I admit it: I am guilty of it. When I hear that someone has lung cancer I automatically think to myself: I wonder if this person was a smoker? I want to know because I am not, and if this person did smoke and I am not, then it should follow that I should be safe from getting lung cancer. There is some false security in thinking that way, but security none the less. Now we all know that some people who never even touched cigarettes do get lung cancer and some others who smoked like chimneys all their lives, do not. So it is unfair to "blame the victim" to be sure, but the default is to think that way.
When the shoe is on the other foot however, I do not like it so much. I do not appreciate it when I am told/asked or implied that I must have colon cancer due to bad eating habits. You see, I tend to think that our eating habits, although not perfect by any means, were quite good even before I was diagnosed. There are many, many reasons why a person may end up having cancer and for colorectal cancer here are a few:
Also not mentioned are: all sorts of chemicals and food additives, hormone replacement therapy, a certain type of e-coli bacteria, PCBs, etc. Notice that of the whole list, some, but not that many, pertain to diet. People ask me if we have changed our diet since my diagnosis and we have, although not drastically in my opinion. The 2 most obvious ones are: trying to increase our fiber intake and try to eat as much home-prepared food as possible. I will elaborate on our diet in future posts. I am reading an interesting book on Food at the moment. I will comment on that at a later date also.
If you have cancer, please go easy on yourself! If you know anyone who does, please go easy on that person! Thanks! SanTeh!
Towards the weekend: on a lighter note: Mary went to Lloyd recently. I wonder if she also ran into Nick? 😄😄 (possibly on Friday?) Doing housework today hah!
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