Hi, I am Dr Milind Pimprikar. And you are listening to fighting fit Fridays with Dr. Pimprikar. Today we are going to discuss about the evillest yet loyal friend who does not leave you very easily, THE CANCER
The whole family and the friends enter a state of shock when they hear this word cancer which has affected their near one. It is a big psychological trauma and one relates it with beginning of an end of this wonderful human life. The word cancer challenges the very existence of an individual. The world around us starts to feel meaningless. It seems as if life has been extracted out of the living being and one starts to witness the inevitable, ultimate truth for all those who are born. THE DEATH.
But when it really comes to it, we must know that the 5-year survival rates in all types of cancers is 62%. Some of the common cancers like breast and prostate have a survival rate as high as 90%. Thus, it makes a huge number of cancer survivors in the society and this talk is intended to aid improve the quality of life of these people who have bravely fought the death and conquered it. Physical exercise could definitely help to enhance the quality of life in these people….personally I had read an American best seller way back written by Bernie Segal on exceptional cancer patients and he says, it is not verbatim but in a nut shell, “what is the point in seeing a patient lying in bed with number of tubes pushed into the body? Fluids running in from one tube and coming out of the other tube. What you are prolonging is death and not life”
This is precisely we do not intend to do. We must add constructive, happy and years devoid of suffering to these people. Once a person is labelled as cancer sufferer or a survivor, there are many factors which come into play and they are physical as well as psychological. The disease is physically challenging your wellbeing, mentally one is challenged by mood swings, (explain) anxiety of the future, (fear of death) depression, anger (why me?) inability to accept body (loss of hair in chemotherapy) image so on and so forth.
Love from the near ones in the form of family and social support, hope to be alive and see miracle happening added by faith in the unknown are three main pillars which will heal the mind although may not cure the disease. I have always believed in prayers and these prayers send very strong don’t die messages. The human mind has a strong potential and can choose between “to be or not to be”. Urge to be alive can play wonders.
Bernie Siegal also conducted a trial where he gave patients paper and colours and asked them to draw whatever they wanted to. It was seen that those patients who painted positive thought depicting pictures like a sunrise had better outcomes in terms of survivorship and he termed them as ECPs meaning exceptional cancer patients. I feel this was purely a psychological phenomenon depicting an impact of positive thinking which can also be corelated with law of attractions. Which is dreaming when awake. Visualising positive outcomes out of the treatment being received Similarly, the world thought that physical exercise can also improve the QOL in these patients and the research in recent past have shown that, physical exercise has a positive bearing on all these parameters and these people can have improved QOL with a regular exercise routine. The FITT principle that is frequency, intensity, time and type of exercise is the concept one needs to implement. Exercise has also shown to increase the immunity of an individual. Although there is no evidence to suggest that exercise will reduce the incidence of recurrence but surely so improves the psychosocial and physical wellbeing of these patients.
The dose of the exercise in these people needs to be personalised and there is no “one fit all “programme. Cardiorespiratory exercise with weight training done about 4 times a week and for a duration of 30 min. gives desirable outcomes. Exercises in gym setting improves the social contact reduces the loneliness, improves body image it can form a support group of new friends in the gym.
So, a positive mindset along with exercise will definitely improve the QOL. We all get one life. Let us not let it go in vain. Live up to the last breath as every breath you breathe has a purpose. One has to keep fighting. Because the feeling of you being just there means a lot to your family and friends. Death is inevitable. We are all mortals. It will embrace you some day. But, let us not die before we actually do. We have to come alive with whatever you face let it be anything on this earth or the evil friend CANCER.
To conclude I will quote Richard Bach from his Illusions “if you are alive your job on this earth is not over”.
Here we come to an end of this episode. You can hear me on VTLPODCAST and all leading podcast platforms on every Friday. If you have liked the views, please share like and comment.
Thank you for listening
Reference-
- AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY. Cancer Facts and Figures 2003. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society, 2003, 48 pp.
