YES, YES and YES Again….
It seems to be a “no-brainer.” We say “yes” multiple times, if it means a longer life, a quality life, a chance to be with our family and friends a little longer. It could mean tough days, sitting in a chemo room attached by a tube to the slow drip that could give us that extra time. It could mean being cradled in a machine that is sending targeted therapy to a tumor that wasn’t there months before, but has now found its way to the surface of an organ. But we’ll do it….we’ll do whatever it takes.
When it gets to this point in cancer world, it’s even more personal than it was the first time around. “IT” vs “US” is the way I remember it. A hard-headed caregiver and a very determined patient, who just kept saying “What else have you got?” And his doctors answered every time he asked.
We got close to three years out of a diagnosis and time table that three other doctors guessed would be 3 to 6 months. We left them behind to find aggressive, positive thinkers who couldn’t wait to hear the “Yes,” “Yes” and” “Yes” again.
June 12, 2012 @ 8:01 pm
I admit-I have tried to ignore the experience. l have pretended that a different person journeyed through the cancer trench. It’s a survival technique-I’m good at it.Laurie is incredible-she looks cancer straight in the eye and somehow all of us can see clearer.
June 12, 2012 @ 7:11 pm
Hard to measure the fight and determination in the heart of any cancer patient and caregiver. That’s why I’ve always advocated that the doctor is a “kinda puppet master who pulls the strings” but the patient’s body, mind and heart often respond in ways that defy the prognostications. It is not up to the doctor to say when it is time to quit. Input is always appreciated but sometimes just not accurate. It is possible for a doctor to blot out the fire of the human spirit by giving up too soon. Statistics are for large groups and not for individuals. Statistics are guidelines and probabilities but not definitive. The human spirit is amazing and has overcome all of the odds, all of the statistics and all of the doctors’ prognostications. Leroy and Laurie are just one example of the human spirit at work when everyone else had thrown in the towel and perhaps were going through the motions. “Yes” and “Yes” again is the right answer.