Re: Question about Doxil for recurrent ovarian cancer

From: Mike Radcliffe (mikeradcliffenospam_at_optusnet.com.au)
Date: 08/13/04 

Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 05:08:28 +0800

> Mike Radcliffe wrote:
>
> > "Lise" <liseparcells@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > <snipped>. He said the mass was
> > > wrapped around the colon and the ureter was going through it and to
> > > try to excise it would've meant she would end up with a colostomy and
> > > possibly having to repair the ureter with future surgeries. <snip>
> > >
> > Lise,
> > It sounds like your mother is well able to make up her own mind and
given
> > the nature of the disease and the likely side effects of the treatment
she
> > is leaning towards making , in my opinion, the right decision. She's
been
> > through enough I would say.
>
> Well, yes Mike but...
>
> > Forget the 'time' factor', that is really out of your control.
Concentrate
> > on supporting your mother in her decision to go for quality of life at
every
> > opportunity.
> > MIKE
>
> How's she going to have quality of life (eating and drinking) if the tumor
> interferes with her colon emptying and emptying of urine from one of her
> kidneys?
>
> I know you're not a surgeon (me either), but I was just wondering if they
(some
> surgeon somewhere) could do a colostomy and also bypass that ureter
somehow
> using only "hypnotics" and "pain medications (no anesthetics)...
> J

Quality is a relative term. In the context of terminal cancer there may well
be situations where the quality of life is not what I would want for myself
but adding more misery in the form of chemotherapy for instance may only mke
a bad situation worse.
 Quality may mean increasing analgesia or sedating a patient to the point
where the pain etc is no longer worrying them.
MIKE

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