So why do we end up sitting in a doctor’s office with a cancer diagnosis?
First and foremost, we end up there because we know something is wrong. That message is simple and what is unfortunate is that most people don’t realize that our body has likely been telling us that there is something wrong for a long time, but we have missed those messages. Our body has spoken to us in such a manner that is so loud and clear that there is little chance that we cannot respond by any other means than approaching someone, a doctor, that can help us interpret what our body is trying to tell us.
How do we miss those messages?
We don’t know that our body is speaking to us much of the time. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I don’t ever remember being taught or reading about how to interpret so-called body talk if that term can be applied here. Yet, after my run-in with an advanced state of dis-ease, I can now look back and see how many red flags(messages) I either missed or ignored with the help of pain medications or simple will.
In my own life, I imagine the alcohol I regularly consumed day after day helped me miss the messages that my body would have been otherwise able to communicate to me with clarity. The fatigue, headaches, and hangover feelings I associated with the drinking itself were likely my body trying to share with me the reality of what was going on beneath the surface. And what about all of the bottles of over-the-counter remedies consumed over a lifetime? Those too are not to blame but complicit in the dulling of our ability to understand that our body is likely continually communicating with us that something is not correct.
And what exactly is cancer as an entity within the body of the person, or any animal that it inhabits?
As I understand cancer, it is the endpoint of a body running out of balance for some time. Cancer does not simply creep up on anyone. It is like a tree that finally comes to its place in life where it can begin bearing fully ripe fruit of its growth and labor. Disease can be understood as a process that has many distinct states or stages along the way before it is finally diagnosed as cancer. Some would suggest that cancer is still within the intelligent control of the individual’s body, but I am not so sure that this is the case. My opinion is that it is a process that had its origins with the control of the immune system, but at some point broke free from its intelligent control mechanisms and has become an independent process that our immune system fights against like a foreign invader.
Is it productive or destructive?
This is a great question and still debatable in my mind. In one sense, it can be productive if it has not gone so far afield that the body can no longer keep it in check. However, it is always destructive because if left unchecked, it will likely be the last immune battle that a body fights before the ghost leaves the machine.
Ultimately, suppose someone diagnosed with cancer will resist a shortened span of life resulting from cancer. In that case, they will have to make a lot of changes in their lives and work towards a possible resolution.