LIFE

Life. We often hear sayings like “Carpe Diem” or “Live every day as if it was your last one” without really turning them into facts. But sometimes things happen and make you stop and think.

I was at my office, few years ago. I was talking with a patient as old as me. Very young. Physically he was like me. His life was similar than mine. He was speaking like me. I had the sensation of being in front of a mirror.

COPING WITH THE DIAGNOSIS OF CANCER

How to live coping with the diagnosis of cancer? Anybody who receives these news has a devastating impact. All his/her thoughts stop, and plans for the day or for the following months fade away. Words such as “death” or “chemotherapy”, or worries about his/her family (specially about children) come to his/her mind.

The way everyone reacts may vary a lot, and there isn’t any way better than any other; each person has his/her own.

TALKING ABOUT CANCER WITH CHILDREN

When somebody is diagnosed of cancer, one of the first questions that comes is “How will I tell this to my kids?”. I’m going to try to give some guides on talking about cancer with children. I can’t tell there is an easy way to talk to children about cancer, because there isn’t any, but some guidelines may be helpful. You can tell them in a quiet moment and place, ensuring nobody is doing anything else, like watching TV, eating or doing homework.

CANCER AND INSOMNIA

Insomnia is one of the most frequent disorders in people diagnosed with cancer: Between 30% and 50% of oncologic patients may have sleeplessness, in front of 15% of general population. Cancer and insomnia have a strong relationship.

Insomnia is the difficulty with sleeping, which can appear in three moments at night: when getting to sleep (taking so long to get it), when supposed to keep sleeping (awakening many times during the night) and ending it (waking up too early in the morning without beeing able to sleep again).

HEALTH TO THE MARKET

We have health to the market nowadays. This means health has become a market product. Health is sold, as cars or coffee are too. This is nothing bad, because it delivers an exchange in which every part wins: a good health allows us having a normal life and mixing with other people and, beyond this, economy and research are stimulated.

But there are some things that invite us to think: