soap box

While I have not had all of these vices, I cannot imagine any that are worth this.

I am friends with a couple of people who smoke.

I know lots of people who are varying degrees of overweight.

I am friends with people who "need" to have a nice tan in the summer ... one of whom had a suspcious but not cancerous mole removed.

It's not worth it.

The treatments for lung (smoking), esophagal (smoking), pancreatic (overweight) and some breast (overweight) cancers are not nearly as user-friendly as mine, from what I've seen and heard. Pancreatic cancer is still more or less a death sentence. The others can be treated and sometimes cured.

Melanoma, if caught early, isn't too bad from what I've heard, but it is also a "gateway cancer," making the recipient susceptible to lymphoma, which is the general type of what I have.

Let me tell ya, people, it ain't worth it. Take care of your body. It's the only one you get. When it doesn't work right any more, it affects not only you, but everyone around you. And I assure you that the effects it has on you won't make the people around you jealous (I don't think — anyone jealous?).

I asked the doctor what lifestyle components would be wise for me. He said that there are no causal connections between lifestyle and my particular kind of cancer (there are other connections), but less or no red meat and stay in shape are generally a good idea to stay away from the cancer bus. That was all he said.

Of course, there's no guarantee, but why up the risk if you don't need to?