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March 11, 2006
Me and My Mortality
I received a call yesterday. My father has opted for surgery foregoing the previously planned radiation treatment. With the radiation option, should there arise any other trouble in the region, surgery would not be an option, and the more he thought about this the more it bothered him.
The description of the surgical procedure was clinical enough, but still made me a bit nauseous. Abdominal incisions... I underwent laparoscopic surgery once; felt like I had been gut shot when I awoke (or how I imagine being gut shot would feel). I don't envy him this procedure for neither the cancer nor the recovery period.
The doctor further told him that, if it is discovered that the cancer has spread, they will be doing whatever "needs to be done" while they have him on the table. This means removing whatever is cancerous.
Then there was further revelation of the growing list of ancestors I have who died of cancers or where in the early stages this or that cancer when they died.
All very uplifting stuff.
The phone call came in the middle of a work crisis that lasted the day so I didn't really have time to reflect on any of this until I was home. When I finally did, I shut down; slept for 14 hