Science Isn't Enough

When you or someone close to you has a diagnosis of a brain tumor there are three immediate effects. One is practical -- how will this affect your life? The second is physical -- you may have some after-effect from the tumor or its treatment. And the third, on which I will dwell, is psychological.

I'd like to give you ten very specific things that you can do . . . not instead of conventional medicine, but in addition to it.

And the theme of this is that there are certain things you can't control -- you can't control that you have a tumor, you can't control where it is. But there are things you can control. So, rather than be dismayed and depressed over those things that you can't control, focus on things over which you do have some control -- and I can assure you that in these things I will recommend there is real power.

1. Seek psychological help

On the front page of today's San Francisco Examiner is a headline: "Its's Mind and Matter," and it's a story about sports psychology. These are world-class elite athletes who often scoffed at the idea of needing any kind of psychological help, but you'd have to be pretty out of it not to recognize that sports psychology is a big thing. The Oakland A's, for instance, have a full-time sports psychologist.

So there has to be a power in psychologically examining ourselves...who we are...our fears...our strengths...that helps us in dealing with our lives and whatever life may have brought us. But, I think more important from your standpoint, is that this type of examination can empower you in a way that has often been shown to increase your chance of survival and have a profound effect on longevity.

By this (seeking psychological help) I mean learning coping skills and how to manage stress, whether by meditation or whether by some breathing exercise -- but something you can be taught to do that gives you some sense of having control over what's happening.

2. Socialize, socialize, socialize

Socialize with your friends, with your family. If you are socially isolated with cancer of the breast your mortality is twice as high as those who are not socially isolated -- a fairly impressive statistic.

If a patient has at least one confidant, a person to whom they can tell everything...the bad and the ugly...the fears...someone with whom they can absolutely spill everything, their chances of surviving over any given period of time is approximately doubled. And there are those who say a pet can have the same effect.

3. Join a support group

Find some place where you can go to express your worries, your concerns -- someplace where you can laugh, where you can bond with people who happened to end up in the same boat that you find yourself in.

4. Learn about your disease

Initially it may be very stressful. You read about brain tumors, you see a picture of a scan, you can picture your own scan, you may get tight in the throat or feel sick in the stomach. But once you have learned something about your disease you become a partner in the team of people who will determine your future -- that is your treatment and your management. Over time, learning about your disease improves your ability to cope.

5. Grieve

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross says you've got to grieve. It's a terrible thing that's happened. Your family grieves, you grieve, and it's okay, it's natural; but you've got to do that and then get on with life.

6. Face your own mortality and cope with dying

As I whizzed by my 60th birthday -- and I'm looking forward in a few months to my 65th -- in a way I came in touch, finally, with my own mortality. I realized that life is finite. Life can be beautiful, but it certainly is not forever. A part of the end of life is dying and it's okay to think about it; it's okay to wonder about it -- but it's not okay not to think
about it.

7. Try to lean something about imaging

I used to think this was not important, but I'm now persuaded that for some people (maybe not for you and certainly not for all), it can be very powerful. There are many ways of doing it. For instance, in San Francisco, Dr. Martin Rossman¹ has introduced interactive guided imagery, which is just one form.

8. Decide to develop some new interest or some new activity

Despite all that's happened, decide that you're going to develop some new interest or some new activity. Maybe you've always wanted to go down to Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco and become a volunteer. Maybe you've always said, "I'd like to take a class in Greek mythology," or maybe you'd like to learn jazz saxophone, write a book, or learn to paint. Do something that's different, that's compelling, and that will give you a sense of new accomplishment.

9. Exercise and eat properly

You may say, "I have a weak arm or a weak leg," or "I'm on Decadron and don't have much energy." Well, if you want to be inspired, just look in some day on the special Olympics or watch a wheelchair marathon. Exercise gives you a sense of discipline; it gives you a sense of control, and it makes you feel better. Psychiatrists learned long ago, that probably exercise for depression is more effective than the couch. And eat properly. You should be healthy. Just because you have a brain tumor does not mean that the body that happens to be harboring this tumor should be allowed to go along without maintenance and improvement. Vitamins will help.

10. Get in touch with some higher being

It can take many forms, it can be many spirits. It will give you a strength and it will give you a peace. Physicians are now learning that when religion matters to a patient, they should take that seriously.²

The mind can be a powerful determinant in healing and recovery. Believe that you can beat this disease against all odds. Focus on those things in your life that you can control. But above all, put your trust in a higher spirit, because the strength that you can find in a spiritual experience has power beyond your imagination.

It's a beautiful day, it's the first day in the rest of your life, and I hope that my God and your God will bless you all.

This article is excerpted from the closing address of the Third Biennial Brain Tumor Conference delivered by Dr. Charles Wilson, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco, and a leading pioneer in the field of brain tumor research. Dr. Wilson's talk was entitled Science Isn't Enough. Reprinted with permission of the National Brain Tumor Foundation, 1-800-934-CURE.

1. Martin Rossman, M.D., Healing Yourself, New York, Pocket Books, 1994.

2. See also Beyond the Relaxation Response: How to Harness the Healing Power of your Personal Beliefs by Herbert Benson, M.D., with William Proctor (New York, Times Books, 1984). q

As published in the VHL Family Forum 2:3, September 1994. For permission to reprint, please contact the VHL Family Alliance at editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.