External Factors gave me Cancer?

"O, give me fresh air and water, to stay

in the pink like this lovely flower!"

April 23 (Day 13 post-first chemo)

10 days to go before the 2nd chemo on May 3. During the "waiting period",I promised myself to to reflect on what could possibly trigger this cancer in me. For what it is worth. I can't expect others or scientists to know what caused my body to harbour breast cancer cells. They can only guess on the outwardly obvious contributory factors (being female for example). But with all else being outwardly equal, why do I (and some others in the same boat) get breast cancer and other females don't? Or will it be a matter of time when they do??Hope not! It is a scary thought and I would not want to wish this on any other female. If I am the last breast cancer patient ever, I would be very happy !

I owe it to myself to examine possible causes that could have initiated the cancer process in my body. I am no scientist and do not proffess to be one. Nonetheless, it will be "fun" to go exploring, if only an inward journey through self. A scientist or researcher would be bored to death if they have to work on me as a subject, a lab mouse is probably more interesting.

So time to switch my analytical mind on and pretend that I am a gentle giant ME on a mission to study this subject specimen (me). Again I am no scientist but my fact finding and analysis will be based on my own acute observations and nothing less than an honest recollection of past behaviours and experiences.

No doubt at the risk of over-simplying the process. But I have to start somewhere. And this is just for me, to satisfy my urge and interest to make sense of what has been happening. If nothing else it should keep me engrossed for the next 10 days while I wait for the first clump of hair to fall and faithfully ensure no ulcers and sore invade my mouth. Otherwise cannot eat, mah...then how to keep my blood count up?

According to the "Prescription for Nutritional Healing" book, scientists believe that a combination of genetic, behavioural, environmental and lifestyle factors are involved in turning normal cells into abnormal cells and abnormal cells into cancer. Cell damage initiate the cancer process. Inhibitors (eg certain vitamins and nutrients)slow the process, and Promoters (eg high fat diets) speed up the process. The chain of events leading to cancer is very complex and everyone reacts differently.

I am not an expert on cancer nor am I a scientist involved in years of research on the subject. I am someone afflicted with the disease which will affect me over my lifetime, even after I am cured of the original cancer. Based on the findings and inferences by notable health institutions and cancer research centres, external factors play a role in the development and growth of cancer. I will therefore need to know which of these external factors could have triggered the cancer in me.

External factors and me:

Air pollution -
Oservation: One thing is certain, the air quality today is below what it was yesterday, last year and naturally the last decade. What is scary is that it is going to get worse! It is slowly but surely deteriorating. Living in a city with limited "green lungs", I know that I am breathing unhealthy air. Indoor air quality need not necessarily be better unless the indoor area is fitted with gadgets designed to improve or treat the indoor air quality (airfilters, ionisers, purifiers, gimicky air-conditioners which claimed to kill all kinds of bacteria,virus,etc ). We have heard of "sick building" syndrome which have hit even hospitals(!) where people are supposed to be treated to get better, not worse.

Fact: If air quality is bad, then yes, I have been inhaling bad air, lots of bad air. In KL especially, with pollution, the haze, industrial fumes. I have also been breathing the chemicals released when the "health" authorities come around our areas to carry out fogging as an anti-dengue measure. In Melaka, even after 50 years of Merdeka!, my kampung in Masjid Tanah is sorely lacking an Alam Flora type of garbage management. We burn our own household waste, together with the dry leaves and whatever else we need to dispose ( broken toys and other unserviceable household items). The recycling center is a small shed in town but it is locked and nobody knows who has the key. So short of ferrying garbage in our cars to the big garbage bins near the market, we burn our own. Everyday. Every household (almost) in the kampung has this ritual of sweeping their big compounds everyday after the Asar prayers, have a break for tea in the garden, then sweep some more, and just before the sun dips in time for Maghrib prayers, all the wastes piled up (twigs, dry leaves) will be burnt together with the household garbage for the day. So a common sight is a nice fire and spools of smoke gracing each house compound which gives a nice homey feel to the kampung landscape. What toxic gases are released into the atmosphere God only knows. Once I was almost "bombed" alive because someone had thrown empty aerosol cans of airfresherners and Ridsect into the household garbage bag which was thrown into the fire. The bag exploded but luckily nobody was hurt. There is a box to collect metal cans, aerosal cans, used batteries, and one for empty plastic containers which we keep aside for the "Besi Burok" Lorry. Once in a while we have this guy coming around with a lorry to scavenge for old newspapers, batteries, plastic containers, metal cans and anything metallic (broken fencing/old bicycles etc). Since then our guests to the house or the maid has to be reminded not to mix dangerous rubbish into the bin that is only meant for harmless household wastes.

