Here's a rant to make up for lost time...

So I think I’ve mentioned this before but there’s this book out called ‘Crazy Sexy Cancer” and the woman who wrote it did a corresponding documentary that aired I think on TLC or something like that. She was on Oprah for it all and that’s how we heard about her. The book and everything details her experience being diagnosed with a rare and incurable cancer – from finding a doctor to finding a husband to finding out how to live with her cancer (which is developing so slowly it’s basically like living with a chronic disease). Anyway, we watched the documentary when it aired and I got the book for my birthday so today I figured I’d just check out the website, see if there were any interesting links, etc. And in re-reading some of the stuff she recommends I have to admit I really disagree with this woman. I mean, I think she has a great approach to her life situation and I think that her attitude towards cancer and what’s happened to her is healthy and inspirational. But when she was diagnosed with her cancer and I guess realized its permanence in her life, she made major changes in her health practices and her diet to sort of help things along. She’s kind of a hippie and became at least vegetarian, if not vegan, and did a ton of research into more homeopathic and naturopathic methods to do what she could on her own in the hopes of curing her cancer.

Anyways, long story short I was reading over her blog and I think some of her dietary recommendations are really out there. For one, she totally promotes enemas and colonics which I’m pretty sure have been widely panned by most health professionals. She also really recommends cutting out meat (fine) and dairy products (what the ????). With the dairy she claims that you don’t see other animals milking each other (like a goat doesn’t milk a gorilla) so why should we milk cows? She offers other interesting facts, including that we’re all basically lactose intolerant and she stakes a claim that “milk contributes to the overall breakdown of our systems”. Fine. Whatever. I take everything I read and hear with a grain of salt. And in the case of recommending colonics and becoming a vegan I’m taking this one with a bucket of salt.

Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions and beliefs; I’m not trying to take that away from her. But what bothers me about this woman is that for me, as a fellow cancer patient (Except I’m not in the hospital anymore, so I’m not really a patient…. Cancer victim? No… too morbid. Cancer survivor? Sort of, technically I guess, but not really yet! Cancer sufferer? Ugh that sounds bad too…. I guess this is where I’m supposed to empower myself and say I’m a sexy cancer girl or a cancer vixen or something like that…. Which I definitely do not feel like. So I am………………??? I don’t know what I am. My life is on hold. I’m on hold. But that’s depressing too…. Guess I should work on that. Note to self: work on defining myself.) But I digress: so as someone in a vaguely similar situation to this woman, I find her recommendations kind of offensive. Like she’s telling me what I’m doing wrong with my life and that’s why I got cancer. In reading her recommendations to change my life I feel like she’s blaming me for my leukemia. I’m all for a healthy diet – bring on the broccoli and I’ll gladly choose a piece of fruit or some nuts over a bowl of chips (most of the time at least!) However I find it hard to believe that my steak with a glass of milk gave me my cancer. I’m a firm believer of everything in moderation. That goes for veganism just as much as refraining from ordering the ‘Meatzzzzza’ from Domino’s.

For those not in the know, there is no known cause of ALL. There are some vague correlations with the disease (more whites than blacks have been diagnosed; it’s slightly more prevalent in males than females; but otherwise that’s about it) but other than if you’ve been exposed to excessive radiation, ALL is pretty much a mystery. I haven’t been hit by an atom bomb so my ALL is essentially a chance occurrence. According to the American Cancer Society there is nothing one can do to prevent the disease. The chance of getting ALL in one’s lifetime is 1 in 1000. How lucky for me! So I don’t know how I got it, and I don’t know why I got it, but I do know that I really hate people telling me that I could’ve done something about it. So fine, maybe I’m simply misinterpreting the author’s advice, maybe I shouldn’t be taking it so personally. But I feel how I feel, and I don’t think it’s fair for me to feel blamed for what’s happened to me. Leukemia sucks enough without having to think about what I could’ve or should’ve done to prevent it. I think I have enough what if’s in my life.