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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We as a society need to flip the switch on how we view death and dying.  Yes it’s horribly sad but it’s also the natural order of things.  We are all born and we’re all going to die- those are the only things every single person walking this earth has in common with each other.  I wish our society would focus on the quality of life over longevity.  Maybe we shouldn’t treat every terminal illness aggressively.

I’m convinced that my dad, who died of metastatic lung cancer, would have had a much better end of life experience if he’d just let things progress instead of trying every treatment out there (all which kept him very sick his last two years of life).  He was two years from diagnosis to death and I doubt any of the treatments prolonged anything.  [/quote]

Thanks for sharing this perspective on your dad. There's the idea that you have to "fight" against cancer or other health challenges, but I've often thought I wouldn't want to go through the expense or pain of treatment that might have minimal benefit. But I'm thinking that from the perspective of someone who hasn't received that kind of diagnosis, so who knows how I would feel if I did.[/quote]

I think a lot depends on your age as well as your temperament. I assume it is easier to accept the inevitable if you are 82 than if you are 52.

I guess the other thing is that you don’t know in advance how the treatments will go. Some people really do beat the odds and get another 10 years cancer free. Others just suffer unnecessarily as a result of the treatment.[/quote]

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