chemo

Unlike other people who reside at St. John's with me, I am not looking foward to this winter break. My grandma suffers from cancer and she was told that this month may be it for her. She lives around the corner from my dad's apartment and I will see her everyday I am just worried about her not being around for Christmas or even New Year's. My grandma is a good person and she has had to deal with a lot. When she got married and had my uncle, her mom died of leukemia. Then when my sad was 3 her husband died in a car accident. My one friend at school is from Minnesota and he said he was surprised to hear that there are a lot of cases of cancer around New York and New Jersey. I told him it's because of all the factories! Honestly, I don't know a lot about cancer, i've had to research it before, but I don't understand why people get cancer. For instance, my grandma never smoked or was around it and she has tumors on her lungs.

Cancer happens when abnormal cells grow rapidly and form tumors. Chemotherapy was created to specifically break down those cells and stunt their growth, but it does not always work and it also affects the whole body, hurting good cells. There are innumberable chemotherapies that exist and different ones are tried on different patients. The chemo gets stronger as the cancer gets worse and it can make the patient feel incredibly sick.

My dad was very upset with the doctor when she told him and my grandma that she has little time left. The doctor doesn't want to have to tell the patient, but its their job and you can't hold them responsible or be angry with them. No matter what, no one wants to be told they are dying or even that they have cancer to begin with. It can be an avoidable fate for some and one that is extremely hard on a person, emotionally and physically.