Warning: heavy duty topic -imagine you had a year left to live..

[skategeezer]

You are feeling some pains...you go to the doctor. They run some tests. Two weeks later they tell you "it's cancer and you need to undergo chemo."

The chances of you surviving are less than 15% and basically, if the chemo doesn't work, you have about 1 year left.

What do you do?

Do you take the chemo?

Do you blow your savings on worldwide skate trip, knowing that you will eventually hit severe pain and this might affect your ability to skate?

[Mister Surly]

Originally Posted by skategeezer

You are feeling some pains...you go to the doctor. They run some tests. Two weeks later they tell you "it's cancer and you need to undergo chemo."

The chances of you surviving are less than 15% and basically, if the chemo doesn't work, you have about 1 year left.

What do you do?

Do you take the chemo?

Do you blow your savings on worldwide skate trip, knowing that you will eventually hit severe pain and this might affect your ability to skate?

i make a quick list of things to do, places to see with my wife and kids. skate as much as i can, and learn to surf at least one wave.

[atxjimatx]

I would take the Chemo (owe it to my loved ones to try and make that 15%)
Skate as much as possible
try and see if my work would let me go on 1/2 time or something
go learn to surf with Surly
apologize to some people, tell others what i truly think of them
No big trip, not sure my current savings would get me more than about 1/2 hour from here
Make sure all my insurance crap is in order so my wife will be able to finish up college without having to work.

[Slim]

Both of my parents got that talk from their doctors. They were given much greater chances of survival than the 15%, they went through the suffering of chemo, and still died in less than a year. My mom was 49 and my dad was 58. Neither ever smoked or drank or anything. My mother never even had a cavity or a speeding ticket. They lived clean, boring lives, and died young.

No way in hell will I take the chemo. What would I do with my last year? Move into a little place on a warm, sunny beach and surf everyday. I'd have someone help me paddle out there as I began to get weak. I'd keep plenty of morphine on hand, and ride off into the sunset.

[Justin Metcalf]

I'd take the chemo...18 years of life isn't anywhere near enough to just give up. If it works then awesome. If not, I'll know that I gave it my best shot and didn't give up on my friends and family. When you think about it, how much are you really going to be able to enjoy of your last year if you know that every day you go to sleep you're down one more day of your remaining 365? I wouldn't be able to fully enjoy anything I did and I'd be so stressed and agitated with the thought that I had to make the most of it I just don't think it would be worth it. Besides, half the joy of doing things is being able to look back and remember all the good and bad times you had.

Not to mention as you got closer and closer to D-day you'd get weaker and have more pain...so you wouldn't even be able to enjoy all 365 days of your last year. I'd definately take the chemo.


Haha however...if I had no choice...
I'd go to Italy, France, Brazil, Spain and Ireland
Then I'd go sky diving, buy and drive a Saleen S7, and learn to surf
I'd go and skate in Sweden, Germany, San Francisco, and Hawaii
And finally...I'd get a small italian villa right on the water and chill out with all my loved ones

[brainfartalerts]

Depends solely on the Quality Of Life estimate.
Some 15% survival rates eat you up faster than others so if it is a chew-me-up-and-spit-me-out kind, screw it. Try to put affairs in order as best as possible. Set a date or QOL level where you decide that affairs are about as orderly as they'll ever be then do what you can to say goodbye to who and what you care for in a way that doesn't mean you have to apologize (or maybe in a way that will?) if you are one of the lucky 1 in 7. Throw a helluva party shortly before or after your demise.

If you are fortunate enough to have one of the many forms of cancer that has a development period relatively free of up front QOL issues followed by a rapid decline, take a swag at the best mix for a solution that affords an improvement in your condition - may involve Chemo, prayer, tofu, whatever - in conjunction with putting your affairs in order and satisfying some manageable long standing desires.

While QOL issues may not be horrendous in the latter example, you simply might not have it in you to start rock climbing, flying a plane, kiteboarding, SCUBA diving, motorcycle racing, surfing, etc... Rather than be frustrated, develop a list of alternative pursuits that have a higher degree of possibility given your condition.

Slims idea of paddling out happens to be my fave given my love for the water and a family history of heart issues. The most likely cause of death in our family history has always been sudden heart failure so many of us have adopted the latter course of action because doctors don't tell us we'll be dead in a year. They tell us it could be tomorrow (I'm in my 40's) or when we're 90+.
Personally, I've decided to make a living involving daily exercise and manageable risk.
If a massive MI happens during a work-out, while indulging/teaching sports I really enjoy, during a rescue, it'll all be good. Hell, it could happen while typing thi

[dcphotos]

Read Lance Armstrong's "It's not about the bike" and fight like hell to beat it. The chemo would be rough, but I'd go for it.

[Crappysurfer2]

id drop out of school, call up labs, get me cloned and have them prepare a cryo tube for me.....
then id go speedboarding until i black out and wake up 250yrs in the future with like 500 clones of me

[MalakaiKingston]

fight it, chemo, anything...

[SpeedFiend]

i've seen family go through chemo.
i would probably try it.

i would honestly smoke lots of weed, eat a ton and try to keep my energy up.
too many people i've seen in this situation give up mentally and the body seems to follow.
maybe shoot some a la train rider videos.

[xrayvzn]

I choose quality of life over quantity of days on Earth.

If chemo would torture me and extend my life only a few months to a year versus medical palliation of pain and no definitive cancer treatment, (a scenario I see quite often in my medical practice), then I say abandon the chemo so I can live out my remaining days in peace by spending meaningful time with my loved ones, living out my fantasies and making amends with those I have hurt in the past.

Just my 3 cents

[SpeedFiend]

Seeing cancer firsthand changed me.