By Tony Ulrich Submitted On March 06, 2010
I am a kidney cancer patient and my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer seven months before I learned about my disease. That doesn't make me a doctor or an expert, but I think it gives me some credibility and will put things into perspective as you read this article, especially when I talk about things like 'hope' and 'positive attitude'.
Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that comes with a very poor outlook on survival, if we solely look at the data and statistics. A cure is yet to be found. New promising treatment protocols have been introduced over the past few years; however, the associated costs are astronomical and therefore those options are out of reach to most mesothelioma victims.
I was actually beating all odds, because given my age and overall health, chances where less than 2% that the blood I had encountered in my urine, would only a few weeks later lead to a kidney cancer diagnosis. By that time, I was able to deal with it fairly reasonable, because my family and I just went through the whole nightmare of coping with cancer news when my wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer. So I know how it feels to a newly diagnosed mesothelioma patient and their families. And I also know how hard it is to absorb all the well intended advice that comes pouring in from all over the place, along with statements like: "Do not give up hope." And in retrospect I must admit that all those people were right, because eventually, it was hope and the belief that living a healthy lifestyle will help us surviving the cancer.
But let's go back to mesothelioma. Celebrex is COX2 inhibitor which has shown remarkable results in a study that was recently conducted. I will purposely not go into numbers here, but they are available on the Internet.
However, the in general the picture is still the same. Malignant mesothelioma remains one of the most difficult to treat forms of cancer and therefore comes with a rather poor prognosis. That leaves the majority of mesothelioma cancer patients often with only one weapon: their hope.
And yes, there are examples where mesothelioma survivors lived significantly longer than anyone could have ever predicted. Interestingly enough, all those individuals, who were able to do that, have one thing in common: they all kept emphasizing the importance of living a healthy lifestyle, that not only consists of pristine nutrition, usually a whole food and plant based diet, but also mental health. I actually prefer the term mental health over hope, because hope is commonly slightly connotated with desperation.
I'm no Pollyanna and I have good and bad days like everybody else. But I do know that our physical and emotional health helped my wife in going through all the turmoil with our cancers. And I am convinced that this principle is equally applicable to mesothelioma patients, or anybody else who suffers from a severe health condition and wants to play in active role in getting healthy again.
The author Tony Ulrich was diagnosed with kidney cancer in October of 2009. In his research on what his cancer could have been caused by, he came across with data that suggests a strong link to environmental toxins, such as asbestos. Please visit his Kidney Cancer and Asbestos Mesothelioma website for more details.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Tony_Ulrich/493667
No comments:
Post a Comment