Posted on 03/31/2007 11:16:47 PM PDT by neverdem
Why is it that Americans speak of trying to whip cancer, show courage in the face of it, and die after a long battle against it? Why at the same time do we tell ourselves cancer is the new diabetes, a chronic disease we can have for a lifetime?
It's because what F. Scott Fitzgerald said about the rich -- "They are different from you and me" -- is true of cancer among the multitude of bodily afflictions. We think it's different, too.
We take cancer personally. We talk about it in terms we would never use for heart disease, which actually kills more people, or stroke, the third most common cause of American death. We impute to it something like evil intent, and to some extent we make our response to it a measure of human character.
Cancer is the physiological equivalent of war -- hand-to-hand combat, specifically. Cancer talk often invokes a soldier's virtues, not only physical strength but a "fighting spirit."
But as in combat, there's a fair amount of wishful thinking and intentional disregard of calculable risk. There aren't many statisticians in foxholes. There is a curious lack of them in cancer clinics, too. Truth may not be the first casualty in the war on cancer, but it sustains a fair amount of collateral damage.
All of this was on display in the past two weeks as Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, and Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, announced their cancers -- hers breast, his colon -- had reappeared.
At the daily briefing where she described Snow's news to reporters, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that "if you know Tony, then you know that he's a fighter. . . . He told me that he beat this thing before and..."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
If it were to hit, me I would quickly (10 days max) wrap up all of my debt/financial/estate questions, and the rest would be a personal journey.
Wise words!
My husband has metastatic melanoma stage IV.
His military service is serving him well in this fight of his life.
There is a group of FReepers fighting cancer and other diseases by utilizing their computers when no other work is being done. It's called "folding". Join us.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1805959/posts
Dear Lord Most Heavenly Father..., let mariabush be the most best wife for him and for him the best husband for her, that always has been and always will be in eternity.
Salute
(((hugs))) mariabush,Bump.
Thanks so much!
A wonderful prayer! We are just enjoying each other everyday.
Hang in there beautiful.I mean that with all my heart.
Does anyone have any experience with managing the fevers due to malignancy? That's my husband's worst problem. They can go up to 104.7 (the highest yet).
Ibuprofen and tylenol bring them down after an hour or so, but meanwhile, he's out of his head. I give him sponge baths to cool his skin, feed him ice cream, and take his temp every 15 minutes to see if it's going up, still, or on the way down...
Ibuprofen and tylenol bring them down after an hour or so, but meanwhile, he's out of his head. I give him sponge baths to cool his skin, feed him ice cream, and take his temp every 15 minutes to see if it's going up, still, or on the way down...
I wish you all the best. No one is added to my lists without asking. The reason that Judith Anne's question is included is because I know I have a number of health care professionals on this list. The inclusion of the following links should not be interpreted as belittling the serious nature of Judith Anne's awful situation. All help is always appreciated. These extraneous links are just my usual way of linking health & science articles from the general news. I only wanted Judith Anne's request to get the most attention.
Saving Money and Saving Lives in Nursing Homes
Cold fusion is back at the American Chemical Society
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Maybe heat is your friend:
http://www.google.com/search?q=heat%2C+cancer&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8
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