Suppose

Try to imagine that you or a loved on has been diagnosed with cancer.
You have done all the research, looked into treatments, side effects, statistics of cure rate, clinical trials, everything. You know that the probablilty of beating this is less than 10% and if you do survive the treatment, chances are you will die within the next 5 years. You have seen or heard of other people who have gone through chemo and radiation, you know the side effects, the often excruciating pain. So far you or your loved one are not feeling sick, but, you know it's there. Lurking inside. What would you do? Quality or quantity of life? Natural instinct says"do everything you can, we will beat the odds" Is it fair to put the person through all the treatment, accompanying pain, sickness, to sit on the sidelines feeling that there must be more you can do? Emotions over ride everything, of course you are going to fight this with every possible means. That's what we did.  I wonder if we had taken the time to rationally think about it would Bryon have chosen the route we took? Would he have put himself through all he went through, the last month being spent in a zomie state, so doped out on pain meds that he could no longer do much for himself. Needing help for even the most simple of tasks, having to be pushed around in a wheelchair, not having the energy to have a conversation. Or would he have decided to live whatever life he had in good health doing things that he wanted to, to throw caution to the wind. He wanted to drive a race car, fly a fighter plane, go to clown school. All this was obtainable at that time. I wish our doctor had been more forthrite with us. When I was questioning him about Bryon a month ago, (I was feeling guilty about some of the decisions I had made) he told me that my husband had been on "borrowed time" Had he told us, would it have change our course? These are things we don't like to talk or think about. Maybe while we are in good health we should.