When you’re diagnosed with an incurable cancer - you really need to step back and say
A: Doc, if I do some treatments - how much time am I buying?
B: Of that time, will I be able to enjoy the days I have left?
I watched my brother, in Stage 4 cancer@diagnosis, live 6 months. He had 2 procedures and several chemo treatments...
About midway through the 6 months, he rode his Harley across country with his old friends (though that was tough on him). When he came back he did a few more bucket list things. Then it really took hold and they admitted him. He sat in the hospital for a few days and all they were doing was giving him Oxygen. I went down there and asked the Doctor what was going on. He said he maybe had a few days left. I had him discharged, got some oxygen tanks and morphine from the hospital pharmacy and drove him to San Antonio so he could say goodbye to his family and kids. He was only in hospice for 2 days.
My mom, on the other hand - diagnosed with incurable brain cancer at 85 years old - opted to jump right into hospice, because she was only given 3 to 4 months to live. She did receive some radiation to keep her from having painful seizures...but the rest was just comfort care. I had the honor of being with her, at her home for the last two months of her life. We had laughs, meals, walks and many of her friends visited frequently. The hospice folks were awesome, very spiritual and helped my mom and the whole family cope with a very difficult situation.
Sometimes, treatment will help prolong a bit - but if I were diagnosed with something incurable - I’d definitely ask the hard questions about quality of life for my remaining days.
I was just recently hospitalized for a couple days to an emergency. Nothing super serious and no surgery for which I am grateful for and am on the road to recovery.
When I was talking to the doctor about getting discharged, he told me that I was going to be on some pricey pills for a while. No surprise there. While we were talking, he mentioned there was some kind of cancer medication (pancreatic?) that cost like $300,000 a pop and might buy someone 2 or three months.
Thank you for sharing your stories. The questions you are willing to ask are the right questions.
Every time a healthcare story pops up Freepers scream “death panels”. I didn’t get that from this particular story. A lot of folks don’t want to be burdens on their families for very little gain or negative results on their health and life. I think many terminally ill folks are not given the facts about their situation and are just told to take this drug/treatment and to keep chugging along without giving folks the information they need to make a true informed decision. I don’t want the opposite to happen either where the plug is pulled on someone who doesn’t want it pulled or refuses to give up hope.
It’s one thing when a “death panel” decides your fate for death by offering no treatment, another thing when the healthcare system keeps you around for whatever reason ($$$) and another when you decide your treatment based on the right information.
Knowing that something someday will eventually get me, the image of spending my last days or moments tied down to machines or in a drugged coma has never had much appeal. BUT that life belongs to me and my friends and family, NOT to some government drone.
Funny how it's Godless Liberals who think that if they eat the right stuff, exercise compulsively, and go in for regular plastic surgical tune-ups they will live forever, but at the same time have no compunction about killing off the rest of us to save the "environment". They are truly psychotic.
God bless your Mother, Brother, and you! It is hard to lose a loved one that way.
My Dad had Alzheimer's and passed away in April 2007. Hospice was the BEST! HE remained home with my Mom (then 83 YO)and my sister. He passed away at home holding my Mom's hand. No extraordinary measures for that disease but my older brother is fighting Cancer right now and even though the treatments are expensive he seems to have won round one. His latest scan shows total remission. He is only 62.
Both my parents died of lung cancer, they were far advanced, and opted for no treatment, just hospice and pain meds. 1 lived 3 months, 1 lived 4. Buying an extra couple of weeks was not worth the medical problems of chemo.
This is why it is evil and must be opposed.