http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_72786.html
"More cases of blood cancers classified as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, or NHL, seem to occur among people with diabetes than those without, researchers report"
It's all about the immune system...our bodies are out of whack.
"The researchers point out that the incidence of NHL has increased since 1950. They think the immune changes associated with diabetes "may, at least in part, account for the increased risk of NHL that we found in this study."
I have been reading a lot about food and cancer (the increase of sugar in the average American diet since WWII has allowed the rise of obesity which in turn can lead to Cancer.) That is a very short version of what I have been reading but that is the gist of it. I will elaborate in a separate post.
I have long been convinced that my immune system was not up to par when cancer developed in my body. If it was the rogue cell that kept dividing would have been killed off before it ever wreaked havoc on the rest of me.
It's all about the immune system. We are compromising our natural defenses against disease and it is slowly killing us. Our food, our water and our environment have been tampered with and therefore as our immune system suffers...we suffer.
...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Almost 19 months in remission.
Just got a call from my Oncologist. My last PET/CT scan on thursday is clean. I am still in remission. No Evidence of Disease.
I think it's funny that on Dec 18th of this month I will be exactly 19 months in remission and the very next day is my 2 year anniversay of my original diagnosis. Kind of a slap in the face to the cancer I had.
But while this is a sweet relief for me and my family a parent to kid in my son's pre-school class was just diagnosed again yesterday. They know it's cancer but they don't know what cancer exactly. Of course they are devistated.
Just to make it sting more the cancer returned just as he would be considererd a 5 year survivor. A nasty reminder that life is a cruel, cruel bitch. And a stronger reminder to me to not ever get comfortable with my remission.
Obviously "Remission is NOT a cure" and we have to fight every day...every single day as if it were our last because we never know for sure...
I think it's funny that on Dec 18th of this month I will be exactly 19 months in remission and the very next day is my 2 year anniversay of my original diagnosis. Kind of a slap in the face to the cancer I had.
But while this is a sweet relief for me and my family a parent to kid in my son's pre-school class was just diagnosed again yesterday. They know it's cancer but they don't know what cancer exactly. Of course they are devistated.
Just to make it sting more the cancer returned just as he would be considererd a 5 year survivor. A nasty reminder that life is a cruel, cruel bitch. And a stronger reminder to me to not ever get comfortable with my remission.
Obviously "Remission is NOT a cure" and we have to fight every day...every single day as if it were our last because we never know for sure...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Cross posted on my new blog...NOBODY GETS OUT OF HERE ALIVE!
I’m in the middle of my Cancer Diagnosis Anniversary Season. It’s a strange time for me. I discovered the lump or…bump on my neck on a normal Saturday evening in November 2006. In a few short weeks but during what felt like an eternity (45 days) I was officially diagnosed on December 19th 2006 with Cancer.
Two calls came to me that afternoon. My urologist called first to tell me the tumor on my left Kidney DID NOT match the tumors in my neck and chest. He told me I had Kidney Cancer (aka: Renal Cell Carcinoma) and advised me that I would have the kidney removed on January 2nd 2007.
Next my oncologist called to inform me that I indeed had a “Classic case of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma” and I would start treatment (Chemo) a few weeks after my Kidney surgery.
The Lymph node in my neck that was swollen was where the Hodgkin’s originated. It spread to my chest but that was as far as it got. The CT scan ordered after my original ultrasound lead my oncologist and urologist on a biopsy goose chase to determine if what was on my kidney was what had traveled to my neck and chest or vice versa.
They were more afraid that the Kidney had metastisized and had traveled to other parts of my body which would have been a certain death sentence. Instead they found I had two seperate cancers and the Kidney was apparently self contained. They removed the Kidney and the surrounding lymph nodes, confirmed the cancer had never left the Kidney and considered me “cured” of the Renal Cell Carcinoma. The Lymphoma was put into remission by May of 2007 and that is where I have been ever since.
The journey from there to here (today December 2, 2008) has been a long and tiring one. We dealt with numerous doctors, hospitals, biopsy surgeries, countless insurance company issues, COBRA and eventually Social Services. My wife lost her job just as I was beginning my chemo treatments, so with me already on disability we qualified for nearly everything the state offered.
We experienced health care on Medicaid, our food was mostly provided by Food Stamps and WIC. We applied for any assistance available and lived on welfare for most if not all of my six months of Chemotherapy. it was not enjoyable on any level. We still have issues to figure out financially. (We are not out of the woods yet) Along the way a lot of people stepped up and were champions. Complete strangers did amazing things for us and some people we didn’t expect to go that far went even farther. This is another reason we can only “pay forward” what we can not “pay back.”
Thankfully I did go back to work fairly quickly last summer after my last Chemo infusion (which was July 2, 2007) and have been with the same company ever since. We as a family have been thru Hell together and we’re still standing. We are still on the “up-swing” and life continues to improve everyday. I don’t understand why we went thru this event in our lives. I don’t know that I ever will. The only message I can take away from this is that life will knock you down every chance it gets and the only thing you need to do is get right back up.
No Retreat, No Surrender.
Fight until the fight is done.
And as I am beginning to accept…Don’t look back. You can never look back. Yes we do have to learn from the past but we can only move forward. The earth only revolves in one direction…
When I think back to those 45 days to diagnosis and the 6 months that followed it I remember how I wanted the earth to stop moving. Just for a few hours. Long enough for me to catch my breath…but it didn’t. The sun came up on December 20th with me fully realizing what we suspected way back in November. I had Cancer and there was a plan to attack it and save my life. We assembled the best team we could and attack it we did. I remember it all like it was yesterday.
