It's pretty amazing how quickly Peter Jennings went from telling everyone that he had lung cancer, to when he died. I think it was about 4-5 months. I wonder how early he knew? He was a smoker*, then quit for something like 20 years, then started again after 9/11. Tom Brokaw said last night that he has known 8 people who died from lung cancer, so when he first heard of Jennings diagnosis, he thought 'well, that's all folks' and he was right. Cancer is such a strange beast. There are so many types that can behave differently in each person. I have cancer in my lungs now that metastisized from my colon (my primary cancer) and into my liver. Looking at the stats for survival rates for stage IV colon cancer it's not real promising. 5 year survival is 'rare' at best. That is the main reason I try to stay off the internet. I don't want to see all of this data about it. The numbers they use are very generalized and also tend to be outdated. I'm getting the latest treatments as part of a clinical trial (Phase II) so I feel that those stats don't apply to me. Tomorrow I go for chemo #5 of 8 - more than halfway there. To what, I don't know....
*And Curse Sir Walter Raleigh, He Was Such a Stupid Git
3 comments:
But what IF--
you are one of the first . . . to overcome/flip/smash/wreck all the statistics . . .
and then another fellow, a couple years from now, searches online and reads about this one vibrant case that began to change all the statistics up until that point . . .
That is part of my plan. I also feel like I'm a test pilot too, not a guinea pig....
My prayers and good wishes are with you, amigo.
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