Misconceptions About the "Fight" Against Cancer

I have a bit of a problem with the usual "Media" statement "he/she lost their fight with cancer." This seems to presume that they had an equal chance of beating cancer, as cancer did of killing them. How stupid! You cannot fight against cancer; there is no cure for cancer, and cancer will always kill you. You may, like most of us here, survive or temporarily survive cancer by radical means.

Yes, like cutting lumps out of you and rejigging your vital organs. I had a complete removal of my bladder before the cancer broke out of my bladder and went wandering around my body looking for another host organ to infect. A radical cystectomy with the addition of an ileal conduit to direct the urine from my kidneys into a drainable plastic bag. This was done, same as most Colo/Uro on here, by chopping off a length of your guts and punching it out through a hole in your belly.

This isn't exactly a CURE for cancer; you didn't have an injection, and it suddenly went away? Some people have had radiation treatment, which has bad side effects and usually does more harm than good by destroying surrounding tissue. Plus, who wants the sickness and hair loss?

I believe I am cancer-free and a survivor, but I wasn't CURED. I am still here because of an amazingly radical, painful, and intrusive medical operation.

We are all being kept here, alive, by the grace of modern surgery, not by any advance of modern medicine... That day has yet to come...

People don't pass away after a brave fight! Whether they had cancer for 10 minutes or 10 years, it was cancer that killed them and was always going to.

Hello VulcanBMk2.

I can empathise and agree with your feelings about this sort of media statement but my own antipathy towards some of the media statements goes way beyond this particular crass effort to make out that the experience is something that it is not. For me, the answer lies in switching off from the types of media that use these platitudes the most. 

This has led me to have never bought a newspaper in my life as most of the content is not what I would consider 'news' but fairly straightforward, self-opinionated journalism, designed to sell newspapers. So in effect so-called newspapers have become one big advertising sheet of paper that they have the cheek to charge money for.

Best wishes

Bill

Thanks, Bill ... I find that TV news is also a guilty purveyor of these rather mawkish & pathetic statements/headlines ...

Bill: AMEN!

Hello  Vulcan.

Yes! I agree and so tend to switch off on the TV too. However, this does not mean that I'm cut off altogether from things that are interesting as people tell me when  they have seen and heard things that are genuinely objective and informative, then I use things like TV catchup and the internet to find out what is happening.

There is another aspect to the 'news' as portrayed in the media that puts me off and that is its parochial nature, as if the only worthwhile news is that relating to our own country. For this reason, I quite like certain monthly magazines that take a more considered view of the 'world news', collecting several differing opinions to contrast and compare. This way the news seems to be more balanced in its presentation and is not dominated by the opinions favoured by those who happen to own the communications media.

Oh! And thanks Vulcan for raising this in a post where it gives us a chance to air our own views on  the subject.

Best wishes

Bill    

My Ostomy Journey: Kimberly | Hollister

I think I know the exact feeling you might be having about cancer. I have lost a family member due to cancer, and my sister is a cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and was at stage 3. Due to her bad health problem, the oncologist at the radiation oncology in New York suggested some important sources for us to consider the combination treatment of chemotherapy along with radiation therapy. She has recovered very well now and is a cancer-free person.

Hey guys, I didn't read this until today.  I'm not even sure what to say but I do know this:  It is what it is.  And, for the most part, I'm not sure there's any media that know anything about what we've gone through, where we're going and how we'll get there.  We're all learning as we go through it.  We're different from each other and some things will work for one and not the other.  I think the media gets too involved in too many things they know nothing about.

Thanks for the reading.

Mike

Media = Fake News