Quote:
Originally Posted by Lone_Wolfe
I’m really glad you posted this. I’ve seen your previous thread about your dad, and I’m still praying for him to beat this. He’s tough, and I think he still will. I’ll say he’s a lot tougher than I am, I damn sure have complained. I’m the type that if I hurt or am sick I won’t hide it in here or from the friend who’s taking care of me right now. I don't claim to be either tough or stoic.
I’m not going to try to compare your dad’s cancer of chemo side effects to mine, that’s just not possible. I do hope they’re less severe, for his sake. I have to think of him suffering for so long. There’s so many different kinds of cancer and different chemo drugs, and we all handle them differently. I’ll just say that my side effects are bad enough that my oncologist has referred to me to 2 specialists so far.
But when I said I’d probably opt out of another round of chemo I have another reason. When I first started my treatment here in the States my oncologist laid a lot on info on the table. Right now my cancer is considered curable. When I finish chemo and have my mastectomy, my odds will be about 60-65% in favor of being cured and staying that way for at least 5 years. But if my cancer returns, it’ll be somewhere besides the breast. Lungs, liver, brain, are the most likely places. At that point, according to my oncologist, it won’t be considered curable. So I wouldn’t be taking chemo with hopes of being rid of the cancer like I am now, I’d simply be postponing the inevitable. To me, that changes things completely. Right now, I think if those become my options, I’d prefer to enjoy the time I had left as much as possible. I can’t speak for your father, because his cancer sounds like it might still be curable. I hope it is.
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LW,
You're tough. Just as tough as my dad. Don't sell yourself short. I have faith in you.
My dad's cancer, now that's it's recurrent, is no longer curable. The only thing that the doc can do is treat/control it. At some point there'll be no treatments left or my dad will say enough. How much sand he has in his hourglass I don't know - but I treat every day I have with him as gift - because it is.
You can beat this. If you decide that you've had enough, I'd understand, - but I'd be sad.
Matt
Silent_Runner, thanks.