Is there a surgery so invasive that you would prefer the alternative?

[MrCoffee]

I was talking to a guy who had his esophagus removed due to cancer. He can't eat solid food, and has been living on some kind of nutrient liquid for almost a year. He has these bag things attached to him. They tried to give him some kind of "external esophagus" but his body rejected it.

Without the surgery, his doctor gave him about 6 months to live. Personally, I'd take the six months.

[Shell Beau]

1. Wow! That does sound pretty terrible. How long does he have

having had the surgery?

[MrCoffee]

4. I don't know...

Apparently they just told him that they could get all the cancer by taking out his esophagus, so he did it.

To me, it's a quality of life issue. He was telling me that he doesn't leave the house because he thinks he looks hideous with all the bandages and bags attached to him (I guess the one at the hip collects waste somehow). He's got chronic diahrrea. He gets lingering infections at the surgery sites. He's horribly depressed. It's maybe one of the saddest first-person stories I've ever heard.

[DesertFlower]

6. i'd rather be dead.

last october i lost a friend to cancer. she had it in 9 parts of her body. she chose chemo and radiation to give her some time. both made her very ill. she died 6 weeks after her diagnosis. she probably could have lived 6 weeks without the treatment or maybe longer.

i would have told them to just keep me comfortable.

[Shell Beau]

14. Yeah, if there is no quality of life, there is no life.

Bless his heart. That would be one hell of a choice to have to make though.

[Midlodemocrat]

20. Esophageal cancer, unfortunately, is one of the ones with

the lowest cure rate. Pancreatic is another. Friend of mine lost her husband in February to pancreatic cancer. He got the dx in August.

Very, very quick. Very painful.

If it were up to me, I think I'd take my chances with getting brittle diabetes after having the pancreas removed and hope for a transplant.

[NewEnglandGirl]

2. I would take the six months also

Although in those situations there's no right or wrong, it's personal. But for myself, I'm a big believer in quality over quantity. :dilemma:

[DesertFlower]

3. my friend's husband had throat cancer.

the radiation burned out his throat and now he gets his nutrition from a tube in his stomach. he's 60 years old, but glad to be alive. BTW. he never smoked.

i, personally would never ever under any circumstances have radiation or chemotherapy, but hey, that's me.

[terrya]

7. I'm not sure if I'd go through chemotherapy

After my dad went through it in treating his cancer. The chemotherapy ended up paralyzing him from the waist down. It didn't do a damned bit of good for him.

[DesertFlower]

9. i listen to an alternative doctor on

the radio. he calls traditional treatment for cancer "cut, burn, poison". my thought is that i would want to build up my immune system to fight the cancer not tear it down.

i often wonder what happens to people who refuse treatment. no one follows up on them. they might live just as long or longer.

[TZ]

13. I'm on chemo for my cancer like disease

It controlls it pretty well, even if I have to deal with nausea every day.
And the reason people get cancer in the first place is a defective immune system."building it up" (especially for leukemics whose bone marrow is making EVERYTHING wrong) won't help.
BTW, there is a poster here Longhorn, doing VERY WELL on her chemo...
As someone in the field..the people who refuse..usually die actually. THats why you don't hear about them.....

[DesertFlower]

16. i'm glad that you're doing well.

there's a place in arizona called Envita Natural Medical Centers. they use different therapies from all over the world. they have a good success rate.

http://www.behealthyamerica.com/



on edit: there are many people whose lives have been saved by chemotherapy. there are many who haven't. it's a personal choice.

[hedgehog]

24. Funny you should ask. Here's one report on resorting to alternativer

therapies to cancer:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=222&topic_id=37865&mesg_id=37865

[DesertFlower]

25. interesting discussion.

suzane somers used homeopathy and has been cancer free for quite a few years.

[MrCoffee]

10. I'm just grateful I'm not faced with that choice...

I talk like I'd pass on the surgery, but that seems so easy to say when I'm not sick.

[DesertFlower]

11. i had a breat cancer scare a few years ago.

i told my husband that radiation and chemotherapy were not open for discussion.

i have a book called "Options". it tells about many of the alternative cures that are out there.

[redqueen]

5. I don't know...

My girls... I think I'd go through an awful lot of hardship if it meant I got to see more of them growing up.

[MrCoffee]

8. I have it all planned out...

I'll just make a bunch of those "Creepy Videos From Beyond The Grave" to be played on their birthdays.


Oh yeah, and I'm gonna haunt a shitload of bastards, too.

[redqueen]

12. You just made me think of ATHF.

I'm gonna wail on you from beyond the grave, baby!

[flvegan]

15. Childbirth.

[MrCoffee]

17. misogynist.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

26. me too.

[redqueen]

28. Hehehe... that's not a surgery you silly!

Well... a C-section is, sure... but... ok nevermind.

[rug]

18. I'm with you.

[Midlodemocrat]

19. After seeing what Mr.Midlo went through with his

CABG x 4 and resulting pain, I think I'd take my chances. I had a C-Section, but it was nothing like what he went through.

[yellowcanine]

21. Just about any procedure which involves large objects being inserted up my butt.

[DesertFlower]

22. i guess that would include

a colonoscopy.

[DesertFlower]

23. i've had a few surgeries

that many people would not have, i.e. a facelift, a brow lift and a tummy tuck. :-)

[pitohui]

27. well i know a man who has survived eophageal cancer for several years now

he is very active and has great quality of life, no bags, but i guess maybe he was one of the lucky ones --- still golfs, still goes to concerts, still works out, almost 70, pretty much everything considering he couldn't quit the booze even after the cancer

his speaking voice is loud altho not perfectly clear and he eats just fine and still drinks too much, so i have to presume that they didn't remove as much as they did from your acquaintance