The husband of a friend of mine has lung cancer. The only good thing I can say at this point is that it was supposedly small, and hopefully caught in plenty of time. (The bad and the ugly views of cancer are legion.) He was a smoker, but had quit a few years ago. He is also a Viet Nam vet, so I don't think anyone could definitively answer where his cancer came from. His wife has been sending weekly updates on his condition. The results are startling, and scary.
When we hear about someone undergoing chemo, and radiation, we probably shrug and think "Okay, he'll lose his hair, and he'll be nauseous, and then all will be well." Hardly the case in this instance. The waves of nausea, the chills, the weakness, the blood transfusions (make that numerous transfusions!), the endless ups and downs of his cell counts (white, red, etc.etc.), and other areas of concern are unbelievable.
This has all been going on for weeks, probably more than a month or two if I were to really think about it, not just days. And just when you hear that the radiation is over, and you assume all involved parties can breath a sigh of relief, they've been told that his type of cancer has a way of spreading to the brain, so he needs more prophylactic treatment to keep that from happening.
This couple is lucky in that they have very, very good health insurance, through their employer, and the US government (since he was a Purple heart veteran.) But how does one cope, when their own health insurance may have limitations on what they'll pay? Lose their home? Lose their savings? Isn't it enough they're losing their minds with one crisis after another, without having to worry about who's paying for all this?
We're all hoping this has a happy outcome, although it's sure taking a long time to get there. And let's also hope this is as close as the majority of us come to such devastating circumstances. They are really bad and get even more ugly!
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