Friday, August 21, 2009

Radio Broadcast

Monday's broadcast of "The Faith Middleton Show" featured a segment on cancer.


"Faith Middleton" is a local radio show in New Haven on National Public Radio. I have mixed feelings about the show, something like my mixed feelings for John Updike, but much less intense. Faith Middleton has some really engaging guests and topics occasionally, but sometimes the shows are just really bad. (I remember once someone calling in to say she didn't have a question, didn't even know the subject of the episode, and couldn't even get the station on her radio anymore, but was wondering if the show was still on the air, and so called in. I think they do a better job of screening calls these days.)


Anyway, this particular episode is about cancer. There are two guests. The first is Dr. David LeFell, a dermatologist from Yale, who talks about skin cancer. About 10 minutes into it, he gets into the whole vitamin D issue, which I mention because I know it's come up lately with some people who read the blog. If your own doctor hasn't mentioned it to you, the latest advice is to get a little unprotected sun every day, since the sun helps the body develop vitamin D. Also, if your doctor hasn't mentioned it to you because you haven't sen your doctor in a while, then go see your doctor. Regular check ups are important.

The second segment of the show, which begins about 14 minutes in, is an interview with Dr. Richard Frank, author of Fighting Cancer With Knowledge And Hope, and an oncologist/hematologist in Connecticut.


He says some interesting things. The book is about how understanding cancer in general, and your specific cancer in particular, is a way of gaining some hope -- the cancer becomes less scary when you know what you're dealing with. Obviously, I'm an advocate of that approach.


Some other issues he discusses:
  • what survival rate percentages mean, and how to emotionally handle statistics like that (a number means nothing, and everyone is different). It's good advice. Almost every time I get down about having cancer, it's because I've looked at some kind of statistics and let it get to me

  • how exercise and diet can help with cancer prevention and prevention of recurrence, though once the cancer hits, he says, sometimes it's OK to eat pizza or McDonald's. I'm not sure why that's OK, because instead of listening, I started thinking about the white clam pizza at Pepe's in New Haven

  • not dwelling on why you got cancer, but focusing on treating it and preventing a recurrence

  • how quickly new treatments are being developed (the list of treatments in his book, which is a year old, is no longer up-to-date)

  • what "hope" means for cancer patients, and the importance of support groups.

The last segment of the radio show is on Notre Dame football, which doesn't have much to do with cancer, and as much as I'd like to make a joke relating the two, I'm going to hold off.

Anyway, Dr. Frank's book sounds great. He really seems to understand the need for patients to know what's going on with their bodies, and the reasons why we sometimes don't know, and why it's hard for us to know.

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