Leukemia Has Won

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 1:49 AM UTC

ergothus wrote: post #22

joshgel wrote: post #15

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…

> ...some foe personified. > ...make sure he doesn't think he lost anything While I have vast respect for those that can have a different viewpoint, I'm not sure I'd be able to look on it as anything but an intensely personal attack from the universe that definitely takes things - notably, a future - away from me. With time I might find the wisdom to feel otherwise. But time is what would be taken away.

Post by waynecochran » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 2:01 AM UTC

schoen wrote: post #57

caymanjim wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was diagnosed with lymphoma about 8 years ago. It's been undetectable since six months later, and I haven't had any treatment since the three years of chemo ended, but that's not to say it won't return. I've always disliked the "winning/losing" paradigm, and also terms like "struggle" and "battle". To me, they all imply that there was or is something that I personally could have done to change the outcome. If I had…

My stepmother died of cancer last year and asked that her obituary refer to her "long negotiation with cancer" instead of "long battle with cancer", I think because she also disliked the "battle" and "struggle" notion for similar reasons.

Post by jrobn » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 2:09 AM UTC

moises_silva wrote: post #40

DoreenMichele wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a terrific book called "Tell them who I am." It was written, I think, in the last year of the life of a man dying of cancer. He wanted to spend his final days doing something meaningful. It's about the lives and identities of homeless women at shelters where he volunteered. I am sympathetic to your rage. I wish I knew how to help such people. But I don't. Death comes for us all, sooner or later, one way or an…

> Death comes for us all, sooner or later, one way or another. That's one of the few truisms in life. I'm genuinely making an effort to understand how this is relevant to someone with a cancer diagnosis. Sure, dead comes sooner or later, and that's the whole point of why one would feel it sucks and that we're losing, because often cancer means for you, dead came way too early. I have not known anyone with cancer, but…

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 2:13 AM UTC

Post by qiqitori » Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 2:17 AM UTC

soy_comptroller wrote: post #50

gnulinux wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a question coming from complete layman. In fact, I'm ashamed to ask such a stupid question. But I'm still curious: > Is said that you can remove 2/3 of the liver and the remain cells will regenerate a complete liver in only 2 weeks. Does this mean it's possible for one to donate liver (say, half a liver) and live like nothing happened (except a scar)? Then why don't everyone donate their liver like this? Why…

You can donate part of the liver, but it isn't "like nothing ever happened". This followup[1] of donors from 2011 found that 53% suffered long-term complications (though 93% would have gone through with it again). Notably missing from those stats is the percentage of donors who died after donation, either due to direct effects, indirect effects, or totally unrelated things. Donating one of your two kidneys is maybe a…