Category Archives: Cancer

Embrace the Bad Stuff, It’s Good for You

Cancer, Health and Wellness, Reason, , , , , , ,

Nobody likes slogging through the shit. That’s pretty safe to say. But sometimes it must be done, whether we like it or not. If there are going to be hardships, we are told to look for a “Silver Lining,” as though our upside-down umbrella will magically fill with pennies. In the shit, those pennies might be damn near impossible to see.

Many people retreat as a first resort. Hide from the problems rather than face them. I would go so far as to suggest that such behavior is basic human nature: fight or flight syndrome, where running from danger is our first instinct — until we are cornered. The problem with health issues such as Cancer is that, whether one wants to admit it or not, the patient is ostensibly cornered before there is even a proper diagnosis. So any flight that may be attempted is not only in vain, it is illusionary. Being the ostrich may offer a temporary sense of calm to some people, but it also does nothing to help move through the difficulty and onward toward a better existence.

Self-help gurus and the proponents of countless “programs,” and also probably my mother at some point, have said that we grow through our challenges. In truth, it is the struggles in life both big and small that build what we call “character.” That nebulous term applies Continue reading Embrace the Bad Stuff, It’s Good for You →

Not Dead Yet, No Matter What You May Have Read

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A person I know quite well — and with whom I recently have had several lengthy conversations about my current state of affairs — offered an interesting appraisal of her understanding of my health and well-being to my wife. She said, rather unceremoniously, that she had expected me to be dying. In fact, she seemed quite surprised (and possibly a bit put off) by how healthy I appeared. Turns out, I have news for her:

I’m not dead yet.

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In fact, here I am, looking quite well (and dare I say “dashing”) in my new progressive lenses picked up today to aid my aging eyes. True, after over 15 years of having a stable prescription, the chemotherapy seems to have begun affecting my vision ever so slightly, at least in the first couple of feet. So this minor side effect has required me to jump straight into trifocal territory. Aside from the minor “swimmy” effect of turning my head side to side while looking through the “mid-range” section, these are actually quite amazing. But that isn’t really what this entry is about, so I’m going to move along.

The thing that most startled me, and which I actually took some offense at, was the notion that a person who is not stupid managed to ignore virtually everything that she had been told about my condition, the state of cancer research and, perhaps most importantly, why statistics do not tell a whole story, or often even a remotely correct one. And what did this person rely upon to make up her mind about what I was going through and my prognosis for continuing life?

Continue reading Not Dead Yet, No Matter What You May Have Read →

Narratives Matter, Beginning to End

Cancer, Fear, Health and Wellness, Reason, , , , , , , , , , ,

On the heels of a recent discussion on changing the Narrative of Cancer as a means to enable better communication and understanding with regard to the hundreds of cancer variants, I came across a very interesting article on a closely related topic: changing the Narrative of Dying. Far from being a depressing or downbeat approach, the article discusses the need for reevaluating our collective understanding of the “end of life” process in order to facilitate a healthier and happier means for saying our goodbyes without forgetting that, until the last moment, we are all still living and participating in this world. It touches on some important ideas, pivoting about the notion that our system, our society, marginalizes and fears death and, more specifically, the process of dying. Yet, death is as much a part of our existence as birth.
Continue reading Narratives Matter, Beginning to End →

Things That Won’t Cure You Might Still Help

Cancer, Health and Wellness, , ,

I have had several conversations lately that had me thinking about the relationship between actual medicine and the types of supportive care or complimentary therapies people I know have tried, which they are convinced play an important role in prevention or recovery. After watching the first installment of the PBS / Ken Burns produced documentary Cancer: The Emperor of all Maladies, I was in a fairly serious mindset on the subject, too. The history of cancer treatment is decidedly complex, with no shortage of conflicted emotions on how science has progressed — especially over the past 60 or so years — to the point where we are today. Coming out of essentially the Dark Ages, where little was known at all about the mechanisms of cancer cells and the prevailing belief was that all cancers were ostensibly the same, we entered a realm of promise and difficult choices that resonates to this day. And it is this difficulty that dominates so much of public perception that also opens the door toward less effective, but easier paths.

The problem is, on their own, those paths do not lead to the promised land. Easier to travel, they may be. But without the difficult choices, often there is nothing to lift the patient toward the promise.

Yet, there is a third component to this equation, hinted at centuries ago when physicians still believed the body’s ills were determined by the four humors and too much black bile was the likely cause of cancer.

Continue reading Things That Won’t Cure You Might Still Help →

Anger May Be Cathartic, But It Is Still Bad For You

Cancer, Fear, Health and Wellness, Reason, , , , ,

Being honest about our emotions is not always easy. Add a chronic or terminal illness into the mix and things always seem to get tougher. Sadness, self-pity (or loathing), denial, depression and, of course, our friend Anger, all come out to play.

Emotions can bubble up unexpectedly, violently, or simmer beneath the surface. They can trip a person up, derail a perfectly calm and pleasant morning, confuse everybody in the room and change just about any dynamic without a glimmer of grace or sense of appropriate timing. Emotions run counter to that thread of logic that many of us cling to for sanity, bubbling and popping and roiling all over our bodies like some adolescent’s acne. Yet, quite unlike the exquisite release of a properly ripe whitehead, venting our emotions can be done in decent company and in a healthy, scar-free manner — as long as anger does not get the upper hand.

