<p>Here is my meager contribution: One of the problems I have with “cancer” is that it covers such a wide range of illnesses. One cancer diagnosis might come with an accurate prognosis of 2 months to live. Another diagnosis of a different type of cancer, caught early, might have a 99% cure rate. I now have to honestly check “yes” next to the cancer box, and explain that I have had several basal cell carcinomas removed. This is such a benign form of skin cancer I think they should give it a different name. So in my mind, the word “cancer” covers far too many ills. If a friend is diagnosed with cancer, I tell my panic-prone wife to take a deep breath and at least wait for the biopsy results.</p>
<p>“Although, I’m quite sure I never asked her for money!!! What the heck is THAT all about?!”</p>
<p>That is category 3. ;)</p>
<p>I had a friend for 40 years that makes alot of bad decisions. I helped him in a small way financially a couple of years ago. I gave him $2,000. When I helped him I told him to get a job and your wife needs to get a job too.
I talked to him occasionally after the gift. Told him to get a job. His wife called me. She asked me if they were going to end up on the street. I said, “No. You just need a job. Go work at McDonalds.”</p>
<p>No jobs. My exfriend calls me.
I tell him what I am dealing with in detail…very, very serious s…</p>
<p>And this is what my exfriend said to me. This is very accurate.
“I didnt know that. My unemployment is running out. Can you loan me some money? I will give you 50 percent interest.”</p>
<p>Wow. I have no words for that.</p>
<p>Yeah…</p>
<p>I didnt really either. :)</p>
<p>I have something that is not likely to kill me, unless as a logical consequence from having chronic pain for years.
I don’t think enough attention is given to chronic pain and what it does to people.
If your disease is “worthy” then you might get treatment, but if it doesn’t leave you grotesquely disfigured, then your pain may be minimized not only by your coworkers & family but by your medical providers.</p>
<p>Viewer, I just want to preface this reply with saying that in no way was my post directed at you. And in no way was it to minimize yours, or any other person’s, tremendous struggles with cancer or any other disease. You are correct in your assumption that I have not ever been diagnosed with cancer. I could never imagine your personal struggles. I am simply providing an opinion that was a response to the question posed by the OP. From this perspective, I must reply to a few of your comments</p>
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<p>I do not believe a cancer diagnosis should not invoke fear. I do however, believe that crippling fear is not necessary in every case anymore. I also believe that fear should come only after a thorough analysis of all the facts of the diagnosis and/or prognosis. One does not have to speak from experience to assert the validity of this approach. This approach is universal to almost all tough situations in life. Rash emotions always lose to logic IMO. </p>
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<p>I respectfully disagree. While I cannot fathom or even attempt to completely understand what it’s like to live with cancer, I do think my perspective has some merit, at least in the context of my earlier analysis. I was commenting on societal trends and aspects of cancer. Raw sociological effects. In this sense, I believe my not being diagnosed with cancer means that I am relatively unbiased in my perspective. I do not appropriate merit to my perspective in a conversation of the personal effects of cancer.</p>
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<p>I was not directing my “logical hope” statement to you directly. I was directing it to newly diagnosed people who may have been stricken with fear prior to doing a thorough analysis of their situation. I was speaking generally. And again, I will say that, as a general trend, the average newly diagnosed cancer patient has much more cause for logical hope than he/she may have had 10-20 years ago. </p>
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<p>I’m beginning to wonder why I’m being personally attacked for trying to provide a general answer to the issue posed by the OP. I, truly, was not trying to offend anyone.</p>
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<p>I very much agree with this. The powers of the media are enormous. The reporting of “horror stories” has been a huge catalyst for recent advances in research and awareness. If the media beefs up the effort, we are likely to see the positive trends continue. However, these “horror stories” only help in the area of preventative care. Over-reporting can cause unnecessary emotional distress to someone who is newly diagnosed, and has yet to make a logical determination if fear of certain death is warranted.</p>
<p>I wish to close with a reiteration of my opening statement. I mean no offense to you. Nor do I assert my qualifications in discussing the personal effects of cancer. Viewer, you are a strong person. Much stronger than me in many respects. And my rebuttals to your comments are not personal jabs. I just want to continue a discussion (i.e. the one on this thread) that I believe is infinitely valuable to all of society.</p>
<p>My father didnt live to see any of his children graduate from high school- he had a genetic disease that I have passed on to my children.
Do you know what that feels like?</p>
<p>People who live in large urban areas are fortunate in having “Cancer Treatment Centers” and the ability to assemble “teams” of doctors to coordinate treatment. I can imagine people dependent on small-town hospitals in the boonies don’t have it so good. And there are areas where they are lucky to have a GP or two, let alone an oncologist or other specialist. </p>
<p>Chiropractors seem to be everywhere, however…</p>
<p>Yeah and Medicare covers chiropractors when it doesn’t cover ( IMO) more effective treatments.</p>
<p>"I know many here have had cancer, or have/had family members with cancer, and I have some questions. I’m afraid my questions will seem insensitive, but please believe me that I’m asking so that I can become MORE sensitive and gain more understanding.</p>
<p>Mostly I want to know why a diagnosis of cancer is so different from any other diagnosis of a really horrible disease."</p>
<p>SpiderPlants, I think the answer to your question is because everyone has been affected by cancer in some way–family, friend, co-worker–and it makes it more real. Even if you aren’t the person with the disease, you have a personal connection.</p>
<p>I am living with ovarian cancer. I sometimes feel like I have an “inferior” kind of cancer, and I know there are others who probably feel the same. I am extremely happy for all of the progress made with the cure for breast cancer, and I do not for one second begrudge any of the women what they get. But “amenities” for women with breast cancer are far more than those with ovarian cancer. I’ve even joked with my doctor about it. Politics plays a part in everything in life. It’s just the way it is. </p>
<p>To those of you who are enjoying good health right now, please enjoy every normal minute of every day. To those of you who are dealing with serious health issues, either personally or those of a family member, I hope tomorrow is a better day than today.</p>
<p>I would agree that if you live long enough, everyone will either get cancer or know someone with cancer.
