WHY DO YOU THINK YOU GOT CANCER?

We've all wondered that. 

At some point the question of what could I have done different enters all of our minds. Searching for the answer is what fuels research and thats a good thing, but I try not to dwell on it for too long because one of the answers is stress and that is something I have tried to keep at a minimal level. For the majority of my 54 years here on earth I have lived a relatively healthy lifestyle. My parents were aware of the benefits of eating lots of fruit and vegetables and getting plenty of exercise. Unfortunately so much was unknown about environmental dangers though. Even crayola crayons contained lead and I'm sure I nibbled a few, and who else my age remembers the rubber cement on our desks in school for projects. My dad had the most beautiful lawn but I remember smelling the weed killer all summer! As I grew up I made a few poor choices on my own, and for that maybe I pay the price but I wouldn't have believed it at the time. My husband has had a stem cell transplant and full bone marrow transplant for multiple myeloma (a blood cancer) and I, both anal cancer and breast. I too had genetic testing, (both my mom and grandma had ovarian/pelvic cancer)...my test came back negative for the mutated brac gene. I also had some further genetic test that determined it was unlikely I carried any genetic predisposition. Still I feel that there is something in our genetic make-up that puts some at a higher risk than others. There will always be the unforseen, like HPV, that we may not be able to predict but my way of thought now is to live as healthy as possible through diet, exercise, education and faith as an effort to be strong enough to battle any further cancer diagnoses. I try to encourage my friends and family to do the same so that if and or when they ever have to face this they too will be in the best possible condition to fight. It is funny you say you didn't listen to you body, as I did not either. Life was happening around me and I attributed symptoms to something else. Outcome may have been the same, but lesson learned!

I'll be attending another relay for life this evening with some friends and family, and will be taking with me the attitude of inspiring hope for the future health of all as we move forward in fighting this awful disease.

lp1964 said:

Gomel?

What or who is it?

Is a city in Belarus. Many people there were affected by the Chernobyl disaster

Lorikat said:

I don't think I did anything

I don't think I did anything but live....  Many people some years ago died from "the vapors, or consumption" or whatever..  Who knows what it really was!  I don't try to figure it out...

 

Why waste time asking why I got anal cance?.  Hopefully each of us appreciate life more now that we have endured this dreadful cancer.

Mike

Apparently doctors get this one a lot as do priests, therapists, etc. Sometimes we get the wrong answers about why. I read a wonderful anthropological study in Smithsonian magazine, many years ago wherein a forensic scientist had the opportunity to study "mummies" in Peru that were apparently rising up all around from erosion of the soil in people's back yards, etc. He gladly collected these "mummies" and analyzed them. He found much to his surprise, they died from the same causes we are dying from cancerous tumors, many of them. They had no enviornmental polutants, etc. ate vegetables and fish, etc.  Not many years later I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. This was in 1973. I am lucky to be alive to have gotten cancer twice! Instead of "why me" I always ask, "why not me?"

Mortality is hard to face but sickness is harder. I have enjoyed life very much the last few months. After adjusting to Lymphedema. Now I am sick again with something else that's debilitating and idiopathic. This is really hard. It's all been hard. But life is b-u-t-ful and it's how we grow spiritually, in my belief, which is I guess the whole point.

Good luck and thank you for your thoughtful post.

Fondly,

Sandy

Because I am alive.   so I can empathize and "be there" ... Really be there for others who share the same path.  

horsepad said:

Heredity.  My father, sister,

Heredity.  My father, sister, grandfather, cousins, aunts, all died of cancer.  Did I do things in my life that may have contributed to my getting cancer?  Absolutely.  I think if you eat anything that is not organic and breath you are increasing your chances.  Why me?  Why not.

I mostly eat organic after knowing what it is like to be poisoned for the first time in the way we were poisoned by chemotherapy to kill the cancer. I just don't choose to put any more poison into my body if I can help it. I believe I feel better usually if my eating habits are clean and simple. Eat meat, fish, eggs, dairy - whatever if I am celebrating something but went without it for months and felt better. It's my wiggle worm now since I don't drink any more:-)

Fondly,

Sandy