The first thing to realize is that we are not fully in control of how we feel. We can work on our frame of mind constantly, quite successfully, and still not be 100% in charge.

Continue reading Anger May Be Cathartic, But It Is Still Bad For You →

The Chemo Diaries Round Seven: Maintenance Begins

Cancer, Health and Wellness, , , , , ,

Last Wednesday I had another CT scan to see how the initial six rounds of chemotherapy played out. On Friday I finally got around to looking at the images on my computer, whisking through cross sections of my body to try and get an idea of what was going on in there. On Sunday night I finally remembered the web site to check for the imaging results so I could read the reports. Then on Monday I went in to consult with my oncologist about what the reports actually meant and to verify what the next phase was going to be for my treatment.

We had anticipated that the tumor would likely not be gone. The previous scan in February had shown a distinct reduction in the tumor size, but not an overwhelming reduction. It seemed highly unlikely to me that it would shrink away in less than two months. So seeing it present on the scans and reading in the report that it was, at best, only marginally smaller was not a huge surprise. I was happy to read, however,

Continue reading The Chemo Diaries Round Seven: Maintenance Begins →

Enemies Are Bad

Cancer, Health and Wellness, , , , , , , ,

In my quest to reframe the narrative on Cancer, I sometimes feel that there are few voices in the media that support my views. How refreshing, then, when a friend points me in the direction of a piece like this brief podcast. It takes the edge off the words blazing across the publications set out at the oncology waiting rooms across the nation.

The Magazine "Cure" for cancer patients, survivors and caregivers, and a flier for Breast Cancer Survivors
Actual magazines and fliers from a waiting room

I am not saying that patients are not allowed to view themselves as survivors if that is somehow empowering to them and their particular struggle, but the term is another example of the “war metaphor” that dominates the dialogue and casts the cancer “battle” in a negative, pre-defeated light.

Like too many things in our media culture, the narrative on cancer has been driven in a lazy and convenient fashion for many years. Certainly when the War on Cancer was declared by President Nixon over 40 years ago, it was an apt analogy. Cancer research was still in its relative infancy, even after half a century of good scientific inquiry and thousands of years of anecdotal analysis, folk medicine and traditional therapies being attempted. Since 1971, the story has been changing, evolving on an almost constant basis.

Continue reading Enemies Are Bad →

The Chemo Diaries Round Six: Cycles End, Cycles Begin

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Going into the final round of what I term Phase One of my treatment, I am reflecting a bit on two coincidences that have given me plenty to ruminate on. One of these is the fact that of one of my high school friends who I have not seen in far too many years informed me recently that her spouse is also going through chemotherapy and, interestingly, was just about a week ahead of me in the treatment schedule. The other coincidence of merit this week is that my neighbor will be starting her own chemo treatments at the same time I go in to complete my initial run of this badass toxic cocktail before moving toward a kinder and gentler maintenance schedule.

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Ready for my hook up, Nurse!

Neither of these coincidentally timed treatments are for the same cancer, which would have been too weird for believability anyway, and we probably won’t share identical side effects across the board or react too similarly to the drugs, but there is still a commonality of experience that cannot be denied. My friend from high school is one of those rare and thoughtful people who is cursed with the right balance of kindness and patience to really place herself in the center of care giving. It feels weird saying this, but I would not wish that upon anyone, as great a gift as it is. This goes back to my issue with patient guilt, perhaps; I feel lacking when I cannot help those suffering worse than me or I feel guilty about not suffering as much as them, and this extrapolates to me not wanting others to suffer as a result of my condition or being forced to take care of me. Continue reading The Chemo Diaries Round Six: Cycles End, Cycles Begin →

Cancer Statistics Show Hope, But Statistics Are Still Bad For You

Cancer, Health and Wellness, , , , , , , ,

So… the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have now begun releasing survival rate statistics for patients with invasive cancer. And it appears to be pretty good news, especially for prostate, breast and colorectal cancer patients. Across the board, however, patient longevity has been on the rise and the one thing that the statistics do make clear is that what they term “survival rates” are increasing.

I am not a fan of “survival” as a description of continuing to live while dealing with cancer. Along with statistics in general, this sort of terminology paints a narrow and misleading picture Continue reading Cancer Statistics Show Hope, But Statistics Are Still Bad For You →

Alternative and Complementary Cancer Treatments: Good, Bad and Ugly

Cancer, Health and Wellness, , , , , , , , , ,

An article by Victoria Stern, MA published on the Medscape website in September, 2014 details information on many complementary and alternative cancer treatments. Because not all my readers are likely to have subscriptions to Medscape, and because the article is rather long, I am going to summarize a lot of it here. The comments and opinions below are my own unless cited, and I am not a doctor; the information on studies and data comes primarily from the Medscape article and it, along with Medscape in general, is worth reading if you sign up.

The takeaway on complementary vs alternative treatments remains consistent with what I would refer to as, Continue reading Alternative and Complementary Cancer Treatments: Good, Bad and Ugly →