|
W |
hat causes cancer, anyhow? Many of us
have experienced the dread, the disdain, the sadness, and the urgency associated
with cancer. What do I do now, Doc
... surgery tomorrow... malignant melanoma, transitional nevus ... they said a wider
resection. What does it all mean?
What?, lumps in the neck, poor guy, died in six months.
Stomach cancer, skin, colon, prostate, liver, ovary, brain, pancreas,
bone, blood ...where else can it go? What
is it and why? Could you check me, Doc? No, I didn’t notice that mass in my
belly ... the size of a basketball? Huh....
not the “Big C” I hope. Is it, Doc?
|
Y |
ou say the doctor just examined you and now you
have a discharge and a lump in your breast and your dad died of prostate cancer
and you have trouble
swallowing and fluids are filling up in your lungs...”metastases all over?”
Who said it was benign?
And you don’t want to go to the hospital and
today you’re weak and yesterday you were strong and you lost 20 lbs. last
month without a change in diet. Yes, blood is scary. Maybe it isn’t just hemorrhoids ... the family has a history of
colon cancer and the polyps
are what?...”pre-malignant?” What about the venereal warts and these
“things on the skin?” And have you heard of sarcoma, carcinoma and leukemia!
|
W |
hat
is cancer and why do we worry about it? What causes it, how do we recognize it
and what do we do about it’? What does cancer tell
us about our lives and our relationships to life?
|
A |
s a consortium of cells in a balance of growth and destruction through an innate system of control,
we are constantly repairing ourselves
from the onslaught of environmental forces, As
the process of pain and inflammation leads to the healing process, a controlling
influence brings order out of disorder, an eventual resting state whereby
rapidly multiplying cells remodel into newly synthesized fibers and tissues
producing purposeful structural patterns such as blood vessels, ligaments, and
bone. Cancer represents a failure
of this process to achieve such a resting state. Benign
means non-cancerous
(non-spreading), where as malignant means
cancerous with the potential for spreading uncontrollably to neighboring
tissues.
Cancer of the bone or muscle is
a sarcoma. A carcinoma is a cancer of the skin glands and linings of the lung,
liver, bladder, and brain. Leukemia is a cancer of the blood.
Cancer
is the second most common cause of death (first is heart disease). One in every
5, 3.5 million in the 1970’s died of cancer. Although some would argue about
the definition of a cancer cure, early surgical removal of various cancers often
leads to a cure. Experts
say cancers of the cervix have an almost 100% cure, Hodgkin’s Disease (disease
of the white blood cells) an 80% cure, and colon cancer, malignant melanoma, and
acute lymphocytic leukemia a 50% cure.
|
M |
any environmental
factors are considered carcinogenic
(cancer causing), especially industrial materials such as asbestos,
occupational nickel, chrome, vinyl chloride, rubber, and some chlorinated
chemicals. Other environmental factors considered carcinogenic include radioactivity, smoke,
ultraviolet light, alcohol, tobacco, estrogens, fat, viruses, and nitrosamines.
A family history may predispose one to cancer via the oncogenes,
the body’s genetic control system. Cancers
of the breast, colon and prostate appear to have a familial or genetic
component.
|
T |
he development of cancer is thought to be the end
product of an interplay or modulation of these two forces - environment and
genetics. Cells are transformed
to cancer as bacteria, toxins, and other environmental
stresses lead to chronic inflammation (or aggravation) of
our susceptible organ systems. Pre-malignant
polyps change to colon cancer; inflammatory
cells of the cervix turn to cervical carcinoma and the skin’s solar damage advances to basal cell cancer.
We
should all be aware of the cancer’s most common warning signals:
A
CHANGE IN BOWEL OR BLADDER HABITS
A
NON-HEALING SORE
UNUSUAL
BLEEDING OR DISCHARGE
A
THICKENING OR LUMP IN BREAST OR ELSEWHERE
INDIGESTION
OR DIFFICULTY IN SWALLOWING
AN
OBVIOUS CHANGEIN A WART OR MOLE
A
NAGGING COUGH OR HOARSENESS
SIGNIFICANT
WEIGHT LOSS
|
F |
amiliar
tests for cancer include a colorectal
test for occult blood in the stool, a pap
smear of the cervix, and a mammogram
for breast cancer detection. The
American Cancer Society recommends three stool tests for the early detection of
colon and rectal cancer in people without symptoms. A
stool test is recommended every year after 40 and a proctoscopy (fiberoptic scope up the rectum) should be carried out
every three to five years after the age of 50.
A cervical pap smear should be performed for sexually active women who
have reached 18 and annually thereafter until three or more consecutive normal
pap smears have been performed and thereafter at the discretion of the
physician. A monthly self-breast
examination is recommended for all women and a mammogram for asymptomatic
women every year after with a baseline mammogram between 35 and 39; the
mammogram should be done every I to 2 years depending on the findings for women
40 to 49.
|
M |
ore sophisticated
diagnostic modalities include magnetic resonance imaging, endoscopic
ultrasound, CAT scanning, positive emission tomography, monoclonal antibodies, tissue cultures,
radioisotope immunoassays, and fine needle aspiration.
|
O |
nce cancer is recognized, many treatments are
available. Some are traditional and others are more, “modern” or even
experimental. Such treatments include early tumor mapping to enhance surgical
excision and laser treatment for eradication of abnormal cells or the
boring of a hole through an inoperable tumor in the esophagus or rectum. Chemo
and hormone therapy are used to minimize the spread of secondary tumors and to
“mop up” after surgical removal of a tumor. Other technologies include bone
marrow transplantation for aplastic anemia and leukemia and hyperthermia - using
heat to increase the temperature of the body to kill cancer cells.
Ongoing
research includes genetic fusing of cancer cells with normal cells to produce
specific cancer-seeking antibodies and immunotherapy and nutrition to enhance the body’s
own disease fighting capability.
|
W |
hen all is said and done we may ask “why
me?”… “is it so?” Are
the symptoms of cancer our deepest dreams coming true? Does stoisism and the
turning in on one’s self lead to cancer’s unchecked growth’? Is cancer a
manifestation of a cellular lack of power within the total organism? Do anxiety and then denial lead to a biotransforrmation and an inability
to survive the effects of surrounding cells? Maybe, yes...and if we are able
to rely on our
innate sense of faith and life to balance our energies, we can perhaps enhance
our immune system and build the physiologic component of trust which links
together the welfare of the individual cell and the total organism.
In the meantime ... let’s burn off that mole ...
Eh, what’s up,
doc?...