Having a major research facility ( Fred Hutchinson)in the area, makes it even more likely, even if many actually will not die of cancer.
I’ve known two girls my daughters age who had leukemia & Hodgkins- both recovered
My grandfather died of colon cancer in his late 80’s
My grandmother had most of her bladder removed after cancer surgery but died from heart problems in her late 80’s
My mother ( their daughter) died in her early 70’s from heart related problems ( no cancer)
I’ve also known a few others who have been diagnosed with various cancers, including my Fil who is in his mid 80’s, but for everyone except my grandpa, everyone is either still alive or died of something else.
I don’t know if it has a clearer treatment protocol than other illnesses, but since there is such a variation of progression severity, I agree that to categorize slow moving cancers in with much more virulent ones can be confusing- although you can find people that have the exact same thing but their bodies react differently.
Having a non cancerous tumor can also kill you if it is in the wrong place.
Sometimes I also think the treatment can be as bad as the disease.
We need to consider who we are extending life for?
Is it for the patient or is it for their friends & family who want to feel like everything possible was done- while disregarding quality of life?</p>
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<p>I don’t mean to be unduly negative, but I think part of the answer is that many of us have * lost * friends and family to cancer. My brother survived only two years after he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma at 44. Very rare, they told us. Also since not well-known, I can’t begin to tell what a hard time his insurance company gave him about “experimental” treatments - well, for a cancer with no cure, what the &@$ else is there?</p>
<p>Yes, for me the word evokes a visceral, “shark in the water” fear.</p>
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<p>I’m very sorry about your brother.</p>
<p>Maybe, you have to be this close to cancer to get the point here.</p>
<p>With all due respect, I think that many of us who are reflecting on the Op’s question have been closely impacted by cancer. My dad died recently of lung caner, my brother had colon cancer in his thirties, my BIL died at 56 from liver cancer and one of my best friends had breast cancer. </p>
<p>I don’t know many people who have not lost a loved one to a type of cancer. Nobody is trying to delegitimatize the money and attention that is assigned to the disease. We are discussing (or lamenting, I guess) that other devastating diseases do not seem to have the same support system in place that is often available to cancer patients. </p>
<p>The desire to discuss the issue and an empathy for cancer patients are not mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>I completely agree with EPTR’s post</p>
<p>That is fine. Money talks.</p>
<p>In our society we would rather have the mortgage tax deduction and pay 4 times more for the same medical procedure compared to other countries than fund research for relatively rare illnesses or rare diseases. </p>
<p>We could as a collective say we want to fund research for very rare illnesses but we dont. </p>
<p>By the way, some rare cancers and tumors dont get research funding either.</p>
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<p>Just curious…which countries with the more ‘elevated’ tax structure are currently providing the research into these rare diseases… and…why are we not simply leveraging off of the research results…aka…Africa off of US AIDES research and meds?</p>
<p>This thread has got me thinking. My father died of congestive heart failure. I had never really thought of that condition before, it was under the radar. But it is really a rather common and pretty awful disease (COPD, mentioned earlier, is similar). Generally the disease gets better and worse in cycles, but the prognosis overall is a steady decline. Perhaps it’s because young and middle-aged people get cancer, so it worries everyone, while the chronic pulmonary/heart diseases affect almost exclusively older people. Or it could be that cancer is often painful while CHF isn’t. The OPs question is interesting.</p>
<p>My father died of oral cancer at 47. I was 14. My MIL died of breast cancer at 59. Several friends have also died of it. So I think I’ve been pretty close.</p>
<p>Another friend died in her 40s of MS. My Sister-in-law is battling terrible complications from Sjogrens which have rendered her severely disabled and could be fatal.</p>
<p>I agree with EPTR; we don’t have to compare–all potentially deadly diseases are awful and deserving of coordinated treatment, research for a cure, and compassion from all of us.</p>
<p>Sorry that I keep going back to my friend with ALS but it has been, for me, an eye opening experience. When she was diagnosed her youngest of four children was three months old. Her oldest was 9. I remember her first visit to a major research hospital. It is the leading hospital for management of ALS and the doctor she saw is one of, if not THE leading expert in the country. I assumed that they would get her set up with a therapist, family counseling, PT, etc. Instead it was like she went to the dentist. She came home with nothing in place except for her next appointment in six months.
With an ALS diagnoses, the anticipation of lost mobility is key to the management of symptoms. Having equipment in place ahead of the need for it can help reduce stress and minimize safety concerns for the patient. None of that was addressed at her appointment.
As her friend, I remember feeling helpless and frustrated and well, shocked that a young mother, given the worst news in the world, was just sent home with an appointment card.</p>