We are both blessed and cursed to be living in a Western culture. Western culture is considered to be the groundbreaker, especially when it comes to medicine. We are backed with advanced medical technology, availability of the all best resources, and some of the brightest minds from across the globe in order to better understand the medical aspect of our species. We strive for a universal truth, an applicable finding that can repeatable, mass produced, and given to all at reasonable rate. For cancer patients with renal cell carcinoma, it may be one of the best places to be, since the medical advances can help identify cancers at a early stage. The critical approach values an array of things, including the history, language,a rituals of a given finding. This approach tries to explain dichotomies that are not so black and white, dichotomies such as life/death, male/female and the like. Because these dichotomies are in the grey area, this approach tries to help consider and answer some of the questions at hand. This approach is crucial, like many others, in order to understanding people/patients and their way of handling disease. Hippocrates was one of the first to recognize and name cancer, between 460 BC and 370 BC, describing several kinds of cancer and referring to them as carinos, which is greek for cancer. One of the first tumors to be surgically removed was in 1689, and it wasn't until the Theodor Boveri, the German zoologist in 1902 who discovered the genetic link between cancer. What is nice about living in the United States is the technological advancements in medicine, such as imaging (as shown on left), that allow us to view cancer in a more direct way. Machines such as this Cat Scan all physicians to rule out cancer, or to find it in its early stages in hopes of getting rid of it before it becomes more severe.
Renal cell carcinoma, or even cancer for that matter, is a new but common occurrence among many cultures. Many cultures see it as evil spirits that have taken to the body and cause a chronic symptoms which don't allow for the effected person to live regular lives. In western culture, cancer has become one of the medical mysteries that people are constantly researching and trying to cure. It is very common among many americans, in several different forms, which is why it has become so hard to treat. And the treatment options are usually aggressive and have detrimental affects on the body, treatment options such chemotherapy leave some patients bald and surgeries result in scarring and the possibility for secondary opportunistic infection. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes it's a little scary at first glance to see a child who is suffering from cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy and is bald, and people often times feel helpless in situations like that. Women/men who are balding may also be considered to be less attractive,and social status could reveal they are genetically unfavorable and have trouble finding a partner. The fact that it is hard to empathize with what that patient and their families are going through makes it difficult for some patients to relate.
Camps such as the Cassie Hines Foundation, specifically directed towards children, give a more hopeful outlook to patients suffering for renal cell carcinoma. It allows them to be among people who can relate to them, and gives them the necessary drive and hope to persevere through the disease. Cancer has been beaten by many patients, and there are several grateful cancer survivors out there. Sometimes it just takes a bit of a reminder.
Renal cell carcinoma, or even cancer for that matter, is a new but common occurrence among many cultures. Many cultures see it as evil spirits that have taken to the body and cause a chronic symptoms which don't allow for the effected person to live regular lives. In western culture, cancer has become one of the medical mysteries that people are constantly researching and trying to cure. It is very common among many americans, in several different forms, which is why it has become so hard to treat. And the treatment options are usually aggressive and have detrimental affects on the body, treatment options such chemotherapy leave some patients bald and surgeries result in scarring and the possibility for secondary opportunistic infection. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes it's a little scary at first glance to see a child who is suffering from cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy and is bald, and people often times feel helpless in situations like that. Women/men who are balding may also be considered to be less attractive,and social status could reveal they are genetically unfavorable and have trouble finding a partner. The fact that it is hard to empathize with what that patient and their families are going through makes it difficult for some patients to relate.
Camps such as the Cassie Hines Foundation, specifically directed towards children, give a more hopeful outlook to patients suffering for renal cell carcinoma. It allows them to be among people who can relate to them, and gives them the necessary drive and hope to persevere through the disease. Cancer has been beaten by many patients, and there are several grateful cancer survivors out there. Sometimes it just takes a bit of a reminder.
SOURCES:
Image MRI: http://cschulzbuilding.com/wp-content/gallery/ct-mri-nuclear/4783-ct-mri-nuclear-8.jpg
Image Cancer patient: http://revoseek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Childhood-Cancer-can-be-Cured-Completely-1.png
Wikipedia. Last updated March 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cancer
The History of Cancer. American Cancer Society. Updated 2013. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancerbasics/thehistoryofcancer/
