Cancer Seeds

There was one other thing that Dr Poen explained to Pete and I last week during our appointment with him that is worth sharing since it was so interesting. He told us that cancer researchers are beginning to understand that cancer cells are like seeds. They can scatter throughout the body, much like seeds from a flower might be carried in the wind; but, unless the cancer cells land in "fertile soil" within the body, they will never take hold. He made the analogy of flower seeds landing on concrete -- they may lay there for years and years and never become anything, but if the wind carries them to nearby fertile soil the seeds can instantly come back to life and begin to flourish.

This is why some cancers can reappear years later. The "soil" in which the cells land changes over time as we age and so what was once "concrete" can sometimes become fertile ground later. For some reason (which Dr Poen did not explain) other types of cancer cells have a shorter lifespan. For example, I have been told that if I make it 5 years without any recurrence of this cancer then my chances of it coming back approach zero. All I can figure is that maybe some types of cancer cells eventually die if they do not find fertile ground soon enough.

I was reflecting on Dr Poen's information over the weekend and I couldn't help but think of the analogy to Scotch Broom. Scotch Broom is a plant in our area that is not indiginous to Northern California. I don't remember the story behind it (e.g., where it came from or why it was brought here), but the point is that it is now taking over much of the hillsides in Marin. It's actually a pretty plant, with beautiful yellow flowers which are in bloom much of the year, and so to the untrained eye it looks harmless and quite lovely. But, unfortunately, it grows so aggressively that it chokes out all the natural vegetation in the area and eventually takes over, which is why every spring there is a huge campaign to get rid of it.

I had a woman at the retreat that I attended a couple months ago approach me and tell me that I should embrace this cancer as part of myself, rather than referring to it as "The Bitch". She was concerned that by calling it this name I was somehow sending a negative messages to my own body rather than filling myself with more compassionate, loving thoughts. I appreciate the intention of what she was saying, but I don't agree. Yes, this cancer is part of me. It's not like it was a foreign substance that invaded my body; rather, it was created when one cell within my own body duplicated incorrectly and then began to multiply. However, I think that cancer is much like Scotch Broom. In and of itself, cancer cells may not evil. They are just cells, after all. Rather, the evilness of cancer lies in the fact that, once it finds fertile ground, it grows so aggressively that it eventually takes over the organ in which it is located until that organ can no longer function. And if the infected organ is vital (e.g., the liver) then death occurs.

And so I take comfort in the fact that, at the same time that community groups around me are waging the annual war against Scotch Broom invasion, I am waging my own war (luckily, with the help of many wonderful family and friends who surround me) against an even more aggressive and deadly "seed". Because, despite how seemingly harmless and "part of me" a single Bitch cell might appear to the untrained eye, she is evil and she must go!