All about Cancer

[hercules]

Nebbermind:

I guess it depends on the age of discovery. At 80, how much more it treatment prolong? Can tahan the intensity of the treatment or not?

For chemo, I heard there are three options:

1. 'Standard' - injection that runs through whole body. Max side effects. 'Standard offer' to subsidised patients.

2. Oral Med - lesser side effects (not sure subsidised patients 'entitled' to this treatment or not).

3. Injection - lease side effects as injection is 'part specific' (only private patients can opt for this as it's about $3000/injection and many injections are required over a period of time).

So, if one wants 'comfort', needs to pay; also meaning my friend has to decide whether 'Standard' treatment if she opts to appeal to downgrade to subsidised patient or to stay as a private to get Option 3 for her dad (I can't bring myself to tell her the fourth option is to give up treatment and concentrate to learn on pain management).

All in all, I still encourage all to get a private IP plan for self and ALL family members. Go save on others but to 'plan' for this expensive contingency to rid self of worries. Buy it if your health is still permissible (once women are over 40, usually it becomes more difficult to buy as a standard life coz most of the time, the fibroid issues start to set in and then have to face probable exclusion of reproductive organs etc. Even if this has to be excluded, it is still advisable to buy coz disease can appear anywhere).

[floppy]

Nebbermind:

I guess it depends on the age of discovery. At 80, how much more it treatment prolong? Can tahan the intensity of the treatment or not?

At 80, I would suggest to put off all treatment and enjoy the remainder of the patient's life. He / she is going to die, may as well enjoy the remaining bits.

[Jennifer]

If cancer strikes me now, I will opt for no treatment. Why burden others financially?

[starlight1968sg]

Jennifer:

If cancer strikes me now, I will opt for no treatment. Why burden others financially?

Jennifer
Depends on the stage/spread and age, if still relatively young and early stage, one should not deny any treatment

[lee_yl]

.

[Jennifer]

starlight1968sg:

Jennifer:

If cancer strikes me now, I will opt for no treatment. Why burden others financially?

Jennifer
Depends on the stage/spread and age, if still relatively young and early stage, one should not deny any treatment

Everyone sees life differently.

[lee_yl]

Star,

At 80 or 70, I probably won’t want to go through the painful treatment process too. At 60, when full recovery could offer another 10-20 years of life, to try or not to try? Knowing well that a large chunk of your retirement funds/savings and family wealth will be gone and your kids could be left with a heavy debt burden.

[lee_yl]

ammonite:

lee_yl:

[quote=\"starlight1968sg\"]what I can't understand or accept is subsidized patients often face \"ops theatres full\" while private patients can be accepted promptly in the same hospital.

both are patients except one pays much more.
so the only difference is $$ paid.

Earlier I shared about DH's colleague who passed away and the family was laden with a bill of $500K after whatever they could claim from insurance. Yes, the deceased was warded in a private hospital.

He was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer but was actually on the mend (recovered!) only when he suffered a secondary infection which turned fatal.

Just wondering aloud; if by spending $500K, you can potentially save your loved one from cancer stage 4, will you do it? Or will you rather save up the money as a legacy?

Very rare to recover from stage 4 and the treatment itself is suffering. In fact, i believe one does not \"recover\" from cancer, can only say it has gone into remission. It depends on the spread and location of the cancer, the age, the individual's will and the family finances. Some people prefer quality of life to length of life, others want that chance no matter how slim.[/quote]Yes, very rare, maybe 5 out of 100 patients?

Under the care of a (renowned) specialist in private practice who knows the patient's condition from head to toe, I would imagine that chances of recovery would be higher than being treated in a public hospital (wards B & C). Survival being the most basic instinct of living things, even if there's a very slim chance of recovery, people will still want to seize it.

[Nebbermind]

lee_yl:

Star,

At 80 or 70, I probably won't want to go through the painful treatment process too. At 60, when full recovery could offer another 10-20 years of life, to try or not to try? Knowing well that a large chunk of your retirement funds/savings and family wealth will be gone and your kids could be left with a heavy debt burden.

If at 60, after treatment you can still enjoy quality life, ie, healthy and without debt, then why not.
After all, if the $$$ belongs to you, you have all rights to do what you wish.

There's no guarantee that if you leave it to your spouse or children they won't waste it foolishly anyway.

[hercules]

Jennifer:

Everyone sees life differently.

How a parent sees life will have a great impact on how his/her children see life.

So ideally we must try to find a 'more balanced' way to see life by putting ourselves in the shoes of our spouse, children, and parents in such a way that in the event an incidence happens to anyone of them, how do we want them to 'ideally' decide; then from there, we may wanna decide along that way if the incidence hits us as a modelling for them.

This is one of the greatest responsibilities as a parent I feel, that to leave behind some 'intangible yardsticks' for the children to grab on through our decision making in time of adversity (when to fight, when to let go, when to reconcile, etc), esp when we are no longer around.

These 'intangible yardsticks' are far more valuable than any sum of money that a parent intends to leave behind for their children as they are strengths that can last for life.

Sharing my late mum's story with you. She got Stage 2 cervix cancer when she was in her 60s. That time she was helping to take care of my sibling's kids who were in their preschool years. She fought hard and 'recovered' from it and managed to live for more than 10 years before got hit by a new cancer in her colon in her late 70s.

Her colon cancer was at stage 4 upon diagnosis and had spread to her liver. She told me at her dead bed that she was ready to go as my sibling's kids are in their teenage years and doing well and she had accomplished most if not all of her life's missions. We agreed on having no treatment.

It was a blessing that she died in her sleep peacefully in the hospital, that I believe that she 'willed' herself to death to spare herself from further sufferings and her kids and grand kids from emotional pains / draining of financial resources / etc.

That is a mum and grandma who had left behind a great legacy for those who love her.