Paul's Heart

No Need To Panic – The Difference Between Paranoia And Routine

There is always a moment when I cringe, the moment someone asks me the question, “how did you find out you had cancer?”  Unlike the more familiar cancers such as breast cancer (lump) or skin cancer (oddly shaped blemish or mole), a blood cancer such as lymphoma and leukemia do not give the obvious signs which accelerate the opportunity for diagnosis.  As I have mentioned in prior posts, my original family physician, who is not an oncologist, originally diagnosed my Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, as a common cold.  After all, he had seen plenty of patients over his career, who had a similar symptom, and that is all that it was.  But because lymphoma is rare, it makes it complicated to diagnose.  And with lymphoma, treating it, and curing it, time is something you do not have time to spare.

So getting back to “how did I find out?”  Unlike other symptoms that I have had later on in life after I became aware of my compromised health, as a healthy young 22-year old, I really do not recall any particular moment before discovering a swollen lymph node under my left ear.  I do not recall any other symptoms that would have allowed me to share with my doctor.  A simple “itch” at that one particular moment, led to me discovering the swollen lymph node.

Now, as you are reading this, there is a good chance that you have now begun feeling around your neck area for any signs of a swollen lymph node.  This is why I cringe when I am asked the discovery question.  Because it is rare that the swollen lymph node is anything more than the body doing what it is supposed to.

A cold is a foreign substance that needs the body to use its immune system to fight that substance.  Your immune system is your lymph system.  The lymph system consists of not just lymph nodes which are located throughout your entire body from head to feet, but also certain organs of your body like the spleen, thymus, and tonsils.  Of course, just as you have blood vessels, you also have lymph vessels to help in the process of dealing with most illnesses when your body is faced with them.  The system is much more complicated than I can put in a post, but just know that it is perfectly normal to have a swollen lymph node when dealing with common illnesses.  A swollen node is not an automatic diagnosis of cancer.

A normal working lymph system will produce antibodies to help your body fight what is ailing you.  We sometimes get vaccines to help in this process (like for the flu and pneumonia).  And other times we need prescription medicines.  And under normal circumstances, the body will do what it has always done.  But some times, the infection of the lymph node is just too great for the body to fight by itself.  One thing to keep in mind, a swollen lymph node does not always cause pain.  Like I said, mine was an itch.  I have heard stories from others about the pain being so great, and there is usually more involved to the diagnosis at that stage of the disease.

So here is how I follow up the question, “how did I find out?”, and it is common sense.  If you discover a lump or swollen node, do not panic.  Contact your doctor immediately.  I know.  I know.  My doctor misdiagnosed me.  But things are much different today.  Awareness has become just as much important as the cure.  Doctors have so many more tools at their disposal, and they are definitely the ones better to make the diagnosis, cold, infection, or something else.  But whatever you do, tell your doctor everything that is not normal with your body at that moment to accompany the obvious symptom, a swollen node.  Then let your doctor do their job.  Do not be surprised though, if you are told “it’s probably a cold or infection” and you are sent on your way with a prescription.  This is normal.  Believe me, you will know soon enough if it is more than that as the medication, although showing slight improvement, will not resolve the issue, then it could be something else.  Hopefully though, you have a doctor who is more involved with your care, and willing to take extra steps ahead of time, like perhaps bloodwork to check white cell counts to see if anything goofy is going on with your immune system.

Bottom line, if you find a swollen node, do not panic.  See a doctor.  Do not diagnose yourself.

Cancer – An Uglier Word Than…

When you first mention the phrase, “ugly word”, my mind immediately goes back to the comedic bit by George Carlin, and his “seven words you can’t say on TV.”  To me, those words are just that, words.  They cannot hurt physically, though they have the potential to hurt emotionally.  To me, cancer is an even uglier word than those recited by Carlin.  I have every right to make that claim, because just as the other words can hurt emotionally, so can cancer.  But cancer hurts physically as well.

I can make this claim.  Besides coming into my life with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma back in 1988, cancer has decimated my family.  My paternal grandmother died from cancer of the gall bladder.  My paternal grandfather died from complications of lung cancer.  My maternal grandmother survived breast cancer only to succumb to ovarian cancer.  My sister passed away from a relapse of aplastic anemia (a form of leukemia) after having been in remission for over three decades.  And this past May, I lost my father to lung cancer.

I have had many more friends pass away from cancer and have known many more who have died as well.  Yes, I get to state that cancer is a very ugly word.

Over the years, there have been many campaigns used to draw attention to cancer.  “Save The TaTa’s” is a campaign for breast cancer, a campaign I support (figuratively, not literally – no pun intended).  While it may lack “taste” to some, it does get attention, which of course leads to awareness.

A couple of years ago though, a new campaign began.  I first became aware of it while on a Facebook page for Lymphoma.  A young woman had been celebrating the announcement of their remission.  A picture had been taken of her holding a sign in one hand, and her other hand was posed with her middle finger sticking up with the old one-finger salute.  I know where the finger was directed because the sign said simply, “F*ck Cancer!”  Clearly she was making a statement of defiance.

Normally, when we hear or see the F-bomb, it is generally used in slang or some obscene sexual reference, and this is not normally acceptable used by society.  But I personally feel, when it is used an expression of anger or defiance, it is emotion that needs to come out.  Dropping an F-bomb on Cancer to me is not a “dirty use” of the word.  Cancer patients have every right to be angry, and I definitely want cancer patients to be defiant to cancer.  Cancer expects us to just roll over and die, not fight back.

Since the time I discovered that FB page, it has grown so much.  And it is now a movement with over 171,000 “likes”.  These are people who have stood up to cancer, or will do what they can to stop cancer.  But before you judge them, just because they use a word unaccepted by society, check them out:

https://www.facebook.com/FxckCancerUSA

I do not normally use language considered obscene.  I do not really need to do that when I have conversations.  But when it comes to taking on one of the ugliest words in the world, cancer, I have no problem saying “Fuck Cancer.”  I have more than earned my right to say that after what cancer has done to me and my family.