So, I’ve been struggling with digestive issues for a little over a year now. As the calendar flipped into 2023, my mostly mild symptoms started to escalate, which obviously worried me. Ever since losing my father nearly 20 years ago, my family has had a touch of medical anxiety. That is to say, small things like, say, gas pains, immediately take our minds down a serious path. This wasn’t helped by losing my uncle to pancreatic cancer in 2020. In my mind, it is the scariest of all cancers (which themselves are all very scary). Having had a courtside seat to my uncle’s journey (which was, by all accounts, one of the better pancreatic cancer journeys… see: the unicorn shirts), I am still justifiably scared shitless (see: constipation) by the whole concept of pancreatic cancer. I mean, it just sort of sneakily grows there, cloaking itself in mostly mild digestive discomfort… until it’s almost too late.
Rent free. You hear that phrase when folks are talking about an idea that hangs heavily in your head, weighing on you. Pancreatic cancer lives rent free in my head every time I have mild digestive discomfort. Which, I’ve been having a lot, making an eviction pretty tough. So, I’ll admit, between that and the aforementioned baseline health anxiety, I have not been in a good way. In fact, about a month ago, I got so worked up in the middle of the night that I drove myself to the ER and convinced the doc to give me an abdominal CT scan. Thank God I live in an area and era, with the means, to push for such a scan. I’m keenly aware that not everyone is, or has been, or will be, so fortunate. The good news is that the scan came up empty. No stones, no tumors, no obvious excuses for my discomfort. There was a little bit of intestinal swelling, which is consistent with stress-induced IBS. Either way, I’ll be following up with all the “oscopies” they will give me, trying my best to rule out the big stuff. Likely, I’ll be left with the need to get a handle on my stress in healthier ways, while becoming increasingly cognizant about my diet (dairy and gluten, in particular).
I’m jotting this entry in my journal today, however, not to chronicle my battle with my own inner demons (though it’s probably therapeutic to put them out into the light). Instead, I wanted to note an article that recently popped onto my radar. You can find it here. It talks about a recent study where mRNA vaccines were utilized to potentially cure pancreatic cancer. If you’ve been paying attention, this is the same mRNA technology that many questioned during the early days of COVID vaccines. In fact, one might argue that the experience of COVID has been built upon to lead directly to this study. Or, put another way, without COVID, this progress in pancreatic cancer treatment might not exist. Now, it’s a small study, and there is a long way to go. But, man, if you’ve been close to someone on their own pancreatic cancer journey, you know how powerful hope can be.
I realize the concept of science messing with DNA-like-stuff can seem scary and all Sci-Fi-y. But before you let it take up space in your head, rent free, consider that from my point of view… if it means providing a better survival rate for folks facing the scariest of scary cancers… forget flying cars or lightsabers, I’ll take this.