Surviving the Physical & Emotional Pain of Cancer

Additional Info

• Segment Number: 2
• Audio File: healthy_talk/1520ht2b.mp3
• Featured Speaker: Bill Aron, PhD
• Book Title: New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors
• Guest Bio: Bill Aron, PhD, is an internationally renowned photographer and author. Aron's photographs have been exhibited in major museums and galleries internationally including the Museum of Modern Art, the International Center for Photography, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
  
  His books include From the Corners of the Earth, Shalom Y'all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South and his latest book New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors.
  
  Aron lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons, where he is quite possibly the only photographer with a PhD in sociology (from the University of Chicago).
• Transcription: RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
  Host: Michael Smith, MD
  
  Living longer and staying healthier, it's Healthy Talk with Dr. Michael Smith,, MD. Here's your host, Dr. Mike:
  
  DR MIKE: When it comes to a scary diagnosis, heart disease, Alzheimer's, I like to, during my show, cover the science of those diseases. I like to cover the treatments. I think that's important to keep my listeners, to keep me, to keep Life Extension customers, up today in all that good science, but I also like to talk about people. You know, the people who have gone through the diagnosis, the treatment. People that survived, who are doing well from these treatments and I think we can learn so much from them. My guest wrote a book that is titled, New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors. His name is Dr. Bill Aron.
  
  He's an internationally renowned photographer and author his photographs have been in, really, just about every major museum and gallery throughout the world. Really. He's been in the Museum of Modern Art, the International Center for Photography, the Chicago Art Institute, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, so just well-known and I just find it really interesting that he chooses to write a book about cancer survivors.
  
  Bill Aron, welcome to Healthy Talk.
  
  DR. BILL: Thank you, Dr. Mike, it's good to be here.
  
  DR. MIKE: Sorry for that long introduction, but I thought it was important to let my listeners know that; to learn about people's personal stories people who have actually survived, especially, in this case, the dreaded cancer diagnosis. I think we learn a lot from them. What was your inspiration for all of this?
  
  DR. BILL: When I was diagnosed with cancer, I was, of course, devastated, as most people are. The reaction of fear is usually followed by a sense of feeling all alone. I felt alienated, estranged from the world. I could be in a room full of people. In truth, I knew intellectually that everybody had some problem they were working on, but I felt like I was totally alone and separate and Susan Sontag action has a wonderful phrase that she uses in her book about being sick with a serious disease. She wrote that a sick person is transported to another country, separate and distinct from the land of the healthy and I was angry. I felt like I had failed my body. Rabbi Ed Feinstein, who's one of the participants in the book, had this to say and I think it's a really profound thought for people who have a serious illness cancer and other, "The way of healing is to balance the loss and fear and rage with a sense of gratitude. When they balance, we are whole; when they are not, we are cured." And so these 120 survivors, they became my teachers.
  
  DR. MIKE: That's awesome, Bill.
  
  DR. BILL: I went to a support group called the Cancer Support Community in West Los Angeles. During one of the sessions, another survivor said to me "You know, cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me" and it was just like this, you know, it was not an epiphany, but it was total disbelief. It was the opposite, I guess, of an epiphany and I felt, "How could that be?" Cancer's the worst thing. Then, I began to speak with other people and I found out that this is not an uncommon thought and I wanted to explore this and that was really the birth of the idea for this book.
  
  DR. MIKE: Interestingly, Bill, you mention something that I want to talk about a little bit more. You said that you were angry at yourself in a sense, that you let your body down. Is that a way that common cancer patients feel? Because I felt, even just being a doctor, listening and talking to cancer patients, that often what they say are things like "How did this happen to me?" You know, it's almost like they're putting blame. If they believe in God or they're putting their blame away from themselves, but you kind of internalized that a little bit. Is that common?
  
  DR. BILL: Yes, I think so. I did and hat lead to terrible depression. You know, we do as much as we can to stay healthy and there's always more to do, of course, and I felt like I had...It's difficult to articulate, but I felt like, you know, my body is sort of like a temple and that I just did not worship. I just did not take care of it and there's an analogous part to this and that was after my surgery, I felt damaged. What I find is people internalize their diagnoses in various ways. Mine was, as I said, to feel guilty about it, but most people, especially those who lose a body part or an organ, they feel as though they're damaged goods and they go to somebody...
  
  DR. MIKE: This is interesting, though, because you just taught me something as a physician. You know, I don't practice anymore, I'm a teacher now. I'm very blessed to be doing shows like this and talking to people like you, Bill, but I, obviously, I have friends, family members. Cancer continues to increase in certain populations. I mean, I'm still doing it, right? I think what's interesting about this from that very sterile, analytical, medical doctor position, I would almost want to deal with someone's physical pain from the cancer rather than emotional, for everything you said so far has been very emotionally based. You haven't said anything about the physical part of it. I mean, do doctors need to focus more on the emotional pain? I mean, obviously, the physical pain has to be dealt with, but I don't think we're addressing this enough with people.
  
  DR. BILL: I think it's a really good point. I've identified four stages of cancer with the 120 people. There is of course, the terrible diagnosis. Then there is the agony; need of treatment and that is very painful. Doctors, I think, do a great job of helping people through that, but then when treatment's over, that's what one of the survivors in the book, Kim Lin, describes as the silent stage. In other words, after that diagnosis and after the treatment, it's a very busy time of life. There are treatment appointments, doctor appointments. People call up to find out how you are and then, all of a sudden, when treatments over, there's a total silence. It's anomic silence and the survivors are left with the feeling of "What's next?" The point that you made about the physical pain? Physical pain is temporary and when it's over, it's over; or, once it's on a low-level it can be, but the emotional pain is more lasting and there are more people surviving and many people have to figure out what to do and how to move forward.
  
  DR. MIKE: Well, you're right, people are surviving cancer at a higher rate, which is awesome. We're getting people past that initial treatment, that post-treatment phase and you mentioned there's this silence. Do you think, based on your research and talking to these cancer survivors that if we did a better job of helping people through the emotional pain post-treatment that we could actually impact outcome better?
  
  DR. BILL: I don't know.
  
  DR: MIKE: I'll tell you what, Bill. Do this, hold that thought and we'll come back to that question and then we'll get more into the 120 cancer survivors.
  
  This is Healthy Talk on Radio M.D.
  
  I'm Dr. Mike. Stay Well.
• Length (mins): 10
• Waiver Received: No
• Host: Mike Smith, MD