As a naturally curious person, I'm interested in tracing the origin of my disease, or maybe I'm just in need of an excuse for how this happened. I was assured at the onset of my diagnosis, that this is a biological fluke (not the medical term), and seemingly not from any external or long-running, lifestyle factor. Would it make it any better if I knew the reason? Probably not. Seeing as how I've gone this long without that answer, I can live without knowing the source, but am still curious what possibly could have triggered my tribulation. Just for grins, let's postulate a few possible provenances.
In my humble hometown hamlet of St. Louis Park, Minnesota (SLP), we had a creosote factory. Creosote is derived from the distillation of tar from wood or coal and is used as a wood preservative. Pesticide products containing creosote as the active ingredient are used to protect wood used outdoors (such as railroad ties and utility poles). Just reading those words feels like enough to cause a tumor to grow right on my eyeballs. You could smell the acrid stench thick in the air year round - even more so on hot, humid Minnesota summer days (coming from the factory or dripping off of a suburban forest of phone poles). Could this have been my first cancer domino?
In 1963, when my body was in the peak of its formative years (7 years old), TaB diet soda (we called it "pop") was introduced. It was actually the first diet soda on the market from Coca-Cola. Time and further study caused scientists and the FDA to wonder whether the alchemy of artificial sweeteners (cyclamate and saccharin) could be harmful to our health - after long-term use. A warning was issued, the warning was later retracted and much uncertainty remained. What was certain was that we drank a lot of it (good tasting diet pop in our zaftig-leaning family was a god-send). Could this have been my cancer-causing culprit?
If you know anything about me and my candy-consumption cravings, I never met an M&M that I didn't like (Plain, Peanut or Peanut Butter primarily, that is). As a result, there's a fair amount of Red Dye #3 coursing through my system - has been . . . still is. There is plenty of controversy surrounding all artificial food dyes, but this particular petroleum-based color enhancer seems to have been the target of more scrutiny. Like so many other ingredients in our lives, the difference between quantities consumed by lab rats and humans, clouds the certainty of any item being the source of a particular type of cancer. So, did I M&M my way to Multiple Myeloma?
Bottom-line: It's highly unlikely (downright impossible-ish) that any of the above or similar overexposure / overconsumption are the source of my medical malady. I'd like to be able to point the conclusive flying fickle finger of fate (blame) at one thing, but it's not that clear or easy. Nor would that change my circumstance. I don't live in SLP anymore (left in 1974), I don't drink diet soda (tastes funky, and not worth the chance), but you best hide your M&Ms when this red boy comes a knocking.
