Archive for Cancer
While we’re talking food …
Posted by: | CommentsI know that this is Week 3 of Foodierama here in Cancer-for-Christmas-land. I’ve been accused of being food obsessed before, so it is what it is.
Yesterday, as I ranged around seeking wi-fi in the aftermath of Irene’s blowdown of the power lines connecting me with the volts necessary for my at-home office, I listened to Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The episode was an interview with Grant Achatz, molecular-gastronomy rock star and chef at Chicago’s Alinea, who among other things has won the James Beard Award and landed 3-count-’em-3 stars in the Chicago edition of the Michelin Guide.
He’s also a guy who beat Stage IV tongue cancer. He talks about both of these achievements in his book Life, on the Line: A Chef’s Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat (the link will take you to the book’s page on Amazon.com). As I listened, I found myself thinking about my recent post about the choice that Anna Stoessinger was forced to make after a stomach cancer diagnosis, and also about the aftermath that Roger Ebert faced after repeated surgeries to treat thyroid cancer left him disfigured, mute, and unable to ingest anything by mouth.
Maybe we can blame Chicago for at least two-thirds of this epic epicurean destruction? Kidding.
Grant Achatz traveled to New York seeking medical treatment – he was told that the best approach was to surgically remove his tongue and all the lymph nodes in his neck, followed by aggressive chemo and radiation treatment. They would try to replace his tongue with muscle tissue from elsewhere in his body. He was told that this treatment protocol would maybe buy him another few years of life.
He took that message home to Chicago, and discovered that there was a clinical trial at the University of Chicago that turned the traditional treatment dance on its head: aggressive chemo and radiation treatment, no surgery. This approach would burn the **** out of his tongue, and make him sick as a dog, but in the face of a “you’ve got Stage IV” diagnosis, he went for it.
Remember, he’s a world-renowned chef whose entire career has been about playing with flavor and texture. The treatment completely killed his sense of taste, and much of his appetite. But … it came back. Happily, the cancer did not. And he’s been cancer-free since late 2007.
If you take nothing else from this story, take this: don’t take any one doctor’s word for it. Whatever “it” is. Seek at least one other opinion, and if you’re facing some really scary stuff, get a few. And go with the one that gives you the most hope with the best provider possible.
Be informed, be your own advocate, and then surrender to the process.
And let’s all plan a trip to Chicago sometime soon, including reservations at Alinea. I personally can’t WAIT.
The Big C: Laugh. Learn. LIVE.
Posted by: | CommentsI admit that my default in all things is “first, you laugh.” It’s a lot easier to laugh than to scream. Plus, it hurts less.
So it will come as no surprise to you that I’m a big fan of Showtime’s The Big C.
I bring this up because the cancer that Cathy Jamison is battling is one that gets very little attention in this very pink world: melanoma.
Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer diagnosed in the US, behind prostate (#1), breast (#2), lung (#3 and rising), and colon/rectal (#4) cancers.
When was the last time you heard of an awareness campaign for melanoma? Or saw someone wearing the black melanoma awareness ribbon?
BTW, how telling is it that the melanoma ribbon is black? Too often, melanoma goes unnoticed until it’s reached an advanced stage – like Cathy Jamison’s Stage IV diagnosis. At any stage, the treatment can be pretty draconian: wide-excision surgery and radiation at the least, with chemo and/or interferon added at more advanced stages.
If you’ve got skin, you’re at risk for melanoma. If you’ve got white skin, your risk is higher. Every time you put on a bathing suit, ask a family member or friend to take a look at the parts of your skin you can’t see easily. Follow the A/B/C/D/E guidelines (click the link to see the list), and if you see anything suspicious, make an appointment to see your family doctor.
Laugh. Learn. LIVE.
Pink Ribbon Blues + Why #teamplaid
Posted by: | CommentsI had the great good fortune to be listening to Washington DC’s NPR affiliate, WAMU, early last week (yep, still love the radio – and particularly love that there’s an app for that on my Droid ;>) and heard a promo for a guest on that day’s Kojo Nnamdi Show: Dr. Gayle Sulik, a sociologist and researcher whose latest book is …
Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women’s Health
(note: I would have inserted an image of the book cover here, but WP isn’t playing nice today. Meh.)
The topic of Gayle’s book identifies one of the core reasons I kicked off #teamplaid – “pink” has done a great job making early detection a viable, life-saving way to avoid dying from breast cancer that isn’t diagnosed in the early stages.
I’m living proof of the viability of mammograms as early detection.
However, the focus on a cure – which has driven Komen to all kinds of questionable business partnerships, like the one with Kentucky Fried Chicken (really??) and the pink-cleated NFL in October 2010 - has watered down Komen’s early detection message.
If awareness is the goal, Komen achieved that at least a decade ago. Now it seems to be all about Komen’s brand visibility (see my buddy Alicia Staley‘s terrific post Lawsuits for the Cure (part 1 is here, part 2 is here). Moving from advocating for breast health and early detection to flogging fried chicken, pro football, perfume, and paraben-laden skin care?
I’m out.
And in with #teamplaid – lending my voice to the chorus seeking early detection for ALL cancers. Including lung cancer, which is now killing more women than breast cancer – the majority of which diagnoses and deaths are not smoking-related.
So: out with pink. Build your own plaid ribbon, and join the chorus.
One $5 pill cures cancer – click here!
Posted by: | CommentsDid that headline make you look twice? Did you want to click on it?
Yeah, snake oil sales language of the 1st water. It’s identical to the current “belly fat” online ad campaign that seems to be everywhere from CIO Magazine to TMZ … and about as likely to be (a) real or (b) effective.
Here’s the rule on health care information – on the web, on the phone (with friends and/or family), on the street – if it doesn’t come from a recognized expert, it’s likely a load of hooey.
Who’s a recognized expert?
- a scientist doing research on the disease/condition
- a doctor who treats people with the disease/condition
- a nurse or nurse-practitioner ditto
- a patient who has or has had the disease/condition
- a caregiver who has cared for someone with the disease/condition
Even if the person you’re talking to is in that group, apply both due diligence (fact check!) and caveat emptor (only guarantee in health care is that there are no guarantees in health care).
Or maybe it should be click-at emptor?
Whichever, wherever, consider the source. Check facts. Make a choice, and surrender to the process. Don’t be a meat puppet, but also don’t fall prey to Shiny Object Syndrome…
