Sunday, November 22, 2009

Fight For Life

The way I feel now is that no matter what, I am for treatment versus uncontrolled cancer for as long as my body can survive the treatments.

I was distressed to hear of someone with brain cancer who has determined that they will go ahead with radiation treatments but want to stop treatments if the radiation doesn't work.

I don't know the aggressiveness of her brain tumor(s) and I am not a doctor, but determining that one will take one shot at treatment is not my way.

When I was diagnosed with cancer I was impressed with how painful cancer was and how it had messed with my mind.

When patient advocates of the Liddy Shiver Sarcoma Research Center asked if treatment is worse than cancer, Dr. Paul Meyers observed that "My experience teaches me that no matter how bad things are with treatment, to have cancer out of control is worse than any treatment that we could devise. And the vast majority of side effects that we're talking about are transient and reversible, but the benefits are permanent. And I would urge you to continue treatment as long as you possibly can, because every day you stay well is a day we may get closer to a true cure for your disease."

There are treatments for sarcoma, but no "cure." Some treatments do result in long-term survival.

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