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Things I've learned from cancer

Things I've learned from cancer
personal

A few months ago, I was diagnosed with cancer, a Diffuse Large B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Right now, I am halfway through treatment and I would like to share what I have learned during this time.

First of all, I want to clarify that what I’m sharing is based on my personal experience; it is not intended to be a reference or advice for others.

  1. The word cancer includes hundreds of different types and subtypes, which implies different symptoms, risks, complications, and treatments (very different from each other). Although the basis of the disease is the same (an abnormal and uncontrolled reproduction of tumor cells), depending on which cells they are and where they are located, it is as if it were a different disease.

  2. I don’t fight, I don’t battle, or anything like that against cancer. In the same way that no one fights against a bone fracture. It is a passive treatment disease where you limit yourself to going to the doctor, taking tests, receiving the treatments they give you, and enduring the side effects.

  3. If you search the internet, EVERYTHING IS CANCER; no matter what symptoms you search for, you will end up finding (sooner rather than later) some “medicine” website that links that symptom, however innocent it may be, to cancer. My recommendation: IGNORE IT.

  4. I often think that for those around me, it is sometimes harder to cope with the situation than it is for me. You see that they don’t know what to say to you, or how to say it. I understand it’s normal; it’s not a common situation you’re used to. What I appreciate isn’t words of encouragement (for someone as pragmatic as me, words of encouragement are just words), but knowing that if you really needed something, there are people by your side—and yes, you have many more people by your side than you imagine.

  5. One’s attitude has little (if anything) to do with the outcome of the treatment. But taking your own situation with a bit of black (or gray) humor allows you to have a laugh. I can tell a little anecdote:

When I was about to have the axillary node biopsy, just before entering the operating room (a procedure under general anesthesia), the OR nurse came over to check the data (just in case they didn’t cut off the wrong thing 😂) and asked my wife for her phone number to notify her via SMS when I came out of surgery. She asked her relationship to me, she said “I’m his wife,” and the only thing I could think of saying was, “Well, my widow if the operation goes wrong.” 😂 😂 I still laugh now just thinking about their faces.

As a friend used to say: “We’ve taken a good hit, but look at how much we’ve laughed!”

  1. If you want, you learn a ton of things: medications, symptoms, how the body works, treatments, diagnostic tests, etc. If you also have a group of oncologists like the ones treating me, they tell you where to look for more info, and that’s really cool.

  2. In my case, a Lymphoma is considered a blood cancer; it is an excessive growth of lymphocytes that accumulate in the nodes, causing them to grow disproportionately, compressing other organs. Since the lymphatic system is considered a single organ, the fact that tumor cells are detected in different nodes far from each other throughout the body is NOT considered metastasis.

  3. From point 1, it can be inferred that the treatment for each cancer is also a world of its own; there are no generic solutions, even for the same cancer. And chemotherapies don’t have to be “weird” drugs; for example, part of “mine” is prednisone, which has medical uses beyond cancer.

  4. In the case of Large B-cell lymphoma, the most typical treatment seems to be R-CHOP:

  • R: Rituximab It is the great revolution in the treatment of B-cell lymphoma. The medical inner workings are mostly beyond me, but from some simplified readings, it can be summarized that this drug (an antibody) binds to the CD20 antigen and triggers an immune response from the body that destroys B lymphocytes. The way it works seems to be so good that, for example, the Josep Carreras Foundation is seeking funding for clinical trials of a similar antigen for CD30 receptors (which is expressed in practically all Hodgkin lymphomas and several subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphomas.)
  • C: Cyclophosphamide Cyclophosphamide is a drug from the alkylating agent family. The most curious fact I’ve gathered is that it’s a derivative of Mustard gas—yes, the one used in the First World War as a chemical weapon.
  • H: Hydroxydaunorubicin It is a powerful antibiotic extracted from soil microbes. I call this one “BitterKas” because it has a practically identical color.
  • O: Oncovin or Vincristine
  • P: Prednisone
  1. “Chemo” treatments are applied in cycles (in my case, 21 days), and everything is measured based on those cycles. Chemo has a ton of side effects. That’s where the great advance in treatments will come: in minimizing side effects to be able to increase the primary ones.

This story isn’t over yet, so I’ll keep sharing curiosities about my cancer.