From My Mind to....

Quality of Life

A couple days ago, I called up my good friend (actually, my daughter’s mother-in-law) who’s has been going through a cancer diagnosis of her own over the past two years. She has some great doctors and support team to help her through, and she’s done a great deal of research on her own, some of which she’s passed on to me for my own journey.

She told me that she had a little setback—that one organ’s function has been significantly reduced, and she would need a PET scan to help diagnose the issue. In terms of scans from aggressive and intrusive to benign--they are PET scans, MRIs, CT scans, then Ultrasounds. She currently has a pretty good quality of life presently that she doesn’t want to jeopardize with radiation. I can understand that.

Her doctor is really pushing, telling her she might wind up in the hospital … or worse. She reminded him that she told him at the start of all the treatments that he would never give her an “expiration date.” She fully understands the risks, and submits to treatment on her own terms. This is a very strong woman who has the benefit of a two-year treatment history in her fight against cancer.

Her advice to me is to find out all the options with their side effects and expectations. Decide what you can live with for your quality of life, and be aggressive as you can afford to be while surviving with the ability to enjoy life.