices that chimed in.

 

Living In the Past Isn’t the Path Forward

Cancer, Health and Wellness

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice.” — T.S. Eliot

One of the biggest roadblocks I see in communication about cancer is the notion that it stops the future. This, of course, is complete nonsense, and yet the sense prevails for many with a diagnosis and for many who receive the news about their friends and loved ones. I hear stories about how a cancer diagnosis has caused patients to essentially give up on their lives and dreams, and I see the responses in people whose first reaction upon being told of someone else’s diagnosis is a palpable sense of loss. Yet the future keeps on drawing us all forward, inextricably, into new days and experiences and our collective evolving lives.

This is a beautiful thing.

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Natural Cancer Remedies: What You Don’t Want To Know (But Should)

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Natural cancer remedies have been around for at least 3,000 years and yet it appears that modern science and Western Medicine either ignore these time-tested solutions or are in a conspiracy to keep them from the public. Why is this the case? The truth is much more insidious. But to understand it fully, we need to explore the history of cancer and how these natural cancer remedies are supposed to work.
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Bravery Is Stupid (and Clearly Bad for You)

Cancer, Health and Wellness,

I’m not brave. People have been using that word a lot about me lately, but I proudly reject it. Bravery is about overcoming fear and acting in spite of still being afraid. Let’s be honest: being brave is the equivalent of running into a fire knowing you are going to get burned. There is good reason to avoid that fire and not to act brave for the sake of being brave. Unless there is a helpless child in danger or some noble cause like that. Then, by all means, be brave and suffer the pain to save an innocent life. But is that really being brave, or just doing the right thing when called upon? Because at times like that, if you pause to be afraid and then muster your bravery, you are kind of wasting precious time. Heroes don’t stop to think, they charge ahead in their solutions. They are not brave, they are just able to rise to the occasion. And I am not brave, I’m just not afraid.

And I am resigned to moving forward, not stagnating.

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The Chemo Diaries: Round One Recap

Cancer, Health and Wellness,

The first phase of my chemo has passed and I celebrated by going out to an amazing steak dinner with a couple of old friends from my carefree college days. It was great for a lot of reasons, but especially, perhaps, as a return to normal and a reminder of what normal is after two and a half days of feeling, well, kind of crappy.

No one said that chemotherapy was going to be a fun joyride or a walk in the park or any other cliché to imply ease. I did not expect it to whisk by unnoticed and without making an impression. Still, in spite of being prepared, there is no denying that feeling crappy is no fun. And yet…

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Sympathy: Not Just for the Devil, But Still Bad

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I’ve got to tell you, I hate it when people feel sorry for me. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate a bit of empathy for what I am going through, but I can thoroughly do without the pity. I don’t need it and I certainly don’t want it. There is no “poor me” going on here, I don’t feel bad about my situation or somehow maligned by the universe. That just isn’t me. Maybe it’s because I’m something of a secular humanist at heart, but I find strength in knowing that I can get through whatever I need to and too much sympathy dumped in my path just makes it that much slower for me to move along.
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The Chemo Diaries: Day Three

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And on the third day… I woke really, really early. After about three and a half hours of glorious sleep, my bladder decided that I needed to get up. And though I fought it for a good thirty minutes, there was no denying it was going to win and the sooner it had its minor victory, the sooner I could return to sleep. Except for a few minor glitches. First, I was absolutely awake. Then my stomach was acting all hungry and I started getting concerned that I would need some anti-nausea medication because it was hard to identify whether the queasy feeling I was getting was the driving factor or the result of my hunger pangs. So then my brain really perked up to take stock of the situation. By the time I concluded I shouldn’t worry and I was just getting hungry early, the rain really started coming down outside.
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