There is an ongoing story about a woman who woke up suddenly to find out she was feeling some pain in her body, and upon getting to the hospital for checkups, she was told she had cancer, which had grown to a very high stage, I mean almost uncontrollable.
You know, she was so confused about this news as she was okay before the sudden pain which took her to the hospital. Upon sharing the story, people had different opinions; some people believed it was spiritual, while others thought it must have been growing for a while without her noticing the changes going on in her body, some others didn't even believe her at all and asked her to go for further tests in other hospitals.
Source
This made me begin to read about the stages of cancer, and how it happens specifically; when the stages are properly understood, it will be possible to know if a sudden occurrence is possible based on medical/scientific proof.
Instead of naturally responding to the signals that control normal cell behavior, cancer cells tend to have a mind of their own as they grow and divide uncontrollably, causing them to invade normal tissues and organs, eventually spreading all through the body.
Since cancer causes an abnormal proliferation of different kinds of cells in the body, it means over 100 different types of cancer exist. Depending on the area of the body affected, characteristics and treatment options differ too.
Source
We cannot conveniently speak about cancer without understanding what a tumor is, a tumor is an abnormal proliferation of cells, and this proliferation may either be benign or malignant.
Benign tumors remain confined to their original location without invading surrounding normal tissues or spreading to other distant body sites. While, a malignant tumor, on the other hand, is capable of invading surrounding normal tissue and also spreading all through the body through the circulatory or lymphatic systems.
It is only a malignant tumor that can be referred to as proper cancer, and this is a result of its ability to invade and metastasize, therefore making it highly dangerous.
A case of benign tumors can be removed through surgical procedures, but malignant tumors, on the other hand, can spread to distant body sites which makes them resistant to localized treatment.
There are situations when medical experts are not sure if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, so they try to look for cancer cells in the lymph nodes close to the cancer.
Cancer cells in the nodes are an indication that the cancer has begun to spread, usually called positive lymph nodes, in other words, it means the cells have broken away from the original cancer and have gotten trapped in the lymph nodes. However, it is not always possible to tell where exactly they may have gone next.
Doctors stage cancer in two ways, we have the number system and the T M system. The TNM system means Tumour, Node, and Metastasis. Where the T signifies the size of the Tumour, the N signifies if there are any cancer cells in the lymph nodes and the M stands for if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
The number system, on the other hand, is used to classify the stages of the cancer, from stages 1-4. Stage 1 means the cancer is small in size and limited within the organ it started from.
Stage 2 means the Tumour is larger now compared to the gist stage, but it hasn't started to spread to surrounding tissues. In some cases, it also means the cancer cells have spread to the lymph nodes close to the tumor.
At stage 3 of cancer, it means the cancer is now larger and may have started to spread to other surrounding tissues, it also means there are cancer cells in the lymph nodes nearby.
Stage 4 cancer means the cancer has spread from the point where it started to other body organs. It is also called metastatic or secondary cancer.
Source
Now, that we understand the different stages of cancer, it will be interesting to check out some of the reasons why cancer would return after treatment has been confirmed.
It is possible that cancer would come back after a successful surgery because some cancer cells were left behind during the operation, or some cancer cells that were too tiny to be visible had broken away from the primary cancer.
Surgeons would naturally try everything within their power to take out every cancer during the process of surgery, but it is almost possible that s small amount is left behind. In this case, more treatment is recommended if there is a suspicion that the cancer will come back, this is usually called adjuvant treatment.
Not every case of cancer is handled with surgery, some are handled with medications. The drugs that kill cancer cells do so by attacking cells that are in the process of doubling to form two new cells. The problem however is that not all the cells in the cancer divide at the same time.
There is no single cause for this cancer issue we are speaking about, but certain things can increase the chances of its development in a man. Family history, smoking, malnutrition, hormone therapy, environmental factors, and radiation exposure.
Conclusion
About the sudden development of cancer in the woman's story I started with, I cannot tell if it was spiritual or not as people are saying, but based on medical research, cancer development has to go through different stages and not just jump from one to four overnight.
For Further Studies
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9963/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/22607-cancer-stages-grades-system
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/stages-of-cancer
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12194-cancer
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/why-some-cancers-come-back
Hi, I am Tobi, a writer, speaker, relationship blogger, and lover of good music. I love making friends and learning from people. If you want to hear me speak about relationships and general life issues, you can find my YouTube channel where you can watch any episode for free, please do not forget to subscribe, friends. I sincerely appreciate every love I get from here, Kindly do well to keep them coming.
