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Cancer as a Part-Time Job
Sile
Veteran
Some people I know, who both have cancer, got together for lunch today and one of them mentioned to the other that, in his opinion, "Cancer is a part-time job."
We've (including the husband of one patient, who brought it up) been talking about it all day at work, because it kind of shifts ones view on how to deal with cancer. Many people try to keep everything normal, "plus" cancer, only to find that ones life is overwhelmed with all the aspects of dealing with the disease. If one acknowledges cancer as a part-time job (depending on your cancer), though, it kind of frees you up, mentally, to assign the energy necessary to the task of working towards wellness.
Anyway--I promised I'd share it, since, despite several years of endless cancer conversations, this particular perspective hadn't come up in our circle. Amazing how eye-opening one new thought can be.
We've (including the husband of one patient, who brought it up) been talking about it all day at work, because it kind of shifts ones view on how to deal with cancer. Many people try to keep everything normal, "plus" cancer, only to find that ones life is overwhelmed with all the aspects of dealing with the disease. If one acknowledges cancer as a part-time job (depending on your cancer), though, it kind of frees you up, mentally, to assign the energy necessary to the task of working towards wellness.
Anyway--I promised I'd share it, since, despite several years of endless cancer conversations, this particular perspective hadn't come up in our circle. Amazing how eye-opening one new thought can be.
4
Comments
I totally agree with the concept of considering no chemo/radiation, but I would absolutely not end life prematurely. Through healthy living, or a combination even of chemo and healthy living, one can extend ones' life a long, long time. And even with unhealthy living, one can live a long, long time. My elderly neighbor had bladder cancer for close to ten years and didn't really go downhill until the very end.
In general, except for very certain cancers, though, I've pretty much decided I would take the naturopath route and not the chemo route.
Wow. Talk about a defeatist attitude....
I sincerely hope you will never seek (any sort of) work in the medical field.
BTW- My mother survived Cancer - twice- and is now 83 yrs old.
If you had cancer you would kill yourself just like that? Even if it was treatable? You would make all of those who care for you suffer at a sudden death because you think that is the right idea? I wonder if you actually had cancer you would hold the same idea...
That said, the best way to avoid cancer is to eat living food. You can significantly affect your likelihood of cancer by simply having a good diet, mostly by avoiding processed foods.
Sile, that's a great way of looking at it and can definitely change a perspective. Thank you for sharing it. I've mentioned before that our 4 year old is a diabetic, and because of his age his care is around the clock, even getting up in the middle of the night every night to test his blood sugar. But even on the hardest days, it's still "only" a part time job because our life doesn't resolve around it, we just deal with whatever at the time it has to be dealt with and then we play at the park or whatever.
If depression could be diagnosed by reading someone's post on the Internet, we could all be doctors.
I go with young and uninformed.
Doctor or not, something is clearly "off" and it warrants investigation. By a professional
Obviously it's up to @music to decide if his opinions and world view warrant some professional insight, but I don't think we'd be doing the right thing by him if we just ignored his comments and didn't suggest that a quick check up might be in order. I'd rather be wrong about his depression or whatever it might be than ignore it.
@Sile That's really neat to think about annoying-medical-condition as a part-time job ... it's really cool! Cancer doesn't necessarily ruin your ability to enjoy life, and it's very insightful to see people regarding it as just another aspect to deal with than as something completely debilitating and crushing. Spirits high! ^.^
The etiology of cancer and just exactly what a cancer cell is remains a mystery. (Cancer could well be a fungus. Johns Hopkins recently used the drug itraconazole, commonly used to treat toenail fungus, to stop the growth of new blood vessels seen in cancers.)
http://www.naturalnews.com/035876_baking_soda_cancer_fungus.html#ixzz28FrJzHg8
From WebMD:
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20080716/cancer-survival-rates-vary-by-country
The highest survival rates were found in the U.S. for breast and prostate cancer, in Japan for colon and rectal cancers in men, and in France for colon and rectal cancers in women, Coleman's team reports.
In Canada and Australia, survival was also high for most cancers.
The lowest cancer survival rates for all four cancers were found in Algeria.
There have been astounding jumps in 5-yr survival rates among many types of cancer in children between 1962 and 2007. Chart can be seen here:
http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=5b25e64c5b470110VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD
Really can't rely on a blanket statement regarding "mortality rates" not going down where cancer is concerned, because the fact is, childhood cancer is being treated more successfully than ever before, and cancer seems to be the cause of death (more often than not) in much OLDER people....
So even though cancer is the cause of death, these people are still living well beyond what the average life expectancy was just a short 60-75 yrs ago- cancer or no cancer.
