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Jul. 25th, 2005 07:58 amI talked to my Dad for a while, telling him I looked up to him. He's dying of cancer. He's not hanging on to a thread of life from a hospital bed, he's working a job, digging in the garden, playing with Tivo, and living life. It's just that he recognizes that he's gone past his expected life expectancy, and is balancing options for continued life in a rational way. It's a gift - he knows about when he's going to die, and only has to choose the route. He's done some forms of chemotherapy, and found it's not as bad as people make it out to be (he even kept his hair). He's now looking at more aggressive types of chemo as the new scans show that growths are returning and growing. What is neat is that he is weighing the different treatments in terms of costs and benefits - this procedure is this kind of annoying, vs. extends life this much. Heavily considered is the quality of life. So, the treatment that would lead to the side-effect of full-body acne for months, only to extend life an estimated 6 mos to a year is out. Wearing a pump that continues to fill your body with radioactive goo after you leave the doctor's office, connected to a port that is placed in your body not unlike the Harkonen slaves ("everybody gets a heart plug,") will have to have a very serious benefit to outweigh the cost.
It's cool. He's not whining; despite cancer in many places he is in good spirits. He's completely realistic about dying, and is basically choosing when it will be. So I told him that his attitude is contagious - that with him just dealing with impending death the way I balance my budget made it easier to think about. I also said the way he deals with it is inspiring. Death is weird, but making decisions about it in a rational and calm fashion the way you do anything else brings it under control. Talking to him as he goes through this makes death more real, something you can see. It also makes it far less scary - it's just another thing you deal with during your life. There is no reason to make it a miserable subject or be full of dread. You do what you can, and eventually factors beyond your control dictate. He's lucky enough to know about when it will be.
It's cool. He's not whining; despite cancer in many places he is in good spirits. He's completely realistic about dying, and is basically choosing when it will be. So I told him that his attitude is contagious - that with him just dealing with impending death the way I balance my budget made it easier to think about. I also said the way he deals with it is inspiring. Death is weird, but making decisions about it in a rational and calm fashion the way you do anything else brings it under control. Talking to him as he goes through this makes death more real, something you can see. It also makes it far less scary - it's just another thing you deal with during your life. There is no reason to make it a miserable subject or be full of dread. You do what you can, and eventually factors beyond your control dictate. He's lucky enough to know about when it will be.