Action: Install airfilters/ionisers/purifiers in the house or bedrooms so at least 8 hours of the day fresh , unadulterated air is available? Ensure the aircon filters do what they are supposed to do (eradicate bacteria, pollutants). Burn less incence as the fumes may be carcinogenic? Minimise outdoor activities in areas where the quality of the air is suspect? Contact the YB for Masjid Tanah to push for improved garbage disposal system that would minimise "open burnings" of rubbish by individual households? And last but not least, walk around wearing oxygen masks????? It may be de rigeur in future to do so if one wants to belong to the healthy set, at a time when the outside air quality dips to below unhealthy levels. Imagine a scenario when designers come up with hip looking O2 masks and we have to top up O2 at kiosks when supply runs low!

Water Pollution-

Observation: As for water, forget about drinking from the tap like we used to during childhood. Again, unless expensive gadgets are fixed to treat the water coming through the main pipeline, tap water is not drinkable unless it is boiled first. However boiling will not remove residues and filtering( at individual's own expense) will be required. Supply of pure clean water may be limited due to limited resources at catchment areas ( blame is always on uncontrolled development and "natural disasters' of droughts in a country that suffers from floods). Stringent efforts at water treatment plants are often compromised by old, aged pipes that may be rusty or leaking. In KL, in my area at least, you need to install a filter if you do not want to get an unexpected treat of "teh tarik" gushing out of your tap, especially after being away for sometime. Even with an indoor filter, you need to let the water run for a few minutes until the debris has been drained before you set the filter on or you will find that you will need to service the filter ever so often. In Melaka, once in a while we get similar surprises but not as often. My nagging worry there however is the fact that the supply pipes that connects each household to the mains is made from pvc and this can be seen to be snaking its way all over the kampung. "O'er hills, o'er dales", and sometimes over and into longkangs(!) as well. What if the pvc pipes , durable though it may be, cracks or leaks and the water from the longkangs seep into the pvc pipes that winds itself to somebody's meter and straight into their kitchen or bathroom sink. It defies the imagination but it can happen, can it not? Those childhood days of running to the school canteen tap to fill your tupperware tumbler with water so that you can quench your thirst after a game of rounders are long gone.

Fact: I have been drinking bottled water for a long long time and water from the tap is always boiled for household use. Water for the pets are still water ie from the tap but allowed to sit in containers for a few days so debris(if any) will collect at the bottom. Water for showers and brushing teeth is from the tap, we can't all be like Demi Moore soaking in Evian water baths! I recall though that there was a period when either the Health Ministry or the Ministry of Trade were going after errant companies selling tap water but labelling them as either Mineral Water or Distilled Water. So I might have purchased those and relied on those as my drinking water source.

Action: In KL, stick to bottled water for drinking and RO water from the kiosks for other household purposes(cooking and washing fruits) and use tap water only for washing the car, watering the plants and generall household washing up. Install an outdoor water filter asap so all water coming into the household use and plumbing system is treated water. (An aside though: Why do we have to install extra gadgets to have access to clean potable water in Malaysia? What is the utility company doing with the rates that we pay?).In Melaka, ditto. Maybe contact the YB again(?)to ensure that all PAM water pipelines are hygienically routed and that while the water leaving the water treatment plant is safe to drink, it remains that way when it reaches out to the various households.




Personal conclusion :

These 2 external factors affect everyone in this country if they are relying on natural "fresh air" and "fresh water" mixed with industrial pollutants that accompany rapid progress and development.

If unhealthy air and toxic waters pose a danger to my health and affect the cells in my body (water and oxygen being very important components for healthy cell growth and survival) then I need to make sure I maximise the supply of clean air and water to my system. I am already making sure that the water that I drink is pure. I am still cracking my head on how to ensure airborne pollutants are eradicated from the air I breathe. Have you watched a ray of sunshine coming into your house and seen the zillions of particles floating in the air, God knows where they come from or what they are? Even after a heavy shower of tropical rain, when the air is supposed to be "cleansed" with healthy negative ions in the air, you can see these zillions of "habuk"(dust) and they are all going to be breathed in by one of us!

And the question is are these notorious enough to cause eventual damage to the cells in our bodies that they become abnormal, and over time, become cancerous? All it takes is for one cell to go crazy and they multiply to become 2 cells which will then make copies of themselves until they become billions of cells that multiply so fast that one day you notice a lump? And it just needs one moment in time,for that one cell to cause havoc a few years from now, if we do not do anything within our power to stop it from doing so. Why do we have to wait when it becomes a lump to act on the symptoms and the cure? Why not pinpoint the cause?

This is quite tiring. So I will examine the other factors - Internal Factors and Lifestyle Factors over the course of the next few days. I have just clutched a clump of hair from just above my left temple. The clump of hair is in my palm now and I have goose bumps. It is already starting....the autumn of my life? I am not sure how it will affect me later, dare I look in the mirror now or wait. One thing I am grateful for, it is not painful....and they say and I have seen for myself, that they will grow back. Insya Allah...sigh.....