I had a relative who was on their 3rd round of chemo and radiation. Already had a double mastectomy, but it kept spreading to lymph nodes, the liver, bone marrow.
She was given a 4 month diagnosis but lasted 3 years. Last month she decided she was done fighting with it and went off treatment. Died a week later.
I wonder if big pharma keeping people alive is a good thing. Certainly not in all cases.
My father is 87, Type II diabetic for over forty years, end stage heart failure, deaf, angry. His pill regimen is insane, and he clearly is not enjoying life.
My mom is 85 and has Parkinson’s, helped with medication. So she gets to take care of my dad - cook, clean, wrap his legs for edema, do the shopping, handle the finances - clearly not living her best life.
Personally, I am not interested in hanging on to something that is not enjoyable and will welcome my promotion when it comes. I am blessed at 60 years old to be on no medication save TRT. Part of this is because I work hard to enjoy the present and not grasp for things I don’t have. I’m pretty happy with a modest lifestyle - fresh air, exercise, a dip in the river.
I doubt I will choose meds to extend what is essentially a battle.
Just me.
Its good to think about and plan ahead, of course, but it hits differently when its time to really make that decision.
My grandmother was 87 and on a bunch of meds, doing as well as could be expected for an 87 year old woman, and finally had enough. She talked with each of us grand kids and explained where she was at in life, with life.
Then she pulled the plug on her meds. Quit taking them, and just carried on. It took about 6 months then off she went from heart failure.
No one could blame her. She outlived her husband, son, and all of the people she ever knew.
That was that. Then we put her in the ground and had a big party- which she had planned herself!
Kinda too bad she wasn’t there, but it couldn’t be any other way.
My great grandfather was diagnosed with a heart defect when he was in his 70s. This was a guy who served in WW1 and who, though retired, still arrived to work, at the family business his son had taken over, an hour before anyone else showed up. I would get to see him every morning before going to school. This was a business that made custom furniture and restored antiques. They had a global reputation for the quality of their work.
My great grandfather would work on some personal project until noon then go home to chop wood or do other jobs around his home. During the summer, he would sometimes take me with him so I could help. Well, he told the doctor there was no way he would have heart surgery and be bed ridden for who knows how long. He would die when he dies. And he did eventually die of a heart attack while chopping wood in the very big back yard, that every type of animal we have around here would visit, of the house he built that had a view of the river. I still miss him but I take some solace in knowing he went out on his terms. He also drove a pickup with a manual shift on the steering column.
A man’s man
Most certainly they were making money. Otherwise, why would they give the treatment. Conversing about B/ig Pharma does not make much sense, especially when the majority of people are led to believe they are looking out for the patients best interest, instead of their bottom line.
Indeed!
I actually thought of you as I wrote that. Were I in your shoes I would definitely take meds as your quality of life warrants it.
My dad, not so much. My mom, definitely.
My grandmother had a sextuple bypass in her late sixties despite showing signs of senile dementia, she lived another twenty years with dementia, taken care of by my grandfather who ended up passing from metastatic cancer.
After he passed, we moved her near my parents. She was a shell, did not remember my mother (her daughter), got lost, burned herself on the stove, was a total shit show.
Clearly the bypass should not have been done.
My father has a defibrillator implanted, the batteries are set to wear out in three months necessitating another surgery - he will be declining it.
Reminds me of an old joke - I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grand dad. Not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car.
And financially draining. As if these people don’t have enough to worry about already.
That’s funny. My grandfather had a heart attack while driving but fortunately, it was while parking his car.
If you were one of those cancer patients would you have the integrity to preach against Big Pharma, or just quietly sit there keeping your opinion to yourself?
I don’t recall paying any more than a co-payment for any of my treatments. I would suppose that was the same for most all of them.
My other grandfather went blindish from a detached retina. His wife, my grandmother did not drive.
He would sneak out to the store, driving, to get his “medicine,” a six pack of Carling Black Label.
He was never compliant with meds and eventually stopped eating. He went peacefully in his sleep, on his own terms.
Why enrich pharma, at your expense? Good outlook. I’m with you. We are on the same wavelength here.
I think my take is a little different from yours, but similar outlook.
Life is suffering (Buddhist First Noble Truth), so why fight to prolong suffering?
Most go to a better place.
Without being morbid, anyplace is better than this.
That being said, we are blessed to have this experience, so there is that.
I remember my cousin, one of his granddaughters, and her husband named their dog after him, while he was still alive. They thought it was cute, him, not so much.
No…most do not
And what gives you that belief?