Bladder Cancer Comments

Life Style Changes

I am on my FOURTH unrelated Cancer; I have had thyroid cancer (1973 – not judged NOW to have been a cancer), Parathyroid Cancer (1982), Breast Cancer (1993 - in situ), and then Bladder Cancer (2001 - T1G3).

The first three were treated with total surgical removal. I ended up with the complications of the surgeries, and the loss of whatever, but was cancer free post surgically.

Not so with Bladder Cancer; the cancer is removed and the bladder is retained, though I sought total removal, I was told it was not ‘medically approved procedure’ for the grade and stage I had. Therefore, Bladder Cancer for me has been like adding still one more ‘chronic illness’, and there is always something ‘medical’ waiting to be done, again...

This then, is what finally influenced my personal life style changes.

Yes, I am still ‘morbidly obese’, though I have managed to lose and keep off 50 pounds in spite of diabetes and insulin. And I have consulted and been turned down in regards to weight loss surgery.

Yes, I still smoke. And people rage at me all the time about smoking, though I believe that 99% of the time it is their own social anxiety motivating their behavior.


I have made MANY life style changes

I have certainly thought of documenting the changes I have made in my life because of cancer before (every time someone asks me!), but have not gotten around to it until this very minute.

This list doesn’t look very ‘important’, or difficult, but for me it was a major change over a period of time, due in part to poverty and rearranging my ‘budget’ to include some of these items. Each one of these things I had to ‘plan’ for and many I had to develop into a ‘habit’.

-I have tried to eliminate as many chemicals from my food as possible (sometimes it is just not feasible ie butter over cheap margarine).
-I drink and cook with only bottled spring water
-I got rid of every cooking utensil in my kitchen that contained Teflon
-I lowered my ‘fat’ intake drastically (I used to eat ‘fried’ stuff almost daily.)
-I increased my ‘fiber’ consumption
-I try to meditate & pray daily, preferably for someone else! (Actually, I have done this for decades, but sometimes have skipped months at a time.)
-I take one multivitamin (sans iron!), daily in the morning.
-I have one serving of orange or grapefruit juice (sans sugar!) daily.
-I work at keeping my blood sugars under control.
-I try to drink sufficient fluids daily.
-I try to keep my Hemoglobin under 15 (Hereditary Hemochromatosis seems to ‘invite’ cancer.)
-I eliminated ALL saccharine from my diet (I was a HEAVY user since age 10 in my quest to control my weight!)
-I take one low dose aspirin with 200mcg of vitamin E at bedtime.

There are things I would still LIKE to do such as: lose more weight, and get more exercise (very limited by pain!)


Causes of Bladder Cancer

Of course, everyone jumps on the ‘smoking’ band wagon! But I have known people who have had both lung and bladder cancer who not only did not smoke, but claimed they had not been exposed to heavy doses of ‘second-hand’ smoke.

The connection between smoking and cancer (as well as other health issues) may or may not have been proven (I still doubt those government sponsored studies!). Worse than that, I think ‘the smoking connection’ blinds or reassures, whichever the case may be, folks to OTHER things in our daily lives that could be carcinogenic.

Carcinogenic Risks (even if only a slight correlation!)

Our daily drinking water:
http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=15840

“There is a very real, long-term hazard to drinking and cooking with chlorinated water. Epidemiological studies have found that risk for bladder cancer and rectal cancer correlates with trihalomethane levels and increases with the length of life time one drinks chlorinated waters. And colon cancer risk correlates with length of lifetime drinking of chlorinated water, but not with trihalomethane levels - some other DBP seems to be at work with colon cancer.”

Dyes (including carpet, working in factory where dye is commonly used, and HAIR dyes)
http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/home/368

“a 2001 study from researchers at the University of Southern California that analyzed the association between hair dying activity and bladder cancer.”

Teflon
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art36325.asp

“The Environmental Protection Agency's own scientific advisory panel has identified perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical compound used to make Teflon in nonstick pots and pans, as a "likely carcinogen."”

Saccharine (Which I personally blame for my and my aunt’s bladder cancer.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharin#Saccharin_and_cancer (Including pics of labels!)

“Many studies have since been done on saccharin, with some showing a correlation between saccharin consumption and increased cancer (especially bladder cancer) and others showing no such correlation.”

Early Menopause (This too, is me - surgical!)
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=early-menopause-related-t&chanID=sa003&modsrc=reuters

“The odds of bladder cancer were 32 percent higher for women who reached menopause between 43 and 47 years, compared with women who reached menopause at age 48 or later.”


The list could go on and on and on, and probably will! Perhaps eventually including that dirty pond you swam in every summer afternoon when you were a kid!

Other Cancers

Radiation Therapy (One of my favs, perhaps the reason for many of my health problems, as I had this as a kid. Can I also blame bladder cancer on this?)
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/112716376/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

“Radiotherapy for benign conditions of the head and neck area was first linked to thyroid carcinoma in 1950”

Hereditary Hemochromatosis (Also me)
http://munstermom.tripod.com/HHandcancerriskmorefueltothefire11-01.pdf

"These data suggest an involvement of iron in carcinogenesis even in heterozygotes for HFE mutations."

So please, keep good thoughts for me this week as I undergo still more same-day diagnostic stuff. Then look to your own kitchen, chemicals, menopause, and habits, and I will do the same!

Picking your ‘poison’ may just be the sane, viable option! We all are going to die, you know...