Mark Shannon: An Inconvenient Truth
Former broadcaster Mark Shannon's popular blog has this post today:
Monday was one of those days in life where reality stares you right in the face, and you have no ability to look away.
The cancer I've referred to as an "inconvenience" to deal with, now looms large in my future. It clouds anything and everything else I might think or want to do. In fact, it now is the only thing I can see in my future.
One of the results of my consultation at M.D. ANDERSON, and my local doctors consultations with the doctors in Houston, was a conclusion that I should pursue a bone marrow "mini-transplant" soon.
Monday my wife and I met with a doctor from the transplant team. She painted out a picture of what the next three to four years of my life will be like beginning with the transplant. Nothing about it is appealing. A six week hospital stay where I'll come as close to death as I ever have. Months of being confined to my home. Wearing masks, gloves. Dozens of pills. Transfusions. More chemo plus some radiation. Possibility of rejection and diseases caused by that. A 15-20 percent chance I won't even live through it and no guarantee of success if I do, and success MIGHT mean 5 or 10 more years of life.
If I don't do the bone marrow, I will likely have to go through chemo more often, and soon it will not work, or could cause another form of cancer which will bring the end.
Neither option is real inviting.
To me prolonging life to just prolong life is not appealing, but then I have not been given the grace to die yet, so I see no other alternative but to go through with it.
So now the inconvenience which leukemia has caused in my life, will now consume most of my time and efforts, at least for the next three to five years. And that's assuming nothing stops the transplant from going forward, and that I end up being one of the 60 to 70 percent who survive and fifty percent of those that actually have complete success.
Time to re-learn the meaning of "One Day At A Time" all over again.
Monday was one of those days in life where reality stares you right in the face, and you have no ability to look away.
The cancer I've referred to as an "inconvenience" to deal with, now looms large in my future. It clouds anything and everything else I might think or want to do. In fact, it now is the only thing I can see in my future.
One of the results of my consultation at M.D. ANDERSON, and my local doctors consultations with the doctors in Houston, was a conclusion that I should pursue a bone marrow "mini-transplant" soon.
Monday my wife and I met with a doctor from the transplant team. She painted out a picture of what the next three to four years of my life will be like beginning with the transplant. Nothing about it is appealing. A six week hospital stay where I'll come as close to death as I ever have. Months of being confined to my home. Wearing masks, gloves. Dozens of pills. Transfusions. More chemo plus some radiation. Possibility of rejection and diseases caused by that. A 15-20 percent chance I won't even live through it and no guarantee of success if I do, and success MIGHT mean 5 or 10 more years of life.
If I don't do the bone marrow, I will likely have to go through chemo more often, and soon it will not work, or could cause another form of cancer which will bring the end.
Neither option is real inviting.
To me prolonging life to just prolong life is not appealing, but then I have not been given the grace to die yet, so I see no other alternative but to go through with it.
So now the inconvenience which leukemia has caused in my life, will now consume most of my time and efforts, at least for the next three to five years. And that's assuming nothing stops the transplant from going forward, and that I end up being one of the 60 to 70 percent who survive and fifty percent of those that actually have complete success.
Time to re-learn the meaning of "One Day At A Time" all over again.
Labels: Mark Shannon
posted by Mike McCarville @ 10:47 AM
<< Home