The debate is still raging on about the radiation therapy. There doesn't seem to be a good side to either choice... it's all about trusting the statistics at this point. I mean really, when it comes right down to it, REALLY they have no idea what causes cancer. They can't tell you what throws that switch. They just don't.
So it's a numbers game. They know a few things that are 99.999% sure of inducing some kind of cancer. Like radiation or benzene. They know variables that increase the risk. Like the Philadelphia gene. But that's it. So how can anyone say what cures cancer? (Yeah all of you voodoo doctors, hippies, and naturopaths sit down. It's just as random either way you treat it.)
Now it's a matter of figuring out what risk is acceptable and what risk is pushing the limit. Not about the quantity of life but the quality. Radiation therapy might reduce the risk of leukemia relapse over the next five years. Studies have shown that. But what about the brain tumors that may start popping up in twenty years as a result? Risk now that his thirty-year-old body has the strength to bounce back on its own, or risk that his fifty-year-old body won't be able to recover from minor brain tumor surgery?
There's no real answer. There's only the choice he makes. There's only the hope he has, and the fear he has to live with for years to come. The waiting to see what happens after the choice is made. Maybe holding his breath at every doctor's visit. Worrying about every headache. Wondering if he's just tired or the leukemia is eating away at him from inside his bones.
Yeah... pedantic. Round and round in circles. There's no answer. I could go on for pages and pages like this. That's how it is. Round and round.
Fortunately he's discovered my DVD set of old Loony Toons ... classic Buggs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, etc. Had him laughing out loud :-)
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