Posted 5/21/2014 9:13 PM (GMT 0)
Our pastor, age 50, was diagnosed with colorectal melanoma March 2013. He's been through a couple of surgeries, on Interferon for 10 months. He just found he is now Stage 4, with a lung met. From what I can find online, average survival from this point is about 11 months. We've been praying for him, and he's in good spirits, but this is really a dire situation.
We have such a spectrum of disease progression with prostate cancer that our survival estimates are almost random; not worth thinking about. Most are far longer than a year or two, though that does sometimes happen too.
I guess my thoughts are swirling around the concerns often voiced here, respecting the significance to each one posting, ranging from minor physical concerns to major treatment options and what to do when they've all been tried. It's just usually not the very immediate existential threat of some other cancers. (I guess that's one reason I'm more engaged with our G9 brothers, since we tend to be closer to that level of concern.)
After all of that, when we get so upset about someone saying prostate cancer is the "good" kind, maybe it's helpful to consider that this is their context. Yes, PCa is cruel, and the impact on us is pretty unpleasant, but I'm sure my pastor (and my brother in law with stage 4 pancreatic cancer) would rather happily trade with most of us if it was possible.
Feeling sad this afternoon....