A few days ago I had my now annual visit to see my oncologist for a checkup. It has been almost exactly 7 years since I was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma and began treatment. My annual had been pushed back 2 months due to COVID so it was really 14 months since my last checkup.
These visits are always a process. I usually don’t worry about them too much during the year – I see other doctors in the meantime for various things including checkups. I had my last physical in December and everything was just about perfect, including my CBC which if something was wrong – would be a good indicator. I also had very recent blood work done by my functional medicine doctor two weeks ago and those results were also perfect. Nothing to indicate any kind of blood cancer. I like to know what I’m in for because these visits are stressful enough and knowing my bloodwork is good beforehand helps with the stress. Sort of.
But as much as I try to prepare and tell myself that everything should be fine – I still get extremely anxious. There is a PTSD component to it. Revisiting the place where I had my outpatient visits and treatments, connected to the hospital where I spent a good part of 2015 as an inpatient puts me back in that place 7 years ago where I was truly close to death, if not miserable. I can never go through what I went through again. I had to do the most extreme treatments then – my disease was so severe – I had no choice. That will never happen again.
So after waiting an hour and a half for the doctor – he comes in. I tell him about my leg fracture, my bout with shingles and my visit with immunologists over my immune system deficiencies caused by the chemotherapy. He orders more blood to be drawn so he can see further what is happening with my immune system. He checks me out and says I’m doing well except…the blood marker test they ran on me weeks earlier came back with genetic mutations found in people with lymphoma. He also said that these are randomly found in people whether they have a lymphoma diagnosis or not and if we were to test 100 people out there several would have this randomly and would’ve never known otherwise. The question is also – do I have this result because I previously had lymphoma and there are remnants of DNA fragments being picked up, but no active disease now? I asked what do we do about this and he said nothing – he’ll see me in a year.
When an oncologist says they’ll see you in a year – they can’t be too worried about you right?
I wish I didn’t have the genetic mutations result (there were several) but it’s not doing anything in me that is clinically evident. If there was – my CBC and Metabolic panel wouldn’t be perfect. I would have swollen glands and/or a swollen spleen. I would start having weird rashes again. I think the bottom line is that because I may have the tendency to create more of these cancerous lymphocytes – it is all the more reason to live the healthiest lifestyle I can and not give reason for my body to make these cancer cells again. It is also to allow my immune system to attack anything that shouldn’t be there and get rid of it (such as a cancer cell). This is where I have the dilemma.
One part of my immune system isn’t working well, if at all. The part that ID’s what is a bad cell or any other bad “thing” in my body isn’t there to do its job. So my body just lets it happen until there’s a critical mass of something (like cancer or a viral infection etc.) that then I may or may not be able to handle on my own. It’s why people treated with chemotherapy can sometimes develop secondary cancers. Part of their immune system is suppressed (may mean different things for different people) and so they cannot fight off infection or cancer cell growth as should happen.
Once again – it all comes down to keeping the rest of my immune system working as well as possible. Did I mention my Vitamin D levels were 89 two weeks ago? In March. Vitamin D helps activate a type of white blood cell called a macrophage that kills bacteria and viruses. Vitamin D also regulates production of proteins that directly kill microbes and help reduce infections. Vitamin D also helps to promote calcium absorption in the small intestines and reabsorption into the bones, among other support provided for bone health – which is something important for me give my femur fracture 5 months ago and my healing process (which has been excellent).
Vitamin D is also being studied in humans as there are hypotheses that populations with higher Vitamin D levels have lower incidences of certain cancers. There is no definitive conclusion on this yet. Studies in humans are also being done to see if Vitamin D levels have an influence on risk of dying from cancer, once diagnosed. In other studies with mice – Vitamin D has been found to have several activities that might slow or prevent the development of cancer including promoting cellular differentiation, decreasing cancer cell growth, stimulating cell death (apoptosis) and reducing tumor blood vessel formation (angiogenesis). Right now there is a lot of conflicting information on Vitamin D’s role in cancer prevention, treatment and longevity after diagnosis. For more information on what has been studied you can go HERE. At least it IS being studied!!!
Think about everything you put into your body, activities you do, even emotions – and make sure it is enhancing your health and not detracting from it.
The bottom line is that we are only as healthy as each of our cells – and by doing things that enhance their health and not hurt them – we are giving ourselves the best chance of overcoming illness and even better – preventing problems in the first place. It is much easier to prevent cancer than to have it, treat it and (hopefully) recover and not have a recurrence. Cancer treatment is difficult, and it has left some serious damage to parts of my immune system that may or may not recover. I have to be better than most in terms of taking care of my health because of this, and to prevent a recurrence of cancer of any type. I look at it as a challenge. One that I will win.
Wishing you good health and a great life –
Sheryl
