Interesting Theory

As a cancer patient, one of the things that seems to be a burning question on everyone’s minds is: How did you get it?  I don’t know that most cancer patients would be able to give you an answer other than a slightly sarcastic: I’m defective.  It is a natural curiosity to be sure, but really what do we know about cancer cells except they are our own cells that went haywire at some point? 

In the case of thyroid cancer the one major known cause is exposure to radiation at a young age – with studies citing the use of x-rays to treat things like acne in the 1950’s.  (Apparently x-rays were a sort of cure all?) Well – newsflash – my mom was barely around in the 50’s! And I most certainly wasn’t. 

What I did have, however, were a couple CT scans when I was in high school.  They were Head CT scans to boot. See I had some sinusitis issues back then – I have passageways the diameter of a pencil lead according to the ENT – and they were doing CT’s to evaluate the extent of my problem.  Could this be where my radiation exposure and resulting “rare” cancer came from?  Could it be because cancer is extremely prevalent in my family and I was bound to get it somewhere?  Could it be because I drink diet pop? Could it be because I didn’t eat peas when I was growing up?

Does it really matter where it came from once you have been diagnosed? 

Quite simply: NO.