Book Review - part 2

See previous post below for part 1

The War on Cancer

The Laskerites, named after Mary Lasker, were a group of philanthropists who worked to raise awareness about cancer in the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, culminating in the creation of the American Cancer Society.  One of their original battle cries was to “win the war on cancer” as if there were a specific, single cure similar to the polio vaccine.  What they did not realize, however, was the incredible diversity and potency of cancer.  It is an ever-evolving enemy.  The author described cancer as a more perfect form of us.  It finds better, faster ways to reproduce than even the normal human body.  Just when researchers discover a protein that inhibits one cancerous mutation, the cancer develops an alternative, and then another.  I don’t know that medicine will ever fully catch up.  However, in playing the catch-up game, we are succeeding in extending the lives of cancer patients.  Towards the end of the book, Muhkerjee suggests re-defining “winning the war on cancer.”  Oncologist Richard Doll prefers the aphorism: “Death in old age is inevitable, death before old age is not.”

Life Lessons

Do not ignore your body’s warning signals.  If something feels out of the ordinary, do not ignore it.  I’m not saying that your pain is cancer, but it certainly could be.  When you’re at the doctor’s office, challenge him or her with every ailment you can think of.  Next to avoiding known carcinogens (like smoking), being proactive is the best possible thing you can do to avoid cancer. 

Do not wait for a terminal illness to compel you to act on the things you’ve been meaning to do.  Muhkerjee gave a number of examples of young patients with no prior medical issues who came to the hospital with a late-stage cancer.   Many died.  Some were fortunate enough to be treated and survive for several more years.  Many of those individuals resolved to change their lives and do things they should have done years ago.  My hope is that all people live the lives they want to live, without waiting for a deadline to start to act. 

Definitions

Anemia is a low red blood cell count, linked to the blood cancer, leukemia. 

Metastasis is the migration of cells from one site to another.  Some cancers metastasize much faster than others.  Generally, the more metastasized the cancer is, the more difficult to treat.

Leukemia is an explosive form of cancer in which the white blood cells divide uncontrollably.  The word has its etymological origins in the Greek word leukos, which means “white”.  I remembered this from my baseball days, when the guys that would dip tobacco would talk about how it causes leukoplakia, the white spots on the inside of the lip.   

A Rorschach test is the name of the psychology test with the black ink blots where the subject is asked to describe what they see (a butterfly, for example).  I never knew what that was called. 

When AIDS became prevalent in the early 80’s (much later than I thought) it was called GRID (Gay-Related Immune Disease).  You can bet it wouldn’t be given that name today.

Pathology is the study of diseases.

Oncology is the study of cancer.

A prophylactic medicine is prescribed to prevent disease.

A therapeutic medicine is prescribed to cure disease.

Endocrine = hormonal

A pyrrhic victory is one that comes at a great cost to the victor. 

Quotes

“In God We Trust.  All others must have data.”  - A reference to the need to back up all claims with statistical evidence.  Statistics, as it turns out, is a huge part of proving the effectiveness of drugs in clinical trials.

 “Counting is the religion of this generation.  It is its hope and its salvation.”  - Gertrude Stein.  I like this one for obvious reasons.

“Death in old age is inevitable, death before old age is not.” – possible re-definition of the goal of cancer researchers.