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21451. thoughtful - 4/2/2007 1:39:02 PM Well, I think Mom's decided to skip the chemo entirely. Radiation does nothing to improve survivability and 2 different oncologists have suggested the average increase in survivability from chemo is 4-7%. The stats are what's swaying her. To me, it's that they give you the chemo now when you have the odds of feeling the best you will ever feel again for the rest of whatever life you have left. In other words, it drastically alters your remaining quality of life for the very low odds that it will increase your length of life. Given that she's 82 this month, and given how sensitive she's always been to any drugs, she'd rather live her life to the best she can for now, monitor her situation and then she can always decide for chemo at some future date when the cancer reappears.
As I told her, there's no clear path here...there's no wrong answer. What's most important is that she choose according to what she thinks will give her the least likelihood of regrets in the future should things turn out differently. 21452. wonkers2 - 4/2/2007 2:13:36 PM Her decision makes sense to me. The older I get the more I think about end-of-life circumstances and decisions. 21453. thoughtful - 4/2/2007 2:51:12 PM me too, wonks, esp since I just had a bday on saturday. The horror at realizing how old I am and the irony that I'm as young as I'll ever be again. 21454. alistairConnor - 4/2/2007 3:12:14 PM Good for her. My dad, retrospectively, would have been better without the chemo, which hastened rather than delayed his death. 21455. wonkers2 - 4/2/2007 4:26:33 PM H*A*P*P*Y B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y!!! 21456. thoughtful - 4/2/2007 5:27:32 PM thanks wonks!
21457. judithathome - 4/2/2007 11:39:28 PM Thoughtful, I wholeheartedly support your mom's choice here...as you say, she can always opt for it later.
It is so dibillitating to go through a course of radiation OR chemo. She should hang on to however many good feeling days she can because after that stuff starts, those days are over. Then, it's just a question of what days you feel less shitty... 21458. betty - 4/3/2007 12:00:06 AM Just wanted to stop in and say Hi. It's nice to see old names. 21459. jexster - 4/3/2007 2:12:50 AM Yo Betty!
Happy Birfday T'less....Many happy returns. Hope you're virus free. My mailbox isn't
HubPages jexster: Ralph Deeds has published a new Hub 21460. arkymalarky - 4/3/2007 4:37:38 AM BETTY!!!!!'
Great to see you here!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THOUGHTFUL!! Thanks for sharing the update about your mother. Sounds like she's staying in control rather than handing it over to doctors. Good for her.
Headed out to see Judith and Keoni tomorrow and can't wait! 21461. thoughtful - 4/3/2007 1:06:09 PM Thanks for all the bday wishes.
Now if I can only get the bday's to stop coming. Actually, the best decade of my life was my 30s....old enough to have the self confidence of being a full fledged adult, young enough to not suffer all the deterioration of an aging body and our parents were young enough to not be a major worry.
21462. wabbit - 4/3/2007 2:08:14 PM Happy belated birthday, t'ful, and my very best wishes for your mom.
Yo Betty, good to see you! Did you ever get all those cranes made? How's the baby (not so small anymore)? 21463. thoughtful - 4/3/2007 3:09:00 PM thanks wabbit 21464. alistairConnor - 4/3/2007 3:14:05 PM Bettybettybetty! Come home! 21465. arkymalarky - 4/3/2007 3:38:04 PM Well...missed the train. I don't want to get mad again, so the short version is that Amtrak timing is less than dependable and I understand some of Mussolini's appeal.
I have six months to use the tickets, so I will get my train ride to Ft. Worth. 21466. alistairConnor - 4/3/2007 4:59:01 PM Hey, you don't need Mussolini. You need Greens to get the trains running on time. 21467. arkymalarky - 4/3/2007 6:21:49 PM Hahaha! Do Green trains run? Remember, our Green Guy is Ralph Nader.
Hey! Maybe Gore would be interested in that slot for '08. 21468. arkymalarky - 4/3/2007 6:22:28 PM I can see it now: "Unsafe at any speed. So stay home." 21469. alistairConnor - 4/3/2007 6:30:08 PM Hey I just published this article on our regional Greens site. Our Green regional councillors are pushing for the re-opening of rail lines that were closed down in the 60s. And the majority on the council are following. 21470. arkymalarky - 4/3/2007 6:41:27 PM Cool! France certainly made headlines here with its record-breaking train speed.
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