Is This Cancer a Family Thing?

Let me start out by answering the question:  I don’t know if cancer is a family thing.  The only genetic evidence that I know of is the breast cancer tendency that some families have.  Beyond that I know of no discovered gene that predicts cancer, but I am not a medical person.  That said families do seem to have cancer or not have cancer.  Just like some have tendencies to alcoholism and some do not.  But I talk to people who have cancer who have no one in their family with the disease.

In my family, my grandmother died of bone cancer.  My uncle and brother died of liver cancer, and my parents both died of leukemia.  I have survived multiple myeloma and have been cancer free for over two years.  That’s definitely a family full of cancer.

Should you be worried if you are in one of those families?  I don’t know the answer, but I would be very sensitive to what’s going on in your body.  Get things checked if you detect anything out of the ordinary.  The early detection thing that the medical community talks about is very real.

Some women who have the breast cancer tendency in their family react by having mastectomies before cancer comes to lessen the chances of contracting the disease.  Each of us has to do what we feel is best in our situations.  But the bottom line here is if something comes up, get it checked out.

That is not to say you should be paranoid either.  If you are worrying about cancer and this is upsetting your peace with God, you have lost perspective about life.  Get your concerns checked out.  Talk to doctors and friends who have had similar conditions.

Scripture tells us to be anxious about nothing.  If you are worrying, then examine your relationship with God.  Call on Him and confess your anxiety, but follow up with a visit to someone who can honestly answer your questions.  Your worries may be about nothing, and then again you may be getting prompted by the Holy Spirit to have something checked out.

This is Not Your Father’s Chemo

When I tell people that I am taking chemotherapy, they sometimes look at me a little funny thinking that I should be a lot sicker than I am.  I can understand why they would feel that way if they have seen someone go through chemo procedures at some time in the past.  It just is not the case anymore.

My father was wonderful man who passes away about 15 years ago from acute leukemia.  He made a conscious choice not to take chemotherapy because he had seen what the “cure” did to his friends.  He decided that he did not want to live as he saw them live after they had taken chemo.  I never questioned my father’s decision then, nor do I do it now.  At the time and with his age, that seemed to have been the logical choice.

What chemo does and how it works has changed so much in recent years.  Yes, there are chemotherapy drugs that devastate people and make them weak, and vomit, and loose their hair.  Taking the drugs plus the radiation or possible surgery that is often needed can make life brutal for a time.  Unfortunately, these procedures are necessary when cancer has progressed rapidly or has not been caught early.

Fortunately, there is another side.  Many of the chemo cocktails mixed do not have the harsh side effects.  The chemo regimen that I take for MDS leaves my hair and only gives some nausea.  The drugs tend to target a specific problem and do not have the overall body impact of the drugs of the past.  People tend to be able to carry on with their lives rather than be bed-ridden or in a catatonic state.

Are the new drugs perfect with few repercussions?  I don’t think that is a true statement yet, but the drugs keep improving all of the time.  I was reading an article in the March 22 issue of Forbes where scientists are looking at miracle cures.  What they are finding that stimulating the person’s immune system to have the body heal itself is what the scientists are currently thinking.  So far a small percentage of people responded to the immune stimulus drugs, but hope abounds with the new cocktails.

I still believe that the hand of God is in the chemo drugs and the person prescribing them.  I don’t think anything escapes His eyes particularly for those who love Him and know Him.  I still know who the healer is and the power that He wields throughout the universe.  I am grateful that He is allowing scientists to investigate these new areas.