We also know and classify many more types of Cancer than ever before as well. Up until just a couple of generations ago, the cause of death was very much generalized - even to the point of just labeling it "natural causes" or "related to old age"....
You said you are a middle-aged man.... I searched around to see if you had posted an introduction anywhere and I came up empty. So why not tell us a little bit about yourself? How old are you, really? Where are you from? What do you do? Do you have a wife? Family? Kids? I'm intrigued.
@Music
Aaah, International Man of Mystery.....
(Not really willing to open up, huh?)
@sile that is a very good observation. In that karma talk by Thanissaro Bhukku, he mentioned the teachings the Buddha gave his son about analyzing his actions. He tells his son, if you recognize an action you took as unskillful, then "confess" the unskillful action to a trusted person. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that you having cancer is unskillful, but perhaps we can take that advice on a more broad scale. Acknowledging our limitations/vulnerabilities in a more formal setting then our own mind, may helps us get a more clear picture of what needs to be done. In other words, it releases a bit of pressure/stress and allows us to focus a bit more on the task at hand and/or an overall goal.
EDIT: Added vulnerabilities after limitations.
Many people would think I was stupid for taking this approach but after the psychological distress I used to endure when I was fixated on the possibility of getting it, and seeing the alarmist ad campaigns and widespread paranoia, I prefer this approach. It may shorten my life, it may not.
I didn't vet this research, so it is probably worth poking around the 'net before taking it as true. If I recall right the study was done in CO... might help anybody looking for it. He said it was featured on PBS, possibly frontline.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2212210273/
I think, too, we have to take variables into account. For example, if someone goes on a raw food diet and reduces stress while being on chemotherapy, why is remission automatically attributed to the chemotherapy? Correlation doesn't equal causation.
Also, there are many, many people receiving hideously invasive and life-threatening treatment for tumours which will never kill them.
I'm not naive enough to think that cancer is not ever life-threatening. For me deciding on treatment or even screening tests is a matter of cost-benefit analysis. When I examined my fear of cancer, I realised I wasn't afraid of cancer so much as being a "cancer patient". Subtle but important difference.
BUT ... they have created the opportunity to make huge strides forward in my Buddhist practice, and these gains .. they are permanent. The benefit of them is so significant that, if given the choice of those health problems, I would choose them all over again.
As Buddhists we tend to focus on our 'desire', and how to not be hooked by it. But we tend to forget that our aversions are just as important to work with as our desire. We don't become free of something by running away from it.
I think, if I got Cancer, that I would see it as one more challenge to work with the dharma, to gain wisdom and strength.
After all, the First Noble Truth IS that suffering happens. If we, as Buddhists, accept the very basic teachings - the 4 Noble Truths - why do we fight the reality of suffering so much? Seems that we need to work through it ... not run away from the opportunity to grow. Buddhism is not about making our life "good" ... it is about becoming free from needing it to be "good" and also becoming free from this need "fixing" things that are "not good".
There was a Tibetan monk imprisoned for many years by the Chinese, taken out of his cell and beaten every day. Finally, his freedom was obtained and he was brought to the West. In an interview, when asked "What were you most afraid of during your years of imprisonment?", he replied, "That I would lose compassion for those who beat me."
Now there is someone who understood where our focus is supposed to be as Buddhists.
Oops. Turned out to be a fatty tumor.
http://dharma-haven.org/tibetan/sadhana-medicine-buddha.htm
Laugh as if you are going to die.
Live as if you're going to die.
Die as if you are going to life.
Above all, don't be precious.
Thus shall ye think of this fleeting world: A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream; A flash of lightning in a summer cloud; A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
-Diamond Sutra
Tmomerling really got it, I think! One should take care of oneself in whichever way possible, but should know that's never a guarantee one won't get sick. However, if one worries excessively, that can only eat away your health pretty fast.
@music I perfectly understand where you're coming from. I've had thoughts quite similar to yours in the past, and now and then they reappear. Yet that is not a proper way to get rid of suffering. If anything, it will only increase it. If one were to commit suicide to avoid such a suffering, in my understanding they will not only be setting themselves up for more suffering in the future (i.e. a bad rebirth), but also the event or mental anguish they were trying to escape from will probably follow them wherever they may go. Suicide is not the way out of suffering. If it were, the Buddha would have said so. Buddhas are the most compassionate beings. Why would he advocate a path that is hard and elusive whereas an easier path could lead us out of suffering? The only way out is the Noble Eightfold Path. That being said, I can't possibly judge those who take their lives. I only wish people would become more aware of what that might entail, and reconsider it 1000 times.