2009/12/8 Victor Rangel-Ribeiro <[email protected]>: > 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!
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:29:36 -0800 (PST) From: Victor Rangel-Ribeiro <[email protected]> > 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. Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:23:56 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha <[email protected]> Is it possible to have "too much chemeotheraphy"? Mario responds: Victor, Heartfelt condolences on the tragic death of your son's friend in such a sad and desperate manner. I'm sure the oncologists were doing their best to save him or prolong his life. These end of life decisions are always very difficult on all concerned. When the doctors decide there's no hope the patient is typically referred to Hospice who do an excellent job in preparing the patient and family for the inevitable and keeping the patient sedated and as comfortable as possible in their final days or hours. I'm sure one of our physicians who are experienced in treating cancer or doing medical research may be able to address the question about "too much chemo". From my knowledge the same chemo treatments can have different results and reactions among different patients. If the chemo succeeds the oncologist is a hero. If it does not he's a goat and the second guessing begins. That's just the way people think. Chemo is a very drastic attempt to use highly toxic chemicals dripped directly into a patient's heart to be pumped across the body in a desperate attempt to search for and destroy cancer cells, either at a primary site or cells that may have escaped from a primary site from blood flow through the primary site. I had a temporary plastic tube inserted by minor surgery directly into my superior vena cava. At the other end it exited to an exterior port on my chest right above the heart. To start every chemo treatment the bag filled with the liquid chemical(s) was attached to the port through a tube and needle that was inserted into the port. This works somewhat like attaching a flexible pipe to a water faucet. This saved me from having an IV needle inserted into a vein each time. Four months later, annother minor surgical procedure removed the tube and the port. Having gone through it, I can only tell you that chemo sucks during and right after the treatments, and I can see that some may want to die voluntarily just to get it over with, but when applied properly with the correct medications for the specific type of cancer that is being treated, it can save your life. And there are ever-improving antidotes with each passing year to help a patient cope with the worst side effects. Fred wrote: 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? Mario responds: Fred, a) From my experience REAL modern medicine does not make it sound like it has a cure for every ailment. My form of cancer was so rare they told me up front that I had a 50% chance of survival. If you know what 50% means statistically, they were basically saying I was going to be like a guinea pig in a lab and they would do their best with whatever medical information was available. I did not kid myself. I told them to be as aggressive as they knew how and not to worry about how I would handle it. We all hoped for the best but prepared for the worst. At one point I thought, "At least I'll find out if the atheists are right:-))" Well, darn it, I still don't know:-)) The medical profession probably learned something from my experience which added to their body of knowledge and may benefit someone else down the road. This is the opposite of what you are insinuating. You are probably getting confused with the homeopaths:-)) b) Specially trained medical doctors are the only specialists one should consult in the case of a life threatening illness. If what they are telling you does not make sense, you get a second opinion from another specialist. c) If all else fails, call Fr. Ivo:-))
