mitosis gone wrong
a few weeks ago, i found out that my cousin, who is in her early 40's, has cancer. needless to say, i was stunned. i mean...cancer?? in someone young and seemingly healthy?? and in someone related to me?? ugh. it was like, one minute, we were thinking it was something simple and routine, and the next minute, there was a phone call from her mentioning the pathology reports and the "c word". it just doesn't make sense. on an optimistic note: she had surgery today and is hoping the lymph nodes show up clean with no evidence of spread. hopefully that takes care of it. from what i tentatively heard, the prognosis is good. and my cousin is strong and brave. but still--"cancer"...just the idea of it is hard to wrap my head around.
why does it sometimes seem like we're seeing more young people who get cancer these days w/o the usual "risk" factors or w/o a family history of it? i can't help but think it might possibly have some connection--even if only slight-- to the pollutions and chemicals that have made their way into water supplies and the environment. because, i have read before that a lot of chemicals like pesticides, and those found in plastics, and toxic heavy metals essentially become like estrogens, and have an estrogenic and/or other endocrine effect when they enter our bodies. maybe i sound crazy for saying this, but i think this is possibly part of why we're seeing young women getting breast and gynecologic cancers, and young men getting testicular cancer. and i'm willing to bet that its one of many potential complex reasons why more young children today (especially) girls are experiencing precocious puberty. i mean, think about it: a seven or eight-year-old who already has a menstrual cycle? now that's messed up.
