Heat it to Beat It

I just came back from Baltimore Sunday night, I attended Heat It To Beat It, the annual fundraising walk of Dr. Sardi and Mercy Hospital.  The walk raised funds for research into cancers that can be treated with HIPEC: appendix, ovarian and colon cancers.  Cancers that spread into the abdominal cavity.  Most represented at the walk is appendix cancer.   Next year is their 10th anniversary.  I’ve so far been to 6 out of the last 9 walks representing the Appendix Cancer Connection, my organization, there.

I often speak to appendix cancer patients who ask me if I know of long term survivors other than myself.  They feel badly they haven’t been able to talk to anyone who has been through what they have.

I suggest you go to Heat it to Beat It if you can next year.  I was there 10 minutes this year and met  nine and ten year appendix cancer survivors.  Below is a picture taken of appendix cancer survivors, there are many.  And just ask anyone with a red survivor T-shirt to talk to you, and they will!  It’s a support group too!

There is HOPE there!   Survivors!

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Guilt

For some reason I recently got to thinking about guilt in regards to a cancer diagnosis.  Did we do something wrong to make this happen?  Did we not eat right, did we not exercise enough, did we smoke?  I remember seeing a survey for appendix cancer patients, and many had smoked before diagnosis.

I smoked for many years before my diagnosis, and did not quit smoking until 2 years after my diagnosis.  If smoking is related to stress relief, having a cancer diagnosis makes it VERY hard to stop smoking.   I also told myself chemotherapy can cause cancer (it is carcinogenic), and all of the radiation for CT scans was carcinogenic, so I told myself I was at least going to choose one of my carcinogens.  I finally did quit after 2 years, and quit for 6 years, then started smoking again for a year (hoping to lose the weight I gained when I quit, didn’t happen).  I’ve now quit again for I think 6 years?  Now I don’t want to smoke and don’t even think of smoking, though I still do enjoy the smell of cigarette smoke.

Interesting, so many people are made to feel guilty if they smoke and get lung cancer, but actually only one in 10 heavy smokers get lung cancer in a lifetime, 9 out of 10 don’t.   I recently talked to an oncologist who said he has many lung cancer patients who NEVER smoked, and many newly diagnosed who quit smoking many years ago.  One of my physicians recently died of lung cancer 2 weeks after he was diagnosed, it had metastasized to his brain.  He had never smoked. The oncologist felt smokers should not be made to feel guilty.

I think we need to be careful not to make ourselves feel like we had any part in creating our cancer.  People who do everything right and have healthy lifestyles get cancer, children get cancer.  Cancer is never fair and no one deserves it, not you, not me.  We need to be gentle with ourselves.