And sometimes when I think about what we went thru I have to stop and catch myself before I fall into that stable old rut of a routine we had before. You don’t go thru this and remain unchanged. I have a responsibilty to other survivors and those who have lost their fight to Cancer. We have lost family members and a few friends to Cancer and I can’t let myself return to “business as usual” like nothing ever happened to me or to us as a family.
The saying goes: “Cancer may leave your body but it never leaves your life” I think Lance Armstrong wrote that in his first book “It’s not about the bike” (I could be wrong…) but that is the truest statement I have ever heard. Cancer is everywhere for me. I am reminded of it everytime I get dressed. I try and take life slowly. I try and take small steps now. I try not to rush. I try to actually taste my food and enjoy my coffe, or tea, or beer, or glass of wine. I try and pay attention to the little things and I try not to stress out and over react with my kids and life in general.
I see and hear what people do and say and their behavior magnifies what is truly important to them. And I withhold judgement and listen to the small voice in my head tell me that someday that person may get a taste of what happened to me. It may not be Cancer per se but something else will turn their world upside down and cause them to THINK! Hopefully it slows them down and makes them aware of whats around them.
Be in the moment. Be aware of your neighbor. Be there for someone else.
Just be.
*I'm on Facebook: Scott Ebisch
http://ebz1016.wordpress.com
Two calls came to me that afternoon. My urologist called first to tell me the tumor on my left Kidney DID NOT match the tumors in my neck and chest. He told me I had Kidney Cancer (aka: Renal Cell Carcinoma) and advised me that I would have the kidney removed on January 2nd 2007.
Next my oncologist called to inform me that I indeed had a “Classic case of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma” and I would start treatment (Chemo) a few weeks after my Kidney surgery.
The Lymph node in my neck that was swollen was where the Hodgkin’s originated. It spread to my chest but that was as far as it got. The CT scan ordered after my original ultrasound lead my oncologist and urologist on a biopsy goose chase to determine if what was on my kidney was what had traveled to my neck and chest or vice versa.
They were more afraid that the Kidney had metastisized and had traveled to other parts of my body which would have been a certain death sentence. Instead they found I had two seperate cancers and the Kidney was apparently self contained. They removed the Kidney and the surrounding lymph nodes, confirmed the cancer had never left the Kidney and considered me “cured” of the Renal Cell Carcinoma. The Lymphoma was put into remission by May of 2007 and that is where I have been ever since.
The journey from there to here (today December 2, 2008) has been a long and tiring one. We dealt with numerous doctors, hospitals, biopsy surgeries, countless insurance company issues, COBRA and eventually Social Services. My wife lost her job just as I was beginning my chemo treatments, so with me already on disability we qualified for nearly everything the state offered.
We experienced health care on Medicaid, our food was mostly provided by Food Stamps and WIC. We applied for any assistance available and lived on welfare for most if not all of my six months of Chemotherapy. it was not enjoyable on any level. We still have issues to figure out financially. (We are not out of the woods yet) Along the way a lot of people stepped up and were champions. Complete strangers did amazing things for us and some people we didn’t expect to go that far went even farther. This is another reason we can only “pay forward” what we can not “pay back.”
Thankfully I did go back to work fairly quickly last summer after my last Chemo infusion (which was July 2, 2007) and have been with the same company ever since. We as a family have been thru Hell together and we’re still standing. We are still on the “up-swing” and life continues to improve everyday. I don’t understand why we went thru this event in our lives. I don’t know that I ever will. The only message I can take away from this is that life will knock you down every chance it gets and the only thing you need to do is get right back up.
No Retreat, No Surrender.
Fight until the fight is done.
And as I am beginning to accept…Don’t look back. You can never look back. Yes we do have to learn from the past but we can only move forward. The earth only revolves in one direction…
When I think back to those 45 days to diagnosis and the 6 months that followed it I remember how I wanted the earth to stop moving. Just for a few hours. Long enough for me to catch my breath…but it didn’t. The sun came up on December 20th with me fully realizing what we suspected way back in November. I had Cancer and there was a plan to attack it and save my life. We assembled the best team we could and attack it we did. I remember it all like it was yesterday.
And sometimes when I think about what we went thru I have to stop and catch myself before I fall into that stable old rut of a routine we had before. You don’t go thru this and remain unchanged. I have a responsibilty to other survivors and those who have lost their fight to Cancer. We have lost family members and a few friends to Cancer and I can’t let myself return to “business as usual” like nothing ever happened to me or to us as a family.
The saying goes: “Cancer may leave your body but it never leaves your life” I think Lance Armstrong wrote that in his first book “It’s not about the bike” (I could be wrong…) but that is the truest statement I have ever heard. Cancer is everywhere for me. I am reminded of it everytime I get dressed. I try and take life slowly. I try and take small steps now. I try not to rush. I try to actually taste my food and enjoy my coffe, or tea, or beer, or glass of wine. I try and pay attention to the little things and I try not to stress out and over react with my kids and life in general.
I see and hear what people do and say and their behavior magnifies what is truly important to them. And I withhold judgement and listen to the small voice in my head tell me that someday that person may get a taste of what happened to me. It may not be Cancer per se but something else will turn their world upside down and cause them to THINK! Hopefully it slows them down and makes them aware of whats around them.
Be in the moment. Be aware of your neighbor. Be there for someone else.
Just be.
*I'm on Facebook: Scott Ebisch
http://ebz1016.wordpress.com
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