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"That is what you are evaluating- how his life looks from your view. A view that includes (tell me if I am reading you wrong) that a person after a certain age loses the will to fight against cancer or other life threatening illiness? That rolling over is the only choice?"
Not at all; I am very much an advocate of treatment for the elderly and in fact was my own mother's very aggressive advocate for medical care which she wanted until she passed at age 95. I often when head-to-head with doctors who wanted to just let her die because she was old rather than fix something fixable. My problem is with futile, useless treatment (you can always say that it's helping, if not curing; boosting morale, if nothing else; I doubt if there's any way of proving or disproving that, but it keeps the oncologists in business). I wouldn't recommend radiation and chemo for a 12-year-old, much less a 90-year-old, as my personal belief it that if it can't be excised, it'll get you sooner or later.
And, no, I'm not a doctor; I just know what I've seen (over and over).
But, again, this isn't about me, but about Jimmy Carter. So he's "buying time," basically?
"There are exceptions but generally ALL medical treatment is voluntary. You have the right to refuse treatment. You have the right to leave the hospital at any time."
Actually, this isn't quite true. You can leave a hospital AMA ("against medical advice"), but you risk your insurance company refusing to pay the entire bill. That can easily bankrupt you. So you're basically held hostage, unless you're a millionaire or have nothing for the hospital to sue you to "get."
Also, women are forced to submit to mammograms and pap smears - although in fact the increased risk of cancer is much smaller than widely believed -- in order to be prescribed birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy, even if she wouldn't choose to treat it if it were diagnosed, so another waste of money -- as well as coercion -- for some.
All part of the "rah-rah, beat cancer" mindset.
How many years have we been raising money for "awareness" and "a cure" and still MOST people who have it eventually die of it???
There's actually a great book on the subject, although it's fiction, called "So Much For That!"
A couple, nearing retirement, had a dream of moving to a desert island and saved for it. But the wife developed breast cancer, so -- each thinking the other wanted to "fight" -- they spent the next year and every penny in savings on treatment, which made her deathly ill and ruined the entire family's quality of life. They finally threw in the towel and went, and she enjoyed life until she died there. As they were leaving, the husband asked the doctor what good it had all done. He estimated that it bought her a good three months. The husband replied, "It WASN'T 'good' three months."
Is Carter choosing this for himself or is he doing it because his wife, children, grandchildren, cancer "survivors," and society want him to?
There's a belief profoundly rooted in the Western psyche, and especially the American psyche, that we're the masters of our destiny, that failure or success are traceable to personal choices, that if we're poor or uneducated or unhealthy or unaccomplished, it is because we've taken the lazy route, the reprehensible route of instant gratification and poor planning.
Of course we don't all live this. But we believe it. It's our ideal. The daily choice of diet and exercise requires systematic devotion, small bits at a time, small and repeated choices instead of one great struggle, and because it's so difficult to turn theory into practice, so many of us are obese.
But fighting cancer is a watershed choice, where we literally pause and plop in our armchairs and ponder how our choices affect our lives. And here, as the OP pointed out, there's considered to be something ignominious and outright vile in not maximizing how we fight for additional life, as if life were a precious gift (another Western postulate) for which we'd be wanton ingrates to do anything but to be maximally obliged.
I had a good friend go two rounds with cancer. He beat it round one and it resurfaced 4 years later. This time he couldn't beat it, multiple places/limbs. They told him if he amputated his leg above the knee he would gain 6 months +/- (big tumor in knee/ankle). He laughed at them.....told him 6 more months living in a wheelchair wasn't living.
He took a bag full of prescriptions and took his daughter to Europe! Died a few months later......
If I was Jimmy Carter I would be thrilled that I got to be the President, I got to live to age 90 and had a good life......I would try to enjoy whatever time I have left!
I lost a good friend to cancer recently, and he was about Carter's age. He had surgery and one round of radiation, then palliative care. It meant three weeks of misery, then six months that were peaceful, almost happy. He used the time to finish writing his last book and to say goodbye to family and friends. I visited often and everyone seemed happy with the choice.
It breaks my heart that so many of the posts have reflected either suspicion towards doctors or anxieties about bills. The USA in particular has painted itself into a corner with our hopelessly politicized healthcare system. I am grateful that more people have insurance these days, and that insurance companies can't drop sick patients any more, but we still have a long ways to go.
First of all, I love Jimmy Carter and am very sorry to hear the news that he has metastatic cancer.
And I almost don't dare ask this question, so deeply ingrained is the conviction in this country that you MUST fight cancer with everything you have to the bitter end and beyond, but if he's really okay with his mortality and at peace with his diagnosis, why is he proceeding with treatments at age 90 when, frankly, the prognosis looks pretty dismal? Personally, I think I'd opt to just enjoy the rest of my days in peace.
Granted, I may be the only person on the planet who is skeptical of the "success" of radiation and chemotherapy; most people have a recurrence, so they're never actually "cured" and, while it may buy you more time, I personally believe it kills as many people as it saves while simultaneously wasting bazillions of dollars and torturing the poor patients in the process. But it's big bucks for big pharma, doctors, and hospitals -- and there's so much hype about "winning" and "losing" (I guess if it kills you, you're a loser instead of a "survivor," unless of course you've "bravely battled" it) -- that I think most people don't even realize that they have the option of NOT undergoing treatment and using natural remedies or just accepting it.
I believe it would almost be seen as "cowardly" or "dishonorable" to not submit to these treatments.
Interestingly, I've seen literature suggesting that not exposing yourself to these poisons may result in a longer (and certainly better, without all the harmful side effects) life and, in some cases, even remission.
I mean, at best -- even with a complete cure -- he has five good years left. It's not like he's twenty.
So why is he choosing to do this? I've heard "to set an example." What about setting an example of acceptance? "Because he does so much good." So, those who are useless shouldn't have treatment?
Any other theories?
It is over. With it being stage 4, it is time to say good byes because it is a matter of when. 90 years is a very good run.
Don't forget, medical care isn't free!Many people simply can't afford cancer treatment. My dh is going to MDAnderson this coming Monday to evaluate a tumor they're 90% sure is cancer. Before even scheduling the appt, they reviewed his insurance, and demanded $750 copay, or they would not even schedule an apt for an evaluation. The big, renowned facilities don't work for free, they demand their money up front. How can a person be forced into something they can't afford?
OMG....thanks....you are a lifesaver.....nobody else knows that but you. Bless your heart
"There's a belief profoundly rooted in the Western psyche, and especially the American psyche, that we're the masters of our destiny..."
Isn't THAT the truth? I honestly believe we think that if we just eat x-y-z and exercise and do yoga, we'll live forever. Not! And who would want to; especially a Christian (I am one)?
It's rather sad that we're so terrified of our own mortality that we'll spend our entire lives trying to stave it off! And make it "dishonorable" to accept the inevitable.
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