Dear Frederick, A clarification of my previous post: I meant "quality of life", not "qualify of life"; and the person who died last week had been my son's friend, not companion, since their days together in kindergarten. "Companion" nowadays holds a different meaning altogether! Regards, Victor
--- On Fri, 12/11/09, Victor Rangel-Ribeiro <vrangel...@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Victor Rangel-Ribeiro <vrangel...@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Goanet] Fw: John Hopkin's Update on cancer. To: " estb. 1994!Goa's premiere mailing list" <goanet@lists.goanet.org> Date: Friday, December 11, 2009, 11:29 PM Dear Frederick, There sometimes comes a time in a cancer patient's treatment when the doctor knows that a cure is no longer possible. But chemotherapy can prolong the patient's life another month or two, or perhaps even six months. Hurrah? One response by family members is, "We are not ready to let go; at least, if we continue the chemo, we will be together for some more time." Doctors are happy to oblige. But what if the chemo produces dreadful side effects? One also has to consider the qualify of life in the additional time that has been bought. If one is spending one's days and nights in agony, why should one seek to prolong life, anyway? The friend who died last week was our son's companion since childhood, and he died young, at just fifty. He had received repeated chemotherapy treatments even after his situation was defined as terminal; when he could not take the pain and the nausea any more, he shut himself in his room and committed suicide. Regards, Victor --- On Fri, 12/11/09, Frederick Noronha <fredericknoro...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Frederick Noronha <fredericknoro...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Goanet] Fw: John Hopkin's Update on cancer. To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <goanet@lists.goanet.org> Date: Friday, December 11, 2009, 1:53 PM Dear Victor, Regardless of the prank behind the earlier "John Hopkins" mail, I'm curious to know more of your views on the following: 2009/12/8 Victor Rangel-Ribeiro <vrangel...@yahoo.com>: > Lea and I have had close personal friends who > have died as the result of being subjected to too > much chemotherapy. One died just a week > ago today! Is it possible to have "too much chemeotheraphy"? I know modern medicine makes it sound as if it has a cure for every ailment (and there's huge money involved), but in a life-threatening situation, where doctors are the only specialists, how does one take a call over this? FN -- Frederick Noronha :: +91-832-2409490 ANOTHER GOA: http://tiny.cc/anothergoa Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fredericknoronha Writing, editing, alt.publishing, photography, journalism
