Yesterday I had an appointment with my oncologist to review my recent PET
Scan, chest ex-ray and blood work.  He congratulated me by saying,

“you are now an “official” Cancer Survivor“.  I was diagnosed in 2005 and
now it’s 2010.  I guess five years is the accepted time span for being an
official cancer survivor.  I don’t necessarily believe that.  I
believe if you have been diagnosed with cancer, even if the
diagnosis was just five minutes ago, and you are still alive, you are an
official cancer survivor.

I realize that after five years, your chances for remaining cancer free
improves considerably.  If you were diagnosed with cancer yesterday, five
years ago, or 10 years ago , and you are still alive, you
are a cancer survivor.  Do you wants to continue
being a official cancer survivor?  If so, it’s up to you; not your doctors.
It’s like your stock broker told you when he was presenting an investment
opportunity, “Past results do not guarantee future results.”  You
need to take responsibility for your continued survival.  You need to be
proactive.  You know, things like having a healthy diet, exercise, avoiding
cancer risks and things like that.

Prevent Cancer by living a healthy lifestyle

I know I just said that you can prevent cancer from coming back by living a
healthy lifestyle.  I also know that for some people, that is easier said
than done.  But did you know that living a healthy lifestyle can become a
habit.  It can become automatic.  You can live a healthy style
completely automatically without even thinking about it.  Let me give you
an example.  Let’s say that you are driving your car and another car or a
pedestrian suddenly darts out in front of you.  Dou you consciously weigh
all your options?  Do you think, “I should bear left?  Or, “I
should veer right? or “I should hit the breaks”?  No, of
course you don’t.  You do what is best robotically without even thinking
about it. How did you learn to do that?  By driving every day for a period
of time.  The more you drive safely the more it becomes a habit.  You
become a safe driver.  The same thing is true developing the habit of
living healthy.  How many people are nervous about or even fail their first
driving test?  Most of us.  Most of us will falter and forget things
we should do as we embark on a healthy lifestyle.  But like driving skills
living a healthy lifestyle will become habitual.

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When I was first diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and the shock, fear and depression lessened, I did a great deal of research about cancer.  I wanted to know everything I could about the horrid disease called cancer.  I began to do as much cancer research as I could.

I’m still doing research and there is still an awful lot that I don’t know.  There is still a lot that the professional don’t know yet.  But thankfully, the research goes on.  And still there is much that we do not know.

Forms of Cancer

There are countless diverse forms of cancer and new discoveries are being uncovered on a daily basis. What we do know about cancer is what it is and how it affects the body.  We also know what the risk factors are. I am learning everyday about habits and behaviors to lessen the risk of cancer developing.  I am also learning about new treatments.  I created this blog help lower your risk of going through the turmoil of being diagnosed and treated for cancer.

Cancer education and research has given those in the medical community the skills to diagnose and treat cancer in the early stages.

All cancer is the result of cells that increase in an unseemly fashion.  They all begin from bad cell growth; it doesn’t matter where it is located within the body.  Normal cells divide and grow in the body on a regular, healthy basis everyday.

Cancer cells, however do not act this way; they divide more rapidly.  Then they mass forming, a tumor and sometimes they travel to other areas of the body and start taking over the normal cells. This is called metastasis.

Primary Cancer

Cancers are named for the part of the body in which the originated; this is called the primary cancer.  This fact is important because cancer treatment is based upon where the cancer starts.  My cancer first showed visible signs of a large growth on the right side of me neck.  The doctors told me they thought my cancer started in my tonsils but they wouldn’t be certain until they did tonsillectomy and biopsy. I responded by asking, “You think it started in my tonsils?”  I followed that question with, “I don’t care where it started, just get rid of it.”  That’s when I learned that cancer treatment is based upon the primary cancer; where the cancer starts even if it travels elsewhere in the body.

Lowering The Risk Of Developing Cancer

Today I focus much of my research on lowering the risk of developing cancer.  From the professional research I have read, I have discovered many things we can do to lower the risk of developing cancer.  By using these discoveries, we can adjust our lifestyles and diets to avoid things that increase our risk for developing cancer.  However, there is NO guaranteed way to avoid cancer.  Even doctors do not know every thing about cancer, so being able to avoid it all together is, to all intents and purposes, impossible.  Lowering your risks, however, is much better than not doing anything at all.  Research has shown that the less risk factors we have, the less of a chance we have for developing cancer.

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