On a good day cancer sucks.
In a best case scenario, it’s a minor annoyance that still involves extra trips to the doctor, maybe a little procedure; followed by a few years of some extra screenings and precautions before you can breathe a little easier.
Worse case, you need to get your affairs in order.
Not too long ago, a cancer diagnosis was the equivalent to a death sentence. Things have improved since then. Now we talk about cancer in terms of beating it, instead of just hoping on the odds of survival.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer activists have done a fine job marketing theirs as the cancer we need to be concerned about, but there are literally hundreds of types of cancer, and most of them are all bad.
You can protect yourself by regular screenings and being in touch with your doctor. Beyond that you can up your odds by eating healthy and mixing in some exercise. It won’t absolutely protect you, but a little bit goes a long way.
Granted, right now American access to health care is a bit of sticking point, but, over the long term, the rules of life remain the same. Your best bet is to take care of yourself before you have to go the doctor.
As we go to press the federal government is shut down for the first time in 17 years. The lights may come back on quickly, they may not; either way, the shutdown is a good reminder to all that for the posturing, promising and posing national leaders do, we can’t rely on the government to help us.
It is good to have help, but it’s bad to have to rely on someone else to provide it. Taking care of your own health is just one more thing you can do to exert control over your life.
