Each year, nearly 4 million people in our country become newly ill with cancer, and more than 2.3 million people are killed by cancer.
Talking about cancer is always a heavy topic, yet it is often avoided.
Today, I want to share a post I saw while browsing Quora, a popular foreign social networking site, where someone asked the question: What symptoms did you notice before being diagnosed with cancer?
This topic is not new, yet one foreign user’s answer is striking and impressive.
Perhaps what we need to do in the face of the coming cancer is not to be afraid, but to be able to have the spirit of facing it head-on and the courage to be happy in spite of the suffering, just like this foreign friend.
Responder: Alexander Porter, leukemia patient
Occupation: comedian
I liked to chew gum, but got leukemia, and then, I never chewed gum again.
I was 20 years old when the cancer sneaked into my body and was detected a week before Christmas.
It’s like Santa Claus jumps in down the chimney to tempt you with a gift, and then this jolly fat man ends up dropping a gift in my stocking that is – leukemia.
“Oh my God, I’m such a bummer! What the hell is wrong with this chimney, anyway?”
But I thought that the analogy was also quite appropriate and interesting, and I was even very grateful for the gift in later years.
I imagined that this Christmas “surprise” might be a conversation like this:
My body: Hello, we’re the immune system traffic police! Relax, it’s just a routine traffic check.
Cancer: Okay, buddy.
My body: Do you mind if we check your car? Oh, boy! Sir, you can’t bring these contraband cancer cells on board. Do you know how dangerous they are?
Cancer: Sure, no problem. Hey, look what’s over there.
My body: (turns around and looks back)
Cancer: (quickly burrowed into my body) Hahaha, there’s nothing over there, you’d fall for that old trick! That’s silly. Now, congratulations on your cancer.
……
Next, watch out, there’s something even scarier going on beyond this terrible script!
And that is: I’ve hardly ever had any symptoms!
Leukemia, which usually manifests as deep stasis throughout the body (because of low platelet counts), recurrent infections (because of low white blood cell counts), or persistent weakness (because of low red blood cell counts).
But for me, at age 20, I was too busy enjoying life and “killing chicks” (Spyro the Dragon, a game on the Playstation 1).
So my symptoms are actually pretty mild:
- a little tired;
- a little pale;
- Some occasional headaches.
That’s it!
So, there is no indication that my body is fighting a mixed battle internally.
However, I am a little tired and weak, but put that into the context of a 20 year old college student who lives a full life and spends a lot of time on weekends at competitive events (not to mention collecting all those damn gems at Spyro!) ), it’s nothing!
So when I went to the GP after feeling sick for weeks on end, I didn’t feel pressured by the blood work the doctor had scheduled, but rather, I felt confident in a bewildering way that I was the healthiest boy in the office.
But life isn’t all Harry Potter magic or candy; it can be cold, cruel, and unkind.
That night, my GP called my mom –
I have acute myelocytic leukemia (AML).
The next morning, I was taken to the hospital. Chemotherapy started two days later.
During my 244 days in the hospital, I met a lot of interns because my cancer treatment process wasn’t going well. And they always asked me the same questions.
“What are your symptoms?”
(They are studying hard to try to become future doctors and save kids like me. So I tell them the truth ……)
“I don’t have any symptoms or anything wrong with me. At least, not even my parents, my GP, or myself believe there’s anything wrong with me.”
(Photo credit: Quora, Google Translate)
Before I wrote out this answer myself, I read through a lot of the answers to this question, for example, some would have very obvious symptoms, like a cat with a cobra bite on its neck.
There are some answers from survivors like me.
But, there are also answers from people who are long gone from us.
I truly feel sorry for their loss ……
I guess the reason I’m answering this question is to tell you:
- Cancer doesn’t always come to you with symptoms that drastically affect your life.
- Sometimes it comes quietly and insidiously, like smoke caught in your vision, but just as quickly it disappears.
- By the time you realize that you need to go do something about it, there is nothing left to do.
It took me a few weeks to come to terms with the fact that I was “too young for this cancer” or that I didn’t have the “textbook symptoms”.
And I, for one, almost died.
I won’t make that mistake again, and I hope that if you learn something from it, it’s this:
Going to the doctor may waste 50 minutes of your life, but sometimes, you get 50 more years of your life because of it.
To borrow a response from the comedian “Ducky Potter,” who does the face avatar:
“When it comes to cancer, I prefer to wear a smile rather than a frown.”
(Photo credit: Quora, Google Translate)