An Overwhelming Response

In the past 24 hours, I have had an overwhelming response to the initial blog I wrote about my journey through cancer. There has been an outpouring of emails, instant messages, text messages, and phone calls thanking me for writing about my situation and asking, if possible, how people can help me feel more supported while I continue medical treatment for Hodgkin's disease. I would first like to thank everyone for their messages of encouragement--I appreciate everyone who has written thus far and all those that will read my blog in the future and respond positively to my writing. Secondly, I must admit that I have never felt unsupported these past few months. There hasn't been a day where I have not known of the love and support each friend and family member has for me, and that love and support is not taken for granted. Even if you haven't consistently checked up on me or called on a daily basis, it does not mean you have failed at supporting me or have failed as a friend. I would hate anyone to feel a trace of guilt because of my condition.

With that said, I know that when someone hears that a close friend or family member is suffering from a horrible disease such as cancer there are moments of unsureness as to how one can help, especially when medicinal treatments are not yet fool proof and most are physically debilitating. However, since I have had quite a long time to think about my situation, I can share a few things I believe may help--things that would definitely help me feel more supported while benefiting yourselves.

To begin, one suggestion I have is to take care of your bodies especially if you are capable of doing so. This doesn't sound like the most novel of ideas, but I know that many people take their good health for granted. One reason I have reacted so well to chemotherapy is that at the beginning of my treatment I was extremely healthy. My oncologist cites this as one reason it has taken so long for my body to react to chemotherapy and exhibit the typical side effects. During my first few rounds of chemo, I was still playing tennis on a daily basis. As someone who used to be able to work out quite regularly and run a few miles without breaking a sweat, I am now too fatigued to even do a set of sit-ups or even take a long walk at times. This reality has definitely made me feel isolated and trapped in my own body since I cannot function as well as I used to. Even if you may not feel inspired enough by my story to incorporate a workout routine into your lives, perhaps you'll find it easier to limit sugar or fast food intake. Any little change may help; and all anyone really wants is for loved ones to live long healthy lives.

As a second suggestion and addendum to my first request, it would be beneficial to find out one's family medical history. I have always known that I once had an aunt named Sonia who passed away at the age of eleven because of leukemia. As I have learned, she was diagnosed at the age of two and lived through nine years of chemotherapy at a time when medical treatment for blood cancers was far more rudimentary and toxic to one's health. Due to years of medical research, I find myself lucky to have a spectrum of available drugs to combat nausea and vomiting that usually accompany chemotherapy. My aunt, however, did not. In addition, I knew that in my family there is a history of severe diabetes and obesity, however, I failed to realize that there were also histories of breast cancer, high cholesterol, and thyroid malignancies to name a few. Being aware of one's family medical history is beneficial because it provides a quasi blueprint for how one should live: if you discover there is a strong history of diabetes, perhaps you may want to avoid high sugar intakes and switch to sugar substitutes. Aside from dietary efforts, if you discover that your family history reveals a specific condition or disease such as breast cancer, for instance, perhaps starting mammograms at an earlier age and at higher frequency than the average female may help prevent further medical problems. Preventative efforts can help detect problems at the earliest possible stages. (Side note: If you have a stigma about going to the doctors, which many people do, I hope you realize that they know an unbelievable amount more about the human body; and if you ever feel uncomfortable with a particular doctor, you can always find a new one or ask for a second opinion about your health matters)

If I seem long-winded, please excuse me. These issues are very important to me and I hope that in reading this blog they will become important to some of you, if they already are not.

To continue, another way to take better care of yourselves and perhaps grant me peace of mind is to make sure you have a good health insurance plan. While many of my friends and colleagues begin new jobs, I have realized not everyone knows adequate information about their health benefits package. I would hope that those still looking for employment consider these packages during their job search. Luckily, I am still covered under my mother's state insurance package because I continued undergraduate education. I will be covered under her policy until I turn 23-years-old on April 16 next year. However, if I were not insured, or if I were dropped by her insurance plan once I graduated as so many college graduates are, I could not imagine how my family and I would afford paying for my hospital bills. I am only required to pay a 15-dollar co-payment every time I go to the doctor's office, receive further tests, go in for surgeries, and so forth. Nevertheless, my medical bills since August of this year are upwards of 150,000 dollars (the equivalent of a 4-year college tuition); and that only includes the bills the insurance company has forwarded for our own personal records. I would definitely say that I am thankful for having health insurance. It was never something I really gave any thought to before I started applying to the Peace Corps and before I was diagnosed with cancer.

Another supportive and perhaps noble idea is to participate in a local cancer event, such as a cancer walk, to show support not only for people you may know struggling with cancer (like me) but also for others going through similar battles. Once I am in remission and no longer suffer from extreme fatigue, I plan to join a local cancer walk with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society here in Central New Jersey. Anyone is welcome to join. I will receive more information about the walk in the next few months, which takes place in March of 2009. There are other events to help bring awareness to the public about cancer and support to those fighting it. I have linked to a few different cancer sites in my sidebar that may help, if anyone would like to research and partake in events. And, of course, making monetary donations to cancer research is undeniably supportive.

I hope that those of you who read this post take my suggestions to heart. These are not the only ways that one can help support myself or others with cancer, however, I feel that they are some of the most beneficial and effective ways to do so. Some of you may feel surprised by my suggestions; especially those searching for ways to directly help me. The truth is that as much as fighting cancer effects more than just the person afflicted with the disease, it is inevitably an internal battle in addition to being a daily physical struggle. So, in a kind effort to ease my mind, I hope all of my family, friends, and perhaps unknown readers start taking better care of themselves; and maybe even think about other ways to help cancer-fighters. Donating time in any way is helpful, but taking care of yourself so that you can spend more time on this earth with loved ones is more important than reading this blog, or becoming an activist for a social cause, or feeling guilty about not overextending yourself to a friend that is sick.