Re: Another death due to Cancer

In message <xFjTj.7537$ko5.2010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Rod wrote:

I am having trouble accepting this medical approach as clearly the evidence
points to failure. The patient was warned of this from the outset but not
having any alternative put forward by his Oncologist I guess he viewed it as
the only choice. Chemo therapy until the end.
It really is a poor situation for cancer patients to have to undergo
destructive treatments that yield no result other than disease advancement.

You've hit on one of my pet gripes about medicine (and in this I don't
distinguish between "conventional" and "alternative"): they are all oriented
towards saving life at all costs no matter the odds of success.

Sorry, I don't buy it. Read my .signature

I've seen the toll that "heroic measures" take on both family and
caregivers and think that there's something fundamentally wrong here,
in that we're culturally in major denial. Death happens. Someday it
will happen to all of us. Before then, a lot of other things will
happen that we won't like -- but trying to pretend otherwise, either
as regards death or as regards the smaller mishaps of life, is INSANE.

Functionally, it's nuts. I have my own opinion on the relationship of
this phenomenon and other forms of reality rejection, but that's another
matter. In the proximate case, I don't see an upside for anyone in the
picture.

Whilst I appreciate the alternative approaches available (in some cases) I
do note that these are not readily available for cancer patients and then
seem to be suggested or ordained in the final stages of the disease.
Can we not at least try other approaches simultaneously?

Sorry, this reminds me too much of Susan Gurney's account of the last
days of a friend under the Gonzales regimen. I don't see that making\
your illness the 24/7 center of your remaining time for you and those
close to you, complete with demanding and agonizing demands of the
"therapy" itself, is any improvement.

If the procedure in question doesn't have a reasonable track record of
at least double-digit favorable prognosis, forget it. I'll take palliative
care and make the most of the time I have left. I'm old enough that "the
time I have left" is less than the time I've already wasted no matter what,
so why fool myself?

Cancer patients have little options in treatment in the early stages and
that does not seem a fair go when people are dealing with other peoples
lives. I believe that the Oncologist knew fully the path of the disease and
all he could or would offer is the standard treatments as prescribed by the
makers of Chemo and endorsed by the medical profession.

Actually, many forms of bowel cancer (you haven't been specific) have a
good prognosis from surger alone or surgery with secondary chemotherapy.
Once the metastases turned up, though, I would have thought a rethink
would have been in order.

Please correct me if I am incorrect with my views.

I can't fault your indictment. Where to go from there is something else.

NB: A few years ago I lost my oldest childhood friend to a relatively
rare form of intestinal cancer; it was detected rather late and the
prognosis was not rosy even from the beginning. He and his family
made reasonable efforts to restore his health (including some experimental
treatments) but their primary focus was on making the most of life.
He lived a bit less than a year after diagnosis, but left behind a lot
of people who remember that year fondly (and, interestingly, a body
of appellate-court rulings that are considered by those who know such
things to be models of judicial practice.)

--
| *** happens. Sometimes it happens to you. |
+--- D. C. Sessions <dcs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> ---+
.