Today, I Choose to be Healthy

As much as the television commercials try to convince me I need medication, I will seek a healthy life balance for myself.

In the overall scheme of things, I consider myself to be a very healthy person. My doctors agree with my assessment. I am at a healthy weight for my body, I exercise (maybe not as much as I should, but certainly more than the average person my age), I pay close attention to my diet, I sleep moderately well (for a slightly different take on that claim you can read my article on semi-insomnia here), I have strong social ties — all the things that the medical profession insists one needs to maintain a healthy and balanced life. Oh, and one other thing — I am a breast cancer survivor. Almost four years now, and counting — and believing in the power of my good health habits to continue that trend.

At the time of my diagnosis, a particular protocol of surgery and radiation was recommended by my breast surgeon and oncologist. I did as I was told. My results were good. The outcome was excellent. My prognosis is described by my surgeon as “very good.” Fat grafting returned my breast to its original shape and size after my lumpectomy to remove a “tiny” (my surgeon’s word) area of malignant tissue.

With my oncologist’s insistence I began a treatment with a medication to try to improve my odds of not having a recurrence by a few percentage points above and beyond what could be expected from the surgery and radiation treatments alone. The patient advisory form for this drug listed no less than twenty-five or thirty potential known side-effects. AND — I was prescribed another drug to attempt to counteract one of the most likely and serious side-effects “just in case” that one would happen to me. This second drug carried its own scary list of potential known side-effects. At first, things went along smoothly. Slowly, but steadily, I swear every single known side-effect, and a couple I think I invented myself, took hold of my life. The overall healthy person I described in paragraph one ceased to exist. I was trading the good years of life I could experience right now for a few percentage points change of avoiding disease in the future.

A little more than two years into this endurance contest with these medications, I made the decision to stop taking these drugs. I sought forgiveness rather than permission from my doctors. I can’t rightfully say they “agreed” with my decision, but I can say they “accepted” my decision. Time and discussion with other survivors has shown me that many women start taking these drugs out of fear. Once enough time has passed and they start to believe/hope that they have dodged the bullet, many (like me) choose to give them up in favor of the best quality of life they can have right now.

I am back in control of my destiny — to whatever level that is possible for any human dealing with their own mortality. I feel like my old self again. I live like my old self again. I know, in my heart of hearts, I made the right decision for my life.

As I watch the constant stream of television commercials for medications and drugs that promise to ward off or cure a host of illnesses and diseases — while being required to disclose the potential side-effects, up to and including possible death, at times — I can’t help but wonder how many people are driven by fear to take drugs that ultimately do them no good and might possibly do them great harm. I had this discussion once with my PCP. He told me a story of a man who came into his office requesting a drug used for menopause relief because he thought it would improve his libido and ease his hot flashes. He didn’t even understand that the drug was designed for use by women. He just saw what he thought was an answer to whatever issues he perceived to be afflicting him.

I am truly grateful to modern medicine for the miraculous cures and treatments now available to us through many newly discovered drugs and medications. I’m not saying that people whose lives are saved or made more tolerable by pharmaceuticals should not take them. What I am saying is that we, as a society, are being convinced that every last one of us has a medical condition or disorder that can be alleviated by drugs. And, if the first drug is problematic, well, there are two or three other drugs to take to alleviate the side-effects from the first one.

The decision to take a medication should be arrived between doctor and patient — not between television commercial and TV viewer.

I, for one, choose to exit the rat race of pill popping — at least until there is a bona fide reason to improve the quality of longevity of my life by taking one. I have spent my lifetime seeking health through all the natural channels of diet, exercise, rest and human interaction. And, not to brag too much, I’ve done a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself. I don’t believe I could have dodged the breast cancer bullet the first time around — and, I may not be able to dodge whatever else is coming my way down the road. We are all terminal — eventually. Until that time arrives, today I choose to be healthy. I choose to live on my own terms and care for myself in the best ways I have always done throughout my life. I won’t build my life around a chemical cocktail of medications intended to cure whatever I “might” have to deal with someday. Today, I choose to be healthy.

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