The family curse or the toxic earth.

Grandmother, died of lung cancer
Grandfather died of prostate cancer.
Father died of esophageal cancer.
Uncle on father side died of Lou Gehrig’s disease
Uncle on mother side, prostate cancer and leukemia. Cancer free.
Brother, recently diagnosed stage four colon cancer.
Myself, stage four prostate cancer.

I never dreamed I would know so many people who have cancer or died of cancer in my own family. I tend to wonder sometimes, could it have been work related as everyone of us worked either in the forest products, industry, or the pulp and paper products industry? Could it be because we live in an area that the Native Americans referred to as the valley of sickness? Or could it be something else.

Human beings have released so many toxins into the air and water. Traces of plastic can be found in every species on earth. Forever chemicals are in 90% or more of land and water. In the name of greed, we are destroying our home. As a species, we will pay the price for our ignorance.

Todd1963 said...
....

Human beings have released so many toxins into the air and water. Traces of plastic can be found in every species on earth. Forever chemicals are in 90% or more of land and water. In the name of greed, we are destroying our home. As a species, we will pay the price for our ignorance.

Just to put shine a bad light on this, we of a certain age have grown up in an environment that has become gradually more polluted. If we are now paying the price, think of those being born smack into all this crap without a few decades time to do what (little) adaptation the body can do. They will be finding out exactly what the environmental component to all our cancers is when they compare their stats to ours. On that happy note,

Djin

It’s all so true. Science…..they open Pandora’s box without asking if they should. Radiation from nuclear accidents and bomb testing, chemical pollution, food that has been so over processed and chemically treated it has no nutritional value. It all makes me sick inside. I wonder what God sees in us.

Genetics or environment? I could argue for both. I was diagnosed (age 57) with PC in 2020. At the same time both my sister (diagnosed at age 56) and mother already had cancer. Both have since died from their cancer. I later found out there were MANY ancestors on my mother's side who died from cancer. On my father's side, my grandmother lived to 96, her two aunts lived to 97 and 98 and her uncle 104. My in-laws are both 86 and still very active. I believe genes are involved with both longevity and decline. Funny thing, my wife and I comment on how her folks still eat as they did their entire lives. Real bacon, generous amounts of butter, fatty beef/pork and gravy on everything. My parents, grandparents and their generations did the same. I believe the difference is their food was fresh. Also, obesity was pretty rare compared to today. Chemicals and preservatives in everything now. Not to mention what's in our air and water. Wouldn't surprise me if average expected life starts to drop in the near future.

Who knows? But it does argue for doing all the diet and exercise suggestions to reduce risk. I kick myself for realizing too late that many of my habits are risk factors. For instance, charred beef, drinking, weight gain, little exercise, stress. Even now after prostectomy, i have a hard time doing the right things. Take a hint from me!

I’ve been on a vegetarian Mediterranean diet for over 40-years and have exercised (run or swim) most days for over 20-years. When I was diagnosed, a definitely-former acquaintance said “a lot of good all that did you.” Well, I don’t know if prostate cancer run in my family because the males tend to drop dead of heart attack or stroke by the time they hit 65 but I do know that my cardio health is top-notch at 70.

If each of us does what we can to alleviate the problems we are aware of, things will improve overall.

I am in the middle of switching over to heat pumps for home heating and air conditioning. Have to do it myself as nobody will install them for a reasonable price. Tried for 2 months, got 1 quote for $10,000 per unit. I need 3 units - that would be $30k. :shock: Many hours of watching YouTube how-to videos, bought the recommended equipment, I just finished the complete install and setup for the first unit. Cost me $2500 total, works just fine and looks great. Heats down to 5 degrees F so far. Am unboxing the other 2 units for install after upcoming hernia surgery. Bought those on sale for $5500 for both.

When younger I used to eat trash, now I eat healthy, exercise regularly and get plenty of rest. Make all of our meals from scratch. I preach and vote for a clean environment and a sustainable healthy lifestyle. Will buy an electric/hybrid when Honda makes such an Odyssey.

After spending billions of dollars to get people to stop smoking tobacco, the marijuana legalization efforts are going to result in an increase in lung cancer over the next 40 years.

