[pgkdan]

I lost my wife to cancer last year. when she was diagnised we were told that she was already stage 4. The Dr's told her that if she refused treatment she would not live 6 months but if she accepted chemo she could expect to live 11-12 months and with the pace of research maybe by that time there would exist improved treatment options. What they neglected to tell her was how miserable those 11-12 months would be. How much pain she would be in and how debilitating some of the side effects would be. And of course, there was no mention whatsoever about cost.

She recieved chemo on Tuesday, week one. 2 drugs, whose name escapes me as I type but, drug one cost $11,000 per round and drug 2 cost $5,500 per round. Two weeks later her treatment was drug one only for $11,000 and on wednesday she went in for a shot...Neulasta, I beleive, and that cost $11,500. This went on for 10 and a half months. She died 3 days shy of 11 months. My insurance paid for most of this but I'll be paying off my share for a while. I don't mind paying...I would have gladly gone into hock for the rest of my life if it would have saved her. What I do mind is knowing that there's no way in the world that these costs are justified and that as long as the pharma industry can collect these outrageous sums there's no incentive for them to really find a cure for cancer.

I'm a cancer survivor myself and if I'm ever diagnosed with an advanced stage cancer 3-4 I will not opt for any treatment. I was lucky. I had Renal Cell Carcinoma and all they had to do for me was remove a kidney, but if it comes back it's stage 4. I would never ever counsel anyone who is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer to put themself through chemo. Never. Not after seeing what my dear wife endured.

[Mears]

I am an 83 year old woman.

I don’t get any routine tests,like mammograms,anymore.

I told my doctor I just want palliative care and that’s it. No treatment so why bother with tests.

.

[tgusa]

Prayers for you, my FRiend. Wife unit and I just celebrated our 40th - don’t know how I could survive without her, but our Lord would show me the way, I am certain.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

there's no incentive for them to really find a cure for cancer.

Exactly!

Does anyone believe that the American Cancer Society has any vested interest in finding a cure for cancer? No way.

[William Tell]

pgkdan said: "... there's no incentive for them to really find a cure for cancer."

It's a mistake to refer to "a cure for cancer".

"Cancer" is not one thing. It is a multitude of diseases whose commonality is that the tumor cells have damaged DNA and the damage can be passed on to descendant cells.

The "cure" to any given cancer depends upon the specific damage done to the DNA.

A particular form of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (called GIST), for example, comes about due to a single change in a single spot in the DNA. Except for this change, which permits uncontrolled cell growth, the cells are indistinguishable from normal cells. The fact that Glivec can halt the uncontrolled growth of these cells without killing the normal cells in the body strikes me as almost miraculous.

This same drug, Glivec, has prolonged the lives of many people with CML (Chronic Myeloid Leukemia). I know a woman who has been taking Glivec and similar drugs for eleven years. The five year survival rate for CML is now around 90% (up from about 40% I think) thanks to drugs like Glivec.

Other cancers are not so simple and come about through a series of DNA changes. There's lots of research still needed and it will take mountains of money to pay for it. Only western capitalist countries have the resources to do this.

[mad_as_he$$]

Condolences for your loss.

[upchuck]

Thank you much for your wife’s story. Sorry that she is gone.

I appreciate your insight into chemo. I have often wondered about that. If the chances of curing the cancer are very, very slight, maybe a comfortable death via painkillers until death would be the way to go. Certainly save a lot of money.