Sometimes Cancer Strikes Twice

Cancer again? Of course that's what you worry about. It's what I worry about. The first time cancer strikes we are just in it--it all happens so fast and it's all new, we just go down those rapids, keeping our feet first and try not to get killed.

Then it's over, or in remission and we take a couple of deep breathes. And then the thought: "What if that happened again?"

So, there are two kinds of "again". One--that same kind of cancer comes back, or Two--you get a new cancer. That's a real bitch, right? Sometimes we have a kind of magical thinking which says, "Well if I got uterine cancer I won't get lung cancer"--as if  there is only so much cancer to go around and if I got my piece, then I get to skip the other variations.

Turns out that is so not true, as completely unfair as that seems.

So what do you do, as a cancer survivor, to keep your odds in shape? Well, according to Jane Brody,
health writer, in today's New York Times, you have to take really good care of your health and be super smart about lifestyle.

Our goal, according to Brody, is twofold--we have to do the same good care as the average Joe or Jane--who never had cancer and we have to be scrupulous about follow-up care, and better than average basic healthcare, because we may have a higher risk.

Her article (the link is below) is very good and worth your time. Of course, if you are a caregiver and you want to share this with your cancer patient/ cancer surviving loved one, tread carefully and choose your timing.

But please, don't use this article to nag your partner. I have been so guilty of that and it's just not cool.

Here's Jane Brody's article called "When Cancer Strikes Twice."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/well/when-cancer-strikes-twice.html?_r=0

What About the Doctor?

I have heard so many stories from folks in CancerLand about doctors who disappear when the diagnosis is terminal, or who will not give a terminal diagnosis even when death is just a few days away. And stories of doctors who joke or rush or can't make eye contact with a seriously ill patient. What is that about?

In today's New York Times Jane Brody gives us a sense of what that may be for the physician who is treating someone with cancer. And she introduces us to some new interventions for the doctors--that can help them to cope and to stay emotionally present when cancer and death are near.

Again, the take away for all of us is that some form of meditation really works. It doesn't have to be Buddhist or New Age-ish but it is helpful whether you are the patient or the healer.

Take a look at this article. Here's the link:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/aiding-the-doctor-who-feels-cancers-toll/?smid=pl-share