Cancer and End of Life

Questions and Answers

1. Is refusing cancer treatment a selfish act?

   - If a person refuses treatment for cancer, is it being selfish to the rest of the family? I have seen many people die from it even after they took treatment and while they were taking treatment they suffered terribly.
   1 Expert Answer, 9 Community Answers

2. How can I help my mother deal with the lumps in her breasts?

   - An able-minded mother is entitled to direct her own medical care –- even if an able-minded child disagrees with the decisions.
   1 Expert Answer

3. Should I continue my cancer treatment?

   - Should I continue my cancer treatment? Learn more at www.caring.com
   1 Expert Answer

4. He won't consider hospice but wants transfusions. Help?

   - My sister's husband, Bob, has end-stage leukemia but is alert and oriented, and states he wants to live as long as possible. He has recurring visits to local hospital due to low platelets. Transfusions make him feel better. The hospital staff keeps trying to get him to go on hospice...
   1 Expert Answer

5. How can we keep Mom comfortable and relieve bone pain?

   - How can we help mom relieve her bone pain from cancer? My mother is in stage 4 breast cancer and it has now spread to her bones and liver. She is in a lot of pain and taking pain medication. What else can she do to help the bone pain she feels? Also, how long with the spread of the cancer to her liver can one expect...
   1 Expert Answer, 2 Community Answers

6. How do we decide when to stop chemotherapy that's not working?

   - When is it time to stop chemotherapy? My father doesn't want to stop chemo, even though it's not working, because he wants to keep fighting.
   1 Expert Answer, 5 Community Answers

7. How do you overcome denial of death?

   - How do you deal with death and denial? I have a cousin who is receiving hospice at my home. In November 2006 she was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer with metastasis. She has gone through chemo off and on since then and this past March the cancer was found in her bone marrow which was causing her to need frequent blood transfusions...
   1 Expert Answer, 4 Community Answers

8. Why would my husband not be given chemo threatment?

   - My husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August, 2008. He took three rounds of Zeloda and Gemzar. He had no medicine until December, when he was told they could not help anymore because the chemo did not work. He got into MD Anderson, Houston, Texas and the doctor there told him he would give...

9. How long can you live with metastatic lung cancer?

   - My husband has had small cell lung cancer for over a year. It has now move to his bones. How long can he survive?

Topics, Blog Posts, Articles, Checklists, and To-Do Lists

1. R. I. P. Leroy Sievers, Who Taught Us to Talk About Cancer

   Blog Post - The legacy of NPR blogger Leroy Sievers, who died this week, is that he taught us to talk about cancer openly and honestly.