It all has to do with Jeans. Mine have expanded with hormone therapy. 😊 Many years ago we moved into a neighborhood where there was a gas moratorium and no gas lines were run to to the houses being built. In sunny Tucson our house had a swamp cooler when we moved in. We had it for years. Mold would build up on the windows. We finally put in a heat pump. We haven’t looked back since. A crane is used to lift it up to the roof. I feel bad for my daughters who lived in a house where there was mold and all the cleaning products used to clean it up. I also used Round Up for years to get rid of weeds. When the wind would blow I would get it all over me. There was no PC in my family line. My choices of living and upbringing probably caused my and my wife’s cancer. I do my best now to eliminate any cancer causing agents around the house now that the grandkids visit frequently. Those of us that are older, probably ate the high fat diets of our parents and grandparents. I lived in a house that was full of secondhand smoke and was everywhere I went. My hope is that we won’t be passing on any of those dangers to the generations to come. My best to you Todd and all.
Jack

Mattam, I agree with you that we are in the midst of the Sixth Extinction. I am posting this from my beloved island of St John in the US Virgin Islands. about half the island and shore waters are National Park. I lived in the VI in the 1960s, and the degradation and diminishment of coral and sea life in the intervening 55 years is easy and painful to see. In the late 1960s St John had a population of 700. Today it is about 5,000. Big jeeps, huge party boats are everywhere. We are camping, no jeep, but we emitted a few tons of CO2 to get here. The madness of poisoning our home is everywhere on our Earth 1.0. Unfortunately there is, and never can be, an Earth 2.0.

Pratoman, I can relate to that. This past Monday I has a triple coronary artery bypass graft procedure. They also did a Maze procedure to try to end my constant battle with atrial fibrillation. The procedure went very well and I was only in the hospital for three and a half days, but now I've reverted to afib once again. Very disappointing, though not totally unexpected. At least I got a repaired heart out of the open heart surgery. I must say that what I just went through was much more challenging in every way that the prostatectomy 13 years ago.

I think the answer to your question is generally “yes”.

Life is one big randomization, and we, humanity, have discovered many observable cause and effect relationships (e.g. if x then y will likely happen), but we certainly have not discovered them all. Many are not simple and sometimes the cause and effect relationships are contradictory.

walking—>good for heart
walking—>can damage joints

Yet somehow, if you remove fentanyl overdoses from the mix, our lifespan is monotonically increasing (in the usa at least).

I often wonder why i have PCa. What sequence of events happened to start me on this road? Is there something I did that caused it?

I will never know.

Lots of talk about environment affecting our general health. I am no scientist but anyone who can read will notice that our world is not getting more pristine. The 2nd and 3rd world countries want what the rich countries have which would increase the carbon and harmful emissions exponentially, The rich countries on the other hand want us to recycle our beer cans and plastic bags to save the world while out playing around in their big air polluting toys year after year. Heh, I drive around in a big 1 ton diesel 4x4 truck pulling a medium sized trailer when out for some fun. Guilty as charged. Looks like this scenario is gonna end in tears. Of course our environment impacts our health to some degree.

I and my wife and extended family have chosen to personal take charge our physical well being which is something that is attainable and easy to achieve. Trying to get 7 billion+- humans to change their lifestyle to cause a positive impact on the planet, maybe a little more problematic.

The biggest impact on our physical life in my opinion is the guy/girl looking back at us in the mirror, not the planet. Prostate cancer may not be caused by poor lifestyle choices but all of the physical procedures used in the medical field to fight PC whether it be surgery, radiation, chemo, ADT etc, all are affected by what condition your body is in which has mostly to do with lifestyle choices. Just have to follow the threads on this forum to figure that out which I have done for the last almost 10 years.

On January 31st, I go and see my surgeon for a 6 week check up and report card on my hip replacement. He will probably give me the green light to Nordic ski but not alpine ski as there is still a chance because of the potential high torquing/crashing of alpine skiing that some of the titanium parts could be torn out of the new bone grafting if it is before 3 months healing. Walked first day, to get blood flowing, walked much longer, at 4 days, kept increasing the distance and time to now more than 3 hours/day on soft snowshoe trails. hip doesn't ache any more and I feel strong.

My wife is the cook in our house and we follow the Mediterranean diet more or less. She bakes a lot of squares/energy bars as there is a fair bit of training in out lifestyle, me less, she more. 2/3 of our calories come from carbohydrates. I am still just under 170lbs which is good considering it is not unusual for hip transplant patients gaining 10-15 lbs due to inactivity. Only prescription drug is Cialis. Cholesterol and triglyceride numbers low.



Walking is one of the easiest ways of keeping the muscle and joints in good shape, increasing bone density, enhances proprioseption, which is what your body needs to learn when making quick movements of your body to prevent falls which is common for seniors, keeps you cardio vascular system healthy and gives you positive emotional well being.

Bottom line, we all have the ability to change our quality of life no matter how many physical setbacks we have experienced over the years.

Today is the start of the first chapter in a new book.

Dave