Surviving a Cancer Diagnosis

What is Cancer?

The term cancer is used to describe the situation wherein a disruption in the lifecycle of the cells of the human body has occurred.   Whereas, normal cells are born, live out their purpose, and die, or undergo apoptosis, cancer cells tend to live on.  Worse, they begin to proliferate.  They will form tumors that can obstruct the body's vital organs and rob nutrients from nearby healthy cells which, in turn, will lead to the depletion of the host.

There are two existing views on the causes of cancer.  Orthodox or conventional medicine sees it as a chance occurrence that is a product of genetic mutations.  Unorthodox or non-traditional medicine, meanwhile, sees the affliction as resulting from metabolic imbalances that is caused by lifestyle choices.  Due to this, there are currently two prevailing approaches to curing cancer:  Orthodox medicine focuses primarily on killing cancer cells.  Non-traditional medicine, on the other hand, focuses on restoring the patient's inner biological environment to the state it was when the disease was non-existent.

Conventional cancer treatments such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgery, et cetera are generally identified with the first approach.  Treatments such as dietary and lifestyle changes, psychological programs, and nutritional supplementation, on the other hand, are generally used for the latter approach.

Using radiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgery, et cetera is also called waging war on cancer because the foremost goal of these treatments is to eradicate cancer cells or force them into remission.  Though some will point out that these treatments are worse than the disease, most medical practitioners agree that they are effective in curbing the proliferation of fast-growing cancers or in treating diffuse blood cancers.

The second approach sees cancer as a systemic disease, a label given to an array of diseases which have uncontrolled cellular proliferation as a common factor.  As such, proponents argue that only "whole body" treatment programs will produce a long-term cure.

The first option that will be presented by a physician to an average person, who has been diagnosed with cancer, will probably be conventional orthodox treatments. Bear in mind, it is neither the only option nor the best available option there is.

What to do after a cancer diagnosis.

The first thing to do is to not let panic set in.  Cancer is NOT a death sentence.  People get cured of cancer. Remember that even in the face of the bleakest prognosis, the oncologist is still only making an intelligent guess based on data from conventional treatment methodologies.

You need to know the type of cancer you have, the stage it is in, if it has metastasized, the available treatments and their success rates, the alternative treatments available, the dietary, lifestyle, and psychological changes that needs to be implemented.

What needs to be done is to get a treatment program that is tailored to your needs, and then get the right health practitioner to help implement that treatment program.

The next thing to do is to get as much additional information as you can from reading books or visiting the Internet.  It is best not to rely solely on the information provided by your doctor.

These books offer alternative views on cancer: The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Cancer the full menu by Rolf Gordon, Healing Cancer  by Simon Kelly and Enrida Kelly, Cancer Is Not A Disease by Andreas Mortiz, Alternatives in Cancer Therapy: The Complete Guide to Non-Traditional Treatments by Ross Pelton and Lee Overholser, Anticancer: A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber, Winning the War on Cancer by Mark Sircus, and Everything You Need To Know To Help You Beat Cancer by Chris Woolams.

Since the Internet is full of both information and misinformation, be careful when getting information from it.  A sage advice is to visit only the established sites and avoid sites that offer instant cures. Cancer is a disease that takes time to manifest.  The cure will not occur instantly.

The next step is to decide on a course of action. There are four choices:

Go for conventional treatments only.  Generally, this option is for individuals who prefer to leave health matters to the discretion of their doctors.

Opt for a combination of both orthodox and unorthodox treatments.  For individuals who want the best of both worlds.  They might also have a very aggressive type of cancer that requires a rapid reduction in the number of cancer cells as an initial step.

Do only alternative treatments.  These individuals have done their research, were unconvinced on the success rate of current conventional treatments, and have opted to take their chances using alternative approaches.

Go for no treatment at all.  Going for this option could mean that the individual is:  in complete denial, with a very slowly-developing type of cancer, has a cancer type that cannot be treated with any current means available, or is too old or frail to go through the treatment process.

You will then decide on a course of action based on your current condition, your temperament, your belief systems, as well as your existing social support structure.

It is also important to remember that treating cancer is not a case of the more treatments, the better.  For example, going for a combination will mean doing chemotherapy or radiotherapy, treatments that could contribute to the death of the patient.

The subsequent posts will try to examine how mind-body healing can help cancer patients.