LIFE & CANCER

I am an oncologist. I am for the life. As a part of my job, my whole purpose of existence should be; in fact must be anti-cancer. Every morning I get up with a desire to save  lives from cancer. In my workspace (hospital) people get the worst news of their lives, they find out that they have cancer, some patients are there who have already undergone a radical surgery and are optimistic about cure and a normal happy life and some patients I encounter where I have to tell them that I can't play "GOD", I can't cure you. Through out the day, I fight with an entity which kills men, women and children alike, ruins family, burdens society, brings national crisis and what not. I spill venom against this cancer with my words, with my actions, with my writings of prescriptions and advices. That's my routine. I am living this life since July 1st of 2018  and probably will live like this for the rest of my life, inculpating cancer. So in a way me and cancer are enemy for eternity, that's an undeniable truth and I accept that.....

How unfair, unacceptable, unholy, unpardonable will it be, if I'll say that the entity called "cancer" teaches you how to live, gives you a life lesson. Sounds unfamiliar, absurd? Why am I saying this? Is It because the people who live surviving cancer realize to have a better taste of life or tend to enjoy life better? Yes! May be that's one way of justifying things... But that's not what I was trying to convey. What if, cancer is evil because we don't understand it's origin and we don't realize the struggle cancer has to face to establish itself.

So what's "cancer"?

It's just one cell which has been created by an assault at molecular level in 85 to 90% cases, which gives it the power of not to die or more precisely not to obey the natural order of life and death cycle. So the "so called" enemy has been created. By whom? None other than by "US"!!! Our food, drink, air, smoke, environment everything we created for our taste, comfort, ease of life, to get thrill in life is a potential thrash which creates that "one cell". Now let's consider that one cell as one life which is abnormal or unnatural amongst trillions n trillions of normal cells or lives. That abnormal cell has to survive, isn't it? That's the nature of life,,, "To Survive"!! Whether you consider it as good or bad, doesn't matter... But how will it survive? Because life is difficult for an ugly duckling amongst all white ones. That's the way it has always been. We, in fact, named and popularized the term of "ugly duckling sign" with respect to skin cancer, for diagnosis. All the human systems, immunity, antibodies, killer cells are not capable of tolerating it's undying nature! How can it defy the system, the natural order? So they all try to kill it. Let me just tell you, human immune system is as robust as it can be. Imagine a Hollywood treasure hunt movie where ancient bulk gold, diamonds are kept in secret chamber below a chapel with thousands of fancy protection techniques. You can't reach it, each step forward towards the treasure will lead to a shower of arrows or knifes or slipping of floors below your feet etc. etc. Human immune system is a million times robust than that. And it gives a painful death to an organism which is considered as non-self. Now this  so called enemy cell, has to survive this, get nourishment  and replicate.  How many of us can do that? How many normal cells can do that? Not a single one! So the struggle story continues. That cell is denied food, so it creates alternative metabolic mechanism to generate energy. Immune system tells , ok! We will not supply you blood n oxygen,  so it creates it's own blood vessels. We call it angiogenesis, neovascularization. Then the situation becomes worse. No food, no oxygen, no nutrients, but life has to survive. What to do? It can't just accept defeat. It starts eating its own organelle.  Let me put it in this way... You are starving, nothing edible is around you. You have to survive. And you start chewing your own finger, or else you'll die. Can you do that? No you can't! Nobody can. We term it as "Autophagy". Fancy term, with a horrible meaning!! Now tell me would you dare to deny the existence or survival to someone who can sacrifice this much. That's why it exists. Like this it becomes a single cell to 2, 2 to 4, 4 to 8, 8 to 16 to 32 to 64....... and so on, when it reaches  to 1000000000 cells, it establishes as 1cm tumor. From 1 cell to 100 million cells, it repeatedly has to face starvation, death. Finally it establishes itself as a peanut size lump.

An oncologist praising the process of carcinogenesis. Weird! But for a while just change the perspective. Imagine that,,, that cancer does not have the power to consume your life. In that case, cancer would have conveyed the society a great inspiring story of survival. We would have been good friends. But unfortunately it kills. Not only it kills, but it gives a painful death.

Cancer has always existed. We have not created it. But we have definitely flourished it, encouraged it to propagate. We have given power to this antagonist, taught it how to survive. Thereupon, I don't consider cancer is a primary enemy. My Primary enemy is inhumane habits of a human. My primary enemy is the tendency of human to deny the obvious, tendency of not to learn, tendency of giving up. Rather than turning your own cell into an enemy one and then struggle to kill it,, just don't create it. Take inspiration from the story, don't face the cancer story. Stay human, love yourself, love people, help people and travel peacefully to the afterlife.

Having said that, I am still an antagonist of cancer. No matter how inspiring struggle story cancer carries with it, one thing nullifies everything that it kills. Someone's survival can't come at the expense of other one's life. So this rivalry between me and cancer will go on....