Cancer Road to Recovery

 This information is at the Cancer Survivors Park in Omaha

                                                           Words of Encouragement

Carving of the Face for a Sore

First experience for me yesterday.  I had a sore removed from my face to be studied for cancer.  I had a sore that would not heal of probably at least a years duration.  Lidocaine works very well.  They said there would be a small sting as they injected it.  It was much more than a small sting.  IUt really hurt.  But after it started working I didn't feel a thing.  Especially when they were cutting it off, I did n't feel a thing.

Labwork says  Squamous Cell Carcinoma.  I got the lab from the One Health lab and haven't talk to the MD yet.  They did cut it off but said I may have to come back for more cutting if it was cancerous.  Symptoms include an open sore which doesn't heal which describes the thing I had on my face.  It was also sensitive to touch.

I also had a large tag from the back of my leg.  It was also tested but no cancer in it.  

Tobacco and your Body

 ON the left you see healthy lungs, and on the right smoker's lungs.  The good thing is the lungs start to clean themselves when you stop smoking. Tobacco contains more than 1000 chemicals.  This include nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide carcinogens and poisons.  Some of the poisons are highlighted in this picture.

 You can imagine what effect these things have on your body.  Nicotine causes addiction.  The cardiovascular system is greatly effected.  This can include blood clots, pneumonia, heart attack stroke, chest pain, high blood pressure, etc  Also the addiction results in withdrawal symptoms.  Risk of cancer is increased, most often in the lungs but also in the esophagus pancreas and other organs.  The reproductive system is also effected.  However, as mentioned above, quitting tobacco can result in almost immediate benefits.

**Take Control of Your Health: and Reduce your Cancer Risk

This is a pamphlet which was put out by the American Cancer Society.  I have never felt my family had much risk for cancer, as my grandparents all succumbed to heart related issues.  However, in the past couple months two of my close relatives have been diagnosed with, and treated for cancer, my sister with esophageal cancer and my nephew with thyroid cancer.  I guess I can no longer live in LaLa land.  This pamphlet suggests eight things to reduce risk of cancer:
1. Stay away from tobacco.  I have no problem there other than avoiding people who are smosking on the train platform where there is a no smoking rule.
2. Maintain a healthy weight.  My healthy weight is 100 pounds lower than I am now, but I am working for a loss of 65 pounds.
3. Get moving.  I walk considerable, but obviously not enough.  I need to add cardio and strength.
4. Eat healthy.  Here they are suggesting high fiber and avoiding processed foods.  I am fair to poor in this category.  We do eat whole grain bread which is good, but also we eat process meats and such.
5. Limit how much alcohol you drink.  I don't drink.
6. Protect your skin.  I usually wear sun screen and a t-shirt at the beech. I also wear a t-shirt when I swim.  I also like to keep to the shape whenever possible.  Manteca has a great deal of sun.  However I could do better so an average grade here.
7. Know yourself and your risks.  In some ways who I am is OK, but in others not.  I now know there must be some genetic risk.  However some of my health habits are good, walking, no tobacco and no alcohol.  Some are wanting, too much weight, too much processed food, not enough exercise.
8. Have regular checkups.  I am do for an MD appointment.

**Love Yourself: Bernie Siegel: Dynamic Health: Powerful Strategies for Healthy Living

I post my baby picture here for a reason.  Dr. Bernie Siegel tells a story of a phenomena that happens over and over.  He often talks to people, and holds up a baby, and everybody will ooh and aah and say how precious, how adorable.  He will then hold up an audience member, often a high school student, and every one will laugh and make fun, even the person being held up or asked to stand up.  And so the question, what changed in fifteen, sixteen years.  "Why were you a gorgeous baby, and now you're laughing at yourself?"... "So I really do tell people to get out their baby pictures and take a look at them.  I try to communicate to them that they're a child of God--to feel that they are divine rather than to tell them to do this, don't do that, it's not good for you, but to get them to love themselves so they then do what is good for them."
So I have posted my baby picture.  I am a child of God.  I am of divine worth.  I remember a saying our seminary teacher had in his office. "You are a child of God, and God doesn't make no junk."  When I feel down, I hope to see my baby picture, and remember my royal heritage.
Dr Siegel is a surgeon, and practices in the cancer field.  He began to realize hope and a lot to do with survival.  He and his wife established a program called ECaP (Exceptional Cancer Patients).  He talks of the importance of having love.  By this he means to love and be loved.  But he also is talking about having something you love, a passion.  He says it is funny, but now matter how ill you are, when you lose yourself in something you love, it seems to go away, you don't worry about the pain for awhile.  In my case, I don't hear my tinnitus.
Hope is important.  It improves your immune system.  It extends life.