The Hustler

 It’s a Wednesday;

and I’ve logged in a 12 hour shift, well, give or take. But mostly give. 

It’s one of those days that have made me spiral, doubt my abilities, question my purpose in life and stare at my never-so-blurred future. 

Then I look at the OT list for tomorrow. 

A 33 year old is to undergo a surgery that entails removal of her uterus and both ovaries as a part of treatment for cancer. I’m 33. She’s actually my age. She could just be me.

Have I ever felt this small?

No, this is not a sob story. I didn’t mean to depress you.

Lets discuss about the shift in age in cancer diagnosis.

Cancer was classically described as a disease of the elderly. Simply due to the failure of the body's mechanisms to correct constant and inevitable genetic mutation. 

Does this mean that we, as a population, are shifting in age? Is the chronological and biological age gap widening? In simpler terms, are we just getting old but our numerical age helps us stay in denial?

What could be the possible reasons behind this shift in age?

Lifestyle: What we eat and how much we move. It has been proven beyond doubt that sitting is the new smoking. And we all know it, we’ve all read it somewhere, on our devices, crouched on the sofa or the bed or the chair. And did we make and buy the most comfortable chairs courtesy pandemic!

Obesity 

Quality of food and water

Quality of air

Genetic predisposition? We are all well aware that a certain subset of cancers are hereditary, meaning, a certain cluster of cancers run in families which are generally governed by a major genetic mutation. Can we do something about this? Certainly. We can identify these recurring cancers and seek genetic counselling for early detection and treatment. That is the best one can do with the set of cards that one’s dealt. A detailed discussion on familial cancers will follow in the upcoming posts.

There’s no reason to rule out hereditary predisposition. Having ruled it out, there are certain modifiable risk factors that we can seriously consider altering and its undeniable the impact of doing the same would improve our biological capabilities of fighting the disease of the elderly. 

The question is, what are we going to do about it?