_________ gave me cancer

I've heard plenty of theories--many quite nutty--about what causes breast cancer. Obviously, we don't really know. For some reason, the incidence is much higher among women in my demographic--upper middle class, no pregnancies, history of birth control use, and whatever other lurking dangers are created by a privileged, professional lifestyle. I may not have lived in Marin County, but I seem like a model Marin case.

I've also heard many other possible causes (see a list here), including:

• underwire bras
• antiperspirants
• heating food in plastic containers
• plastic containers in general (BPAs)
• drinking too much alcohol
• not drinking enough alcohol
• working the night shift
• and now--sleeping on a mattress.

That's right; sleeping on a mattress. Sigh.

I actually try not to heat food in plastic containers anymore, or to use BPA-carrying plastics. I avoid parabens (though I just discovered that they're in my new Philosophy moisturizer, so once that runs out, no more Philosophy). I try to drink no more than three drinks a week. I work on getting enough cinnamon, turmeric, green tea, vitamin D, and omega 3s. I even just completed an 11-day "cleanse" to try to detoxify my system (Isagenix, if you want to know).

Really, we don't know where the f&#% this disease comes from, but we clearly live in a world swimming in toxins and contaminants, and I'm all for trying to find new ways to improve prevention and resistance. But COME ON, PEOPLE. Enough with the snake oil!

Or am I just one of the lucky ones, because my cancer was on the right?

And more...

I'm sure almost everyone has heard the story that broke last week, about pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. The linked article highlights estrogens as one component commonly polluting our water. Now, my breast cancer was hormone negative, but the vast majority are stimulated by estrogen or progesterone, or both. As women worry about avoiding soy milk, I wonder if they think about the risks in drinking water--risks that can't be avoided, apparently, by switching to bottled waters. (They can be avoided through the right home filters--which is its own challenging issue.)

And I'm feeling just a little bit guilty about flushing my own toxins (e.g., the post-bladder remains of Adriamycin) during chemo...

To fight cancer, we have to fight a lot of other things...

...like our government's refusal to protect our individual lives, in favor of protecting corporate profits.

I know a lot of readers visit this blog looking for support and perspective on dealing with breast cancer, and I don't mean to offend anyone's political sensibilities. But this is germane. I struggle to maintain my survivorship by trying to control whatever I can control: to eat healthy food (not polluted, not full of chemicals, and grown to maximize nutrient value); to exercise a lot; to give my body both motion and rest, challenge and care; and to stay balanced emotionally.

And then, as much as we try to do these things, we live in a world that could either support our efforts, or be a hostile environment against which we have to fight. And when our White House decides it will lean on the agency charged with helping us have a healthy world, urging it away from the strongest and most protective standards (for whatever reason, but especially for the benefit of corporations, which do not get cancer but do make big bucks)--when this happens, I'm really disgusted and angry.

Does this mean I can't keep staying up until 3am?

From today's CNN, an article on a research study that says working nights is a big risk factor for breast (and prostate) cancer. Yikes. My typical schedule is to work at my computer until 1am (on an early night) to 4am (on a late night), and then get up around 11. In the winter, I am definitely restricting my exposure to sunlight--on weekends I might sleep in until noon or later.

The article seems quite specific to nighttime work, but the principles identified should apply to me, even if I'm not in a workplace per se. I'll be checking out the original study and will let y'all know!