After finding out that I have stage 4 esophageal cancer, one of the first things that I did was to get an idea of what the survival rate is.
Surprise. It’s about 15%. #winning
It’s easy to look at that number and get depressed. But, the reality is that, at this granularity of a statistic, that one can find some room for improvement if you position yourself for it.
For me, this is looking like:
- Relocating to Houston to go to MD Anderson, a hospital ranked as the #1 cancer center in the USA.
- Getting very involved with my care team by asking questions not hesitating to share side effects or issues.
- Staying in Houston until we “stabilize” and figure out the treatment plan that I can then transfer my routine treatment.
It’s not always easy to keep moving forward in the face of poor statistics. Especially when my doctor is writing clinical notes like this 😄 :
GOAL OF CARE: prolongation of life
Performance Status: 1
Social Support: excellent
Patient speaks English: yes
Interpreter used: no
Patient was here with his wife and daughter
But, we’ll continue to position for the best outcomes and then do the work.
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