Cancer Diary: So, how about that great weight loss?




Carl always fought obesity. He was at the very limit for body donation (his desire) when he died. A few months before being diagnosed with five kinds of cancer (aggregately known as cancer of unknown primary), Carl lost 50 pounds. As can be seen in the photo above, he was pretty proud of that. He always wished he could weigh less but was never willing to put in the effort to lose weight. Our daughter-in-law's antennae went up when she asked him what he had done to lose the weight, and he responded, "Nothing."

That indeed should have tipped us off to a massive problem. But it was covid, and celebrating small things, like losing weight (even without effort) seemed a good thing, not a bad thing. Two months after that picture was taken, Carl fell, was taken to the hospital, and got the cancer diagnosis -- way too late to do anything about it.

It is no surprise, then, that my doctor (Carl's former doctor) was concerned when between two visits (four months apart), I had lost 10 pounds, especially since I am not obese. However, I had an explanation for all of it: I had just gone through a month of Ramadan in Indonesia (no food before dark -- and my GERD does not allow me to eat after dark without painful repercussions) as well as a month of active teaching there (walking around classrooms, interacting, and walking up hill to classes as well as daily time in the gym). A week after coming back, I had to do a two-day prep (fasting) for a colonoscopy -- and another pound down the drain, literally. And I have for the past year, been working with a dietician for the purpose of cleaning off the extra 30 pounds that I truly do not need (20 more to go). So, since all m signs are fine, and I just had had both a colonoscopy and mammogram, the doctor was mollified.

But, he did do due diligence. No weight loss, as Carl found out, should be celebrated unless it can be explained!

For other Cancer Diary posts, click HERE.

Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page, Carl's Cancer Compendium, as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts: Cancer Diary. 



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