No running today...at least so far. We are chillin at Coffee Grounds "doing homework" and I thought I would take this chance to write about some things that have been on my mind. Since I have signed up as a charity runner for the American Cancer Society it seems like I have been more aware of the people around me that have been affected by cancer. I have several patients that have cancer and I have seen how cancer is affecting a co-worker's husband. Craig and I have had several discussions after I come home and tell him the stories of these people. When I place myself in their situation and try to think about the things that they are faced with - it comes down to two questions for me:
1.) How can people face the ugly face of cancer without God in their life? I would have to rely on the fact that somehow a cancer diagnosis is going to be used for good in some way - to credit God with a healing, to strengthen my own relationship with God, or for whatever God has in his will.
The other question is 2.) WHAT CAN I DO?!? Because cancer does not discriminate, it seems so unfair when someone gets cancer that doesn't drink or smoke or have any contributing factors. Cancer patients have to trust their doctors and have faith that they are receiving the best treatment. Personally I have concluded that one of the best ways to help with this cause is to help raise money for research. I think I would feel helpless and this is one way that I can actively play a role in doing something about it.
I had a pretty long conversation with a patient on Friday about her diagnosis of cystic adenoid cancer. It is a very rare form of cancer that is slow growing. It develops in the salivary glands and in the head and neck area. She was diagnosed 6 years ago at age 55. I asked her what her first symptoms was. She told me that she usually walked 3 to 4 miles per day and noticed that she was wheezing. She went to her doctor who said it was probably asthma and sent her to a specialist for that. She exercised immediately before her appointment with the specialist and when he listened to her lungs, she was wheezing when she inhaled and exhaled. The doctor immediately knew that it wasn't asthma. She completed more tests and was told that she had a tumor that was most likely benign and would need surgery. During the procedure they realized that there was more than one tumor and that it was cancerous. The surgery was more extensive than they had expected and she now has a permanent tracheotomy. Her voice is just a whisper. She has an amazing attitude. She does enough of her own research to know that there are cases out there that are much worse and have affected people at much younger ages. She said that she has to live the rest of her life to the fullest. There is no genetic link, no environment factors, nothing that she can contribute her cancer to that she could have prevented. She is healthy otherwise, and views that fact as a gift to help her body fight. She has chest scans every 4 months because they guess that it will move into her lungs next. She said she doesn't see the point of the scans because this form of cancer is not treatable with chemo or radiation. Even if it moves to her lungs, it can't be treated.
Right now my co-worker's husband is undergoing a new form of chemo that is giving him pretty terrible side effects. He has sores that line his entire mouth and throat. Tana told me that if he eats something cold it feels good on his mouth, but burns his throat. If he tries warm soup, it burns his mouth, but feels good on his throat. Most days he can't stand to brush his teeth and at times his diet consists solely of saltines if anything at all.
I haven't written all this to be a "debbie-downer," but just to express my realization for what cancer can do. One of the statistics that really stood out to me when I was signing up as a charity runner was: "In the United States, men have slightly less than a 1-in-2 lifetime risk of developing cancer; for women, the risk is a little more than 1 in 3." Wow.
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