Alcohol is evil and causes cancer. Great. Thanks. Anything else I need to worry about? Besides walking under ladders, playing in traffic, and walking by yourself in bad neighborhoods.
The latest blog post from Dana Farber's Insight (which is actually a pretty good blog) talks about alcohol consumption and cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends 1 drink a day for women and two for men. An oncologist recommends an occasional drink, if any.
My thought process from being the cancer patient is 'Excuse me I have cancer and my life currently sucks, I might want to drink more often than occasionally.' Whatever happened to the medical advice of hot lemonade and whiskey for a sore throat?
When I was 19 and told I had thyroid cancer, I was told by my doctor that my treatment was done and I should take care of myself, eat healthy, and get plenty of sleep. Thanks. I could have figured that out myself. But I did put a few years of thought into it and decided that I was going to live my life on my terms and not be 'boring'.
I was young and wanted to be a normal person and not 'that girl with cancer' for the rest of my life. So I did things my way. Yes I might drink alcohol. I might have partaken of other substances at different times in my life as well.
I don't want my health issues to rule my life. I want to be normal as much as possible. I want to do the things I want. I may not be able to climb a mountain now or ski down one but I can still go to the beach and out for fried clams. (Eeek! Fried food! Cholesterol alert!) Life requires little indulgences to be fun.
The way I see it, it is my body and my life. If I am not harming anyone else and want to have wine with dinner, I can't see a problem in it. However if you see me on a street corner drinking out of a bottle in a paper bag, feel free to interfere.
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