Posted on 03/11/2024 11:08:02 AM PDT by jerod
People may celebrate a 2-week improvement in survival without acknowledging costs
Tom Somerville's decision to stop medical treatment for his end-stage cancer was a personal one.
Somerville, 62, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2021 that later spread to his liver. He had six months of chemotherapy to slow down the cancer, which he said also left him exhausted with nausea.
The Kingston, Ont., resident decided to take a break from treatment to enjoy a trip with his wife to Victoria.
"Things that you cherish change, right?" Somerville said. "I used to love being out in the bush, but now it is just nice to have a sunny day, sit with my family [and] have visitors."
Somerville said he came to terms with his prognosis and decided to enjoy the rest of the life he has left, extending the chemo break to a full stop. He said he was relieved to not "feel crappy" from the treatment anymore.
Dr. Christopher Booth, Somerville's medical oncologist at Kingston General Hospital, supports him in his decision.
Booth is also part of a group of cancer doctors in Canada and the U.S. who say medications with marginal benefits are overused for patients in the end stage of the disease. The oncologists have started a campaign through their website, journal articles and podcasts encouraging honest conversations about use of the drugs with cancer patients, their families and experts.
The goal of what they call "common-sense oncology" is to prioritize treatments that meaningfully improve survival and quality of life. They aim to address what they see as problems in the field, such as a lack of critical thinking in oncology training, falling standards for drug approvals and avoidance of end-of-life discussions...
Dr. Christopher Booth Death.
Sometimes, sometimes not. Same goes for family members. When there is a conflict between patient, their advocates and medical staff the issue is referred to a hospital “ethics” board or committee. The assumption is they will be impartial and act in the best interest of the patient. This very often is not what happens at all. Depending on state law these boards can have a lot of power (Hello Texas!) with patients and families having little recourse against them.
No expert but I have stage 4 prostate cancer 4 years ago doc said 2 years to live. Last week PSA less than .1 my guess is at least 4 more years feel fine life good
I agree. My late husband had pancreatic cancer (he died of a stroke before he even had a consult with the oncologist about chemo). I know that chemo for that cancer is very debilitating and must be repeated frequently. This is all with an outcome that likely will only extend life by weeks if not days. At great financial cost as well. I think he would have opted for pain management with at home care until hospice.
Traditional, platinum-based chemotherapies come with terrible side-effects as they kill both cancer AND healthy cells. They're reasonably effective for some cancers, and a shot in the dark--at best, for others.
In the last decade and a half however, we've seen both targeted therapies and immunotherapies that do wonders both in fighting the disease and not killing the patient. Are there side effects with these drugs? Sure, there are side effects with nearly all medicines...some more tolerable than others.
But, these medicines target and attack specific parts of the cancer cell and kill them. Alternatively, some medicines stimulate the body's own immune system, which is often hi-jacked and tricked into allowing cancer to grow in the first place.
There's a lot of disgust toward modern medicine and I don't ask you to take this information blindly. Look into these drugs and read the success stories out there. There is some hope for cancer patients that doesn't come with a lower quality of life or a few more months on Earth.
“The healing power of Jesus Christ, our Great Physician, drives out sickness and disease.”
HOGWASH!
Writing as someone who has been a Christian for decades. Unless Jesus comes first, we all die sometime. Don’t be stupid.
Shame on you for never reading the Bible Through The Eyes of faith. It clearly states in multiple places that Jesus healed, past tense, all of our sicknesses and diseases. He didn’t say anything about keeping us from dying of old age but they are not the same. Good job making yourself look like a fool
Some will cynically say we are pushed to torture ourselves with tons of expensive chemo at the end for another miserable month of life.
Some will cynically say they are refusing us the million dollar treatments and just euthanizing us by letting us die.
They can’t both be true. My opinion is most are doing the best they can. Competent adults can decide when it’s not worth it for them any more. If they are out of it let their power of attorney decide.
Medical schools should take in some Haitian cannibals—I am sure that diversity will add to this discussion.
;-)
My Mom did the call when when she was 72 years. She didn’t have a stretch mark on her body, and was as beautiful as someone that age could be. SHE HAD EMPHYSEMA. SMOKERS, quit now!!! Imagine going on a road trip, getting what you think is a cold, turned to pneumonia, to respiratory arrest. It happened in 3 days. She semi-lived 8 more years, tied to oxygen and breathing treatments. She never danced again, and of course loving and going to the Casinos of Nevada, not local Indian casinos, were out of the question. No air travel, no long trips. I was happy she was so strong, and said NO MORE, and took off the mask and passed. Literally laid in bed without a mask, no hospice until she respired. Those ladies, dare I say “Broads” of the Depression era were tough as nails.
My doctor said NOTHING, when I asked him if he were in my place, and I in his. He changed the subject. I simply said, “what would you do? what course would you take? .... 30 seconds of silence then back to his spiel.
The biggest BS line they use is, we have patients that never die from Cancer, they pass from other issues. When you get involved personally, you find out the meds they give you are destroying your heart and circulatory system. To say nothing of Kidneys and Liver.
Congratulations genghis, I just hit my 7 year anniversary. Doing okay, I hope I have another 1 good year. Going to sell my house and put it into an RV and drive until one of us dies. I am likely older than you, 70 yrs 7 months.
You must be the only Christian in history who has never been sick, Congrats!
I wish it were so, but praying and hoping, does not often lead to a miracle. I have had 2 in my life, both in 2022. My wife survived ruptured bowel+sepsis, Doctors told me she had a long life already, and wouldn’t make it. I prayed over her for an entire day. Drs came back, stayed on the job after hours...9pm surgery.... Next day she was sitting up in bed joking with the ICU nurses. 10 months before that, our granddaughter was born without a pulse, at home. She was worked on my Medics, driven to the hospital with them working on her for an hour. When SIL got to the Hospital they told him to say goodbye. He sat with her, and then yelled for a nurse, she was gasping... they said it was natural in dying... He DEMANDED a Nurse, they life flighted her to Seattle. She is walking and talking and going to be 3 years old close to Christmas 24. I was on the phone with my STRONG Christian daughter praying through it all. We KNEW it was alright at some point. Christs blessings are real, but I think mine are all used up.
100%, my Mom had hospice, i don’t know what i’d have done wiout them
in the beginning the mind wanted to live where the body wanted to die
in the end, the mind begged to die but the body refused...
“Good job making yourself look like a fool”
Nope. You are a liar. Or a simpleton. Do you have any idea how many faithful, believing, praying DISCIPLES of Jesus Christ have suffered from sickness, and been told what the Apostle Paul was told: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5, NKJV)
Isaiah 53 is the most renowned Old Testament passage on Christ’s atoning work. John MacArthur refers to it as “the first gospel” or The Gospel According to God. It contains vivid and precise prophetic imagery concerning Christ’s suffering and crucifixion. And the “stripes” mentioned in verse five refer to the lashes Christ received at the hands of Roman soldiers....
The belief that Christ’s physical suffering somehow guarantees our physical healing in this life isn’t merely an abuse of Scripture—it’s a form of mental and spiritual torture to those who sit under such false teaching. It’s a lie that has left many churchgoers disappointed with the gospel. Rather than longing for their heavenly home, they are gripped by unrealized expectations in the here and now. The sickness they struggle with leaves them feeling like failures who lack the necessary faith to claim the healing that’s rightfully theirs.
The fact that everyone still dies should be proof enough that on this side of eternity all people are still subject to Adam’s curse. Sickness is a very real part of life in this fallen world, and no amount of claiming divine health is going to change that. Even the disciples of the early church didn’t rebuke their physical ailments into oblivion—they dealt with them as best they could like everybody else...
Christ died for believers to separate them from sin’s penalty, so it can never condemn them. The record of their sins, the indictment of guilt that had them headed for hell, was “nailed to the cross” (Colossians 2:12–14). Jesus paid their debt to God in full. In that sense, all Christians are freed from sin’s penalty. They are also delivered from its dominating power and made able to live to righteousness (cf. Romans 6:16–22).
Peter describes this death to sin and becoming alive to righteousness as a healing: by His wounds you were healed....
https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B160817/are-we-physically-healed-by-jesus-stripes
Or why THEY get sick and are not healed....
you have no idea what the Word of God even says. Sad for you as a ‘long time Christian’. You never bothered understanding what you read, if you read the Word. Which, sadly, many Christians do NOT read the Word.
Isaiah 53:5
Exodus 15:6
Psalm 107:20
Psalm 103:2-3
Jeremiah 33:7
1 Peter 2:24
Matthew 15:30
Luke 4:38-41
Here’s several healing scriptures, just to name a few. Somehow speaking with you makes me think of the verse about throwing pearls before swine as you are not interested in the actual truth. You’re only interest is trying to prove to the gullible that God, through Jesus Christ, doesn’t heal.
Main thing, if you know you’re dying and have little help, give this a thought.
Depends on the situation. For us ….
_______
Hell yes! If death is soon, stretching out inoperable cancer is a waste of money and is torture, with or without chemo. I had cancer twice. Was not as deadly as my deceased husband had.
Depends on several things.
There will be a time to get them into your hospital, the best place for treatment
when they already know you have heart problems. Unless you’re rich enough to have doctors and nurses at home. Tell medics they might be having a stroke.
My diabetic husband was at the point where he could not eat or drink water, fell down, his legs were stiff. If he fell. he could’t get up.
He was getting his pills all mixed up. One evening he was uncoordinated, pushing over a glass. I knew it was time he got help.
I called 911. Went to ER. I was with him in his room for 5 days and nights while he was in a hospital, taken care of.
Asleep mostly and didn’t express any pain except one, visible to me. Catheter area.
When he did come to he had hallucinations, and mumble.
I’m so thankful for the precious care he got.
So….
Get into a hospital as soon as you can find a way. Only they can help with all the problems. Say they may be having a stroke, esp if you have heart problems, etc. They got in touch with his oncologist so the hospital knew about his heart and the cancer.
Depends how close you are to death and in pain. They took good care of my husband for a week until they said he needed to go to hospice.
God Bless those who help the weak.
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