The dreaded C word - no, not Cornish Pies

For the record - don't let the title fool you, I quite enjoy cornish pies.

Now that I have that off my chest, let's get down to business. Cancer is a scary word. People are very frightened to utter it, almost as though they would summon Voldemort (uh, I mean he who must not be named). I noticed this when I was first diagnosed. 

When people found out, they kinda beat about the bush. People would say things like "I'm so sorry to hear about your...uhm...uh... illness" or "What terrible news! What a terrible...condition" and "I hear you have a...growth". The problem I have with this is that it makes it sound as though I have some venereal disease. I have cancer. I promise it's okay to say that. I won't get offended, I won't be upset, I won't spontaneously combust (theoretically). 

The stigma around cancer is quite pertinent. Let's talk about it, and let's use the word. People are comfortable using other words that make us all feel uncomfortable...  "Moist", "English Football", "Selfie"... So why not cancer?

So what is cancer? Apart form being something people associate socially with as a result of the arbitrary position of the stars at the time of their birth (yeah, I don't believe in that sort of thing, either), it is a collective term for a group of conditions associated with aberrant, rogue cells. 

Not all cancers are the same, though. Sometimes it's quite obvious (like the guy from down the road with the 3rd arm growing from his forehead), whilst other instances are rather subtle (such as leukaemias). 

Either way, it is thought that all cancers have a genetic component, meaning that the DNA (the stuff that makes us who we are) in a cell (or sometimes cells) changes (mutates) and becomes foreign. It happens all the time. Mistakes are made as our cells do their everyday job of dividing, making proteins, keeping us alive. The great thing is that there are mechanisms in place and once a mistake is picked up, our body sends that cell to the gallows. A problem arises when the mistake is in the part of the DNA that is meant to detect the mistakes, or the parts playing executioner. That's when things go a little awry. 

These mutations are not always a bad thing, per se. It may give rise to brand new species, or the Hulk. Before you get too excited, no, I didn't get any super powers (yet).

The cell with the dodgy DNA now divides and goes along happily, collecting mutations as it continues on its rampant path. These cancer cells now start to have the various effect, either by it's shear size (guy with the arm sprouting from his forehead), or subtly outnumbering normal functioning cells (leukaemias) or manufacturing faulty products (sometimes leading to something we call paraneoplastic phenomena) all giving rise to the symptoms we may experience.

I suppose it would be fit to share what I have. I have Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer in my lymph tissue.

In the next post we'll dealve into the philosophical aspects of cancer.

I hope this post makes it a little easier to understand.

#Cancer