Worry – Cancer Of The Soul
I was thinking as I was driving home from the hospital this afternoon that there was something much worse than having cancer – worrying about having cancer.
What’s the worst cancer can do but take your life. Worry kills you every day you’re alive – if you let it.
A while back a guy called Jesus gave this great quote, “Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or wear…who can add a single moment to their life by worrying?”* The fact is, God cares about us deeply** – we just need to give him our burdens and not hold on to worry about the unknown.
The medical oncologist I visited today gave me basically the same story as last week’s consult with the surgical oncologist but with more detail about drugs and how they worked. He also said the B-RAF inhibiting ‘wonder drug’ had mixed results and didn’t have a long-term effect in most patients. He also said that the list of chemotherapy drugs used to treat malignant melanoma was a lot shorter than those used for treating other cancers and that the main drug used was effective in only 10-15% of cases.
Heavy stuff.
I asked him why he got into oncology – surely there was another field of medicine with a higher probability of patient cure? He said he just wanted to keep it real.
I think deep down he wants to smash cancer into little tiny pieces as much as I do.
So while he waits for scientists to come up with new wonder-drugs, he will persevere with treating people at the coal-face with drugs that have limited ability to cure cancer. The science (and mathematics) of cancer treatment is average at best. He has the unenviable task of being upfront about the odds while trying to still get people to hold out hope that they will be one of the lucky ones.
Melanoma, I’ve been told, can be quite unpredictable – it can grow quickly and regress just as fast. Another CT scan has been booked in June so they can see how much the cancer has spread (or not) since the last scan in March. This will also give them time to get the results of the B-RAF testing so they know if they can give me the B-RAF inhibiting drug.
In the meantime I’m going to continue on with my life and not let worry’s what-if’s rob me.
David
* Matthew 6:25-34
** 1 Peter 5:7Â
(Un)common Sense 
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