As a human it makes me so sad to read this post. I hope the rest of his life is meaningful, comfortable and pain-free. As a doctor it makes me so mad. We talk about winning and losing against cancer like its some game or some foe personified. Just because there aren't any more chemo therapy options doesn't mean there aren't treatment options. Just because he'll be home and not in the hospital doesn't mean his doctors…
No. Just not. This kind of thing is extremely hypocritical and insulting to all those who are actually fighting cancer. Both the patients, the doctors and research teams.
>Cure seems like a goal that isn't realistic anymore.
Where did you get that from? Both cure and 5 year survival rates are higher than ever and are slowly encroaching advanced stages of cancer.
>And we need to make sure he doesn't think he lost anything. Its not fair and its incorrect.
Except it is. He lost his life. This is a fact. Language won't change it. Pretending that he didn't lose anything is more insulting to him and his family than not. Respecting his choice is different from pretending that he didn't lose everything.
I've seen people give up and accept their low chances of survival. It's very rare. More often than not I see people who want to live and exhaust every option available until the last minute of their lives. This is literally a fight and these people would punch you in the face if your righteousness suggested otherwise in front of them. And it blows my mind that a doctor( are you an actual doctor? In the States the term doctor isn't regulated so a chiro can call themselves doctor) doesn't see that the field is rapidly improving with better and more options all the time. Now more than ever before it's worth fighting to your last minute in case new therapies arrive that have great results for you.