Don’t let strangers cut you open!
Ask a doctor a question and he will sell you a pill. Ask a surgeon a question and he will cut the problem out for you.
A basket-weaver might make you a hamper. Ask the basketweaver.
Dad’s cancer has spread – hundreds of pockets of little baby cancers are scattered through his lungs.
The surgeon wouldn’t have performed an Ivor Lewis had he known the cancer was already there.
The process so far:
- Dad can’t swallow his food so goes to a doctor.
- An endoscopic sample comes up positive for malignant cancer.
- Dad does 9 weeks of Chemo.
- Dad has the tumor removed (along with half of his oesophagus, a rib and some stomach).
- A leak appears in the oesophageal join, causing infection into the lung cavity.
- 10 weeks in hospital to clear the infection rules out post-operative Chemo.
- 2 weeks at home as an invalid.
- A mild cough and another visit to hospital reveals that the cancer has appeared all over his lungs.
It’s simple. Don’t let anyone cut you open – particularly if it’s something as badly researched as oesophageal cancer. In cases like this – you are a total experiment. And you are treated like a “client”. Let’s not kid ourselves. Australia is heading towards an American health system.
We’re waiting for the oncologist to give us a report . . .
