Diverticulum and Cancer
This weekend, I met two persons in need of healing.
The first was RD’s brother-in-law, who underwent surgery to remove portions of his colon which had been afflicted by diverticulum (a sac portruding from an organ) that was chronically infected. It manifested itself some years ago, and most recently struck just before Christmas.
He is now bedridden in hosipital while he recovered from his surgery. The wounds in the abdomen will take about a month to heal and his physician has assured us that the procedure had gone well.
Even then, I pondered that for all the medical advances in the last century, we still rely on the body to heal itself. The surgeons can removed the damaged organ and fight infection with anti-biotics, but there is little they can do to hasten the healing. Submitting oneself to surgery is to put one’s life into somebody else’s care.
The other person was GY’s brother, who ran NAC with her. He was diagnosed a few months back with stomach cancer, and recently had his whole stomach removed. Still, the prognosis doesn’t offer much hope - the cancer is in the third (advanced) stage and has spread through the lymph nodes. And even barely recovering from his surgery, he must now embark on chemotherapy to combat the disease.
Cancer - the most insidious of diseases. The key to recovery is an early detection, but the symptoms are often too subtle to make a firm diagnosis. In our modern society with increased obesity, cancer has now become an important health factor. It will be prudent to learn more about this disease.