Cancer and the continuing saga of Juan
My death scare started with the day I spent in the Chemotherapy pharmacy with watching all the chemo drugs get prepared and continued yesterday when I sat in on a counseling session a pharmacist was having with a chemo patient. During the interview, I heard her say to the patient that "You know, unfortunately, that we're not gonna be able to get rid of everything, right?" I was very taken aback by this because I was wondering why she was basically telling the lady that she will never be rid of her cancer. Turns out that really was the case, because when I told the pharmacist about my reaction to what she said, I was told that the lady had metastatic breast cancer. So basically, she is going to die, and the chemo drugs are for palliative care only. That's when we started talking about that bitch cancer.
What it comes down to is that EVERYBODY has a chance of getting cancer. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that even though some people are unfortunate enough to have the disease, some might actually be luckier than others and get a certain type of cancer, due to the fact that some have a better prognosis than others. For example, breast = good[if caught early], pancreas = hella bad. Pancreatic cancer?? WTF?? Anyway, we got into a discussion about cancer and I was basically scratching my head and asking her what can be done to avoid it. She basically told me 'nothing' and that it's the luck of the draw whether you get it or not, and if you do have it, which one you have the unfortunate luck to come down with. On top of that[!!], once you're past those two stages, it comes down to whether your cancer spreads or not, because once it spreads, that's definitely it.
Personally, I don't think anybody can avoid cancer because its incidence is someway, somehow directly linked to all the crap that is in our surrounding environment, from the air that we breathe to what is in our food and there is no way of avoiding it or getting around it. What exactly causes cancer? I don't think anybody really knows[of course they always try to put a 'genetic link' in there, but to me that's bollocks most of the time]. I think the way our food is produced nowadays in the main culprit. People have tried to 'purify' how food is made, as seen in the popularity of organic foods. I know that organic food is out there and everything, blah blah blah, but UNLESS you plan to eat organic food at EVERY meal, EVERY day, for THE REST of your life, you are going to be at risk. Nobody out there eats like this...you are gonna have non-organic bread and drink a Smirnoff Ice every once in a while and who knows what artficial flavors and preservatives they use to make those. It's not to say that eating organic isn't good, but if I'm gonna be at risk for cancer anyway, should I just save my money and by the regular junk? Who knows. Also, they always have news items talking about how eating this, or eating that might lower your risk for cancer. But I'm not gonna be eating tomatoes and drinking red wine everyday, so I think all that is crap too.
So all I'm gonna do is cross my fingers and hope that I am one of the lucky ones. [fingers crossed NOW]
ON A LIGHTER NOTE, in the continuing saga of Juan....actually this time, Juan isn't in the story[although I did see him in the pharmacy yesterday and stopped to say hi]. I spent part of the day yesterday with a pharmacist named Amanda who was in charge of the aseptic unit of the hospital. When I went in there, I was introduced to yet ANOTHER Spanish fellow, this one by the name of Fran [at least I think that's what I heard, but I thought to myself that ain't no damn Spanish name]. We all got to talking in there and he too started asking me about pharmacy back home and then specifically about Florida.
Turns out, he's best friends with Juan and they are planning on moving together! He told me that Juan was all excited when he talked to me the previous day when I was telling him what I knew and he said he wanted a chance to question me too. He told me that he and Juan moved from Spain to Bath together, they're going to Thailand, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand together, and now on to the US together. He joked and said people sometimes ask if they are gay but he said they've just known each other for a very long time. He was no Juan, but he was good-looking as well, and was much funnier [I laughed so hard when he told me one of his friends that had moved to the US was an actual gigolo..the stereotype is true]. So with those two together, 'who knows how many hearts they've broken,' to quote another pharmacist named Denise. I told him to pick Florida too [lol] and he said that a lot of people have told him the same thing.
Too bad today was my last day. Hope they have a good time when they move!
| Permalink | E-mail this post 
lol I love all those commercials where they proudly annouce that their product "may help reduce the risk" of cancer/heart disease/whatever you're scared of getting. "May Help Reduce the Risk"...that's FOUR possibilities it's working on, meaning it isn't doing a damn thing for you. But, hey, don't fear cancer. If you don't die of that, you've got diabetes and heart disease to enjoy. Also, your logic about the fact that to get any "real" benefits from organic foods and stuff, you'd have to eat it constantly, so why bother is flawed! The people who try to eat healthily and exercise and whatnot are probably not aiming to live forever, just for improved quality of life!
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:16 AM
only you, kadie, would tell me my 'logic is flawed.' lol. but my answer to you is that because everything I said was fear-based, I don't have to be logical or rational. so there. lol
but if you do want me to give you my reasoning for what I said, personally I don't really consider eating organic foods to be 'eating healthy.' To me eating healthy is when you make it a point to have a decent balance of all the nutrients one needs for proper functioningfrom a variety of souces. So whether you eat an organic banana or non-organic banana, eating THE banana means you've accomplished the goal of eating properly. Organic foods are only a means to avoid what people consider dangerous additives. And I personally think that eating organic foods here and there doesn't do much to overcome the damage that eating non-organic[i.e. processed, refined, homogenized, artificially-flavored, freeze-dried, u name it] foods does to your body once it's inside you already. i.e. I think the junk has a better chance of winning and hence my pessimistic attitude[maybe I'm wrong...but I don't think anybody knows for sure.]
This doesn't mean that I think people shouldn't eat organic foods at all. If a person believes they are 'eating healthy' by incorporating organic foods into their diet, good for them, because that probably means that are gonna truly 'eat healthy' as I have defined it and feel good about themselves. Just as with medicines and drugs, this placebo effect can have tremendous impact.
Posted by
onus1234 |
10:55 AM