Diagnosed with a terminal disease would you accept treatment?

I watched my late husband suffer through 4 1/2 years of cancer treatments. At one point, about eight months into it, we were told he was in "partial remission". Really? WTH does that mean?

I may accept a surgical solution if that alone would do it, depending on the surgery. Otherwise, no thanks.

I would sell everything, place funds in a pay-on-death account, find a good home for my doggies, move into a hospice facility, and be done with it.
 

It depends on the situation one is currently involved in to make such a decision. I have enough commitments to have a simple to medium repair to extend my life for two years, if the success rate was high. People are right in that there is no need to worry about it. Do it, or don't because we are all traveling the path to
eternity. :)
 

I've often pondered this Bretrick. I tend to think I would not accept treatment because my quality of life would not be good. I had a cousin who went through chemo. My husband and I would visit her in S.C. from time to time and we saw the decline; even her skin color changed. But I have another cousin (her niece) who has undergone chemo for two or three different bouts with cancer and she looks great. She went back to nursing each time and stays active.

I also have a friend who just finished chemo a few months ago. She didn't let cancer slow her down and she's back to her ultra busy self. So ultimately, I think I would discuss the options with my doctor, maybe try it out and see. If a lot of vomiting is involved, I'd likely stop the treatment. God willing, I'll never have to find out!
 
GoodEnuff said:
I watched my late husband suffer through 4 1/2 years of cancer treatments. At one point, about eight months into it, we were told he was in "partial remission". Really? WTH does that mean?

I may accept a surgical solution if that alone would do it, depending on the surgery. Otherwise, no thanks.

I would sell everything, place funds in a pay-on-death account, find a good home for my doggies, move into a hospice facility, and be done with it.
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Jesus, GoodEnuff, I'll be thinking about you the whole day long. 💜
 
If it's purely a small extension of the time I have left (few months, a year), then I probably would go for only those options that would increase the quality of what I have left, and not quantity. If it would be a larger extension (several years), I don't know. It also depends on "how bad are the side effects".

I'm not afraid to die, but I don't like the prospect of living in pain.
 
Inept said:
Jesus, GoodEnuff, I'll be thinking about you the whole day long. 💜
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Thank you for that. That was almost 17 years ago, though. And I guess you could say the good news (?) is that my work experiences exposed me to so much of that kind of thing that it was most likely easier for me?

Two patients (out of hundreds, maybe thousands, I didn't count) recovered very unexpectedly and unexplainably. I absolutely believe that if God has a miracle in His pocket for someone, it will happen. If my work here on this earth is finished, then some day He will notice me and say, "OMG! You're still there? Come on up!" and this life will end. And once a person's body dies, they will know all the answers. That would be very cool!
 
Olivia said:
YES, after l got all the information l would decide.
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Good point. There are as many treatments as there are cancers. Some cancers can be kept under control, some cannot. Much depends on the staging of the cancer, too. Have those close to me who have had colon, breast, pancreatic, prostate, liver, lung, Hodgkins lymphoma, Non-Hodgkins, brain cancers, kidney cancer, on and on.

Have worked in medical field long time, so seen many more cancers and treatments than most, and keep up on the professional research.

My best friend died of pancreatic cancer at 73, 20 months after she was diagnosed. She was "lucky", not. IF you consider going on chemo for 18 months and all the hell pancreatic cancer causes with your whole system and the fact it metastasizes so fast and far, with little hope of living more than 12 months. When friend was first diagnosed she told me she would rather not have treatment, except that she wanted her 47 yo daughter to be able to "adjust". At the funeral the daughter told me she had wished her mother had not hung on so long, it was so traumatic to watch.

SO, "hanging on" to help relatives to adjust is noble, but traumatic for your family, am afraid. Seen that more than once.

Most people today survive breast cancer; I even had an uncle with breast cancer. He had a double mastectomy and did fine.
 
Inept said:
SW-E-E-E-E-E-T! ❤️ If you can, "drop" me a note with some tips on what to do while I'm still here. :)
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Who knows? Not me. Sometimes I think we are still here because there is something left to do. It may be as innocuous as a comment you make to the person in line at the market that changes their life?

What if Earth is just a kind of chess game for the gods out there? God moves a knight and waits to see what the Holy Ghost does next? Will Jesus jump in and save the game?

Or a Jerry Springer-like program that they watch just for entertainment purposes? God: OMG! They have the DNA results! Holy Ghost: No sh*t! Jesus! Whose son is it? JC: You don't know???
 
GoodEnuff said:
Who knows? Not me. Sometimes I think we are still here because there is something left to do. It may be as innocuous as a comment you make to the person in line at the market that changes their life?
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Sure. Why not? I'm an Agnostic so every possibility is on the board.
GoodEnuff said:
What if Earth is just a kind of chess game for the gods out there? God moves a knight and waits to see what the Holy Ghost does next? Will Jesus jump in and save the game?
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Yes, maybe.
GoodEnuff said:
Or a Jerry Springer-like program that they watch just for entertainment purposes? God: OMG! They have the DNA results! Holy Ghost: No sh*t! Jesus! Whose son is it? JC: You don't know???
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Could be. Or ... are you ready for this? ..... maybe my childhood nightmares were right and there is nothing but Godzilla on a rampage eating people. I told you I'm an Agnostic, right?
 
Ever seen that Simpson episode where Homer is in hospital, supposedly dying? He has a priest at the bedside administering last rites, and lined up outside the door are a rabbi, monk, etc., from every known religion. Just in case. That could be me, lol. CYA.
 
This thread makes me want to cry, except I can't seem to cry anymore, tears seem to have dried up? Like others have mentioned, my son would probably interfere and want treatment. I would probably not want treatment, especially if I knew in advance that life, and possibly a very poor one, would only be extended two years.

Dying while asleep, with no decisions to make, would suit me better.
 
Saphira said:
If it's purely a small extension of the time I have left (few months, a year), then I probably would go for only those options that would increase the quality of what I have left, and not quantity. If it would be a larger extension (several years), I don't know. It also depends on "how bad are the side effects".

I'm not afraid to die, but I don't like the prospect of living in pain.
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Welcome to seniorforums Saphira.
 
My uncle, the SAME one who had the double mastectomy for breast cancer, had Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. They put him on chemo which he did for quite a number of months; then that "stopped working" the docs said and "if we don't do the next thing we have, we don't know how long you will live". Uncle says: "Nope, we are done...the cure is worse than the cancer!". He was about 70 at the time. My Aunt 73, was having to take care of him as the chemo treatments had him sicker than a dog, unable to get out of bed, bathroom accidents. He was worried my Aunt would die due to the caregiving!

My uncle lived for another 5 years! Didn't even die of the cancer, but of a heart attack.
 
I mostly believe living is a lot harder than dying. One is a finale.
The other full of uncertainty. I guess missing someone is part of
life. When I was very small I would miss my Mother (She had a Job).

Then I had to miss my oldest sister. Then I missed my Aunt & Unkle,
Grandpa's and Grandma's. I remember Gramps, very fast behind the
Horses and plow them going at almost a trot, plowing the family's garden
on an Easter Weekend. Time spent on their farms playing.

They believed in the old life, not the new machinery.
Granny a making lye soap on outdoors fire.

As The Years Passed People, friends came and went, some I missed.
Later I missed my older siblings, mom, Dad, Aunts and Uncles & cousins.
Friends left for the Service. Some didn't return.

I mostly miss my Motorcycles now. Don't miss breaking a leg again.
I guess that's the bright spot, not missing stuff that's missing.

I'm not sure if one is born with the memory of not missing the missing stuff.
Maybe I just got used to it ? Going back to see the things I had not forgot,
Those old homes, neighborhoods, they didn't seem the same as I had remembered
so I have mostly forgot those too. The Family's farms, not the same anymore.
 

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