Re: Ping Mustang Sally

On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:04:00 -0400, sighthounds & siberians
<x@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 02:06:36 GMT, Paula <mmmtoblerone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 11:16:10 -0400, sighthounds & siberians
<x@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Positive attitude is very important, but probably more for mental
health than physical. I'm thinking of a political satirist (I think)
who died of breast cancer - IIRC she's the one who started calling GWB
"Shrub" - who said that your cancer cells don't give a rat's ass
whether or not you have a positive attitude. I hope your dad's friend
continues to do well.

I have often wondered about the research about attitude and healing. I
wonder if it helps to have a positive attitude because stress is so
hard on the immune system. If the cancer is deadly enough, even full
immunity isn't going to save you. But if you're in that area where
you can fight it off, but only with full immune system functioning,
perhaps putting positive energy into the equation instead of the
stress-inducing immune-zapping feelings of lack of any control and
hopelessness can tip the scales.

On a breast cancer message board I frequent, there are currently two
or three women with stage IV breast cancer are in the process of dying
and a couple of regulars have died in the past month. These are women
who helped other women cope and whose positive attitudes were
inspirational to others. One left three children under 18, and she
and the others wanted to live as much as anyone.

I'm not saying there isn't a connection between physical illness and
stress, and I'm not saying that a positive attitude isn't important.
But I am saying that a positive attitude isn't going to beat cancer.
To say that a person's positive attitude is responsible for a
favorable outcome with cancer is, I think, a slap in the face to
people whose attitudes are just as positive but die anyway.

I certainly didn't mean it that way. That's what I meant by saying
that if the cancer is deadly enough, it's going to kill you no matter
how positive your attitude. It's just one thing in a whole equation
of how bad the disease, how good the medical care, and a billion other
things, known and unknown. For that matter, even a positive attitude
can't erase all the stress of something like fighting cancer.

One of my cousins died of leukemia after fighting it for four years.
Nobody had more faith than she did and no one was more sure that she
was going to beat it and live to raise her small boys than she was.
She died, anyway. Not giving up may well have bought her some time,
but no amount of positivity is going to make something deadly go away.
It's not magic. My aunt still has a hard time with those who talk in
church meetings of having faith to heal. She doesn't have as much
trouble with the positive attitude talk. She is more a worrier
herself, but is convinced that her daughter's attitude pulled her
through stages of the fight she wouldn't have made it through
otherwise. But even if she had had the worst attitude in the world,
it would not have been anywhere near her fault that she didn't make it
through.


--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay
.

Relevant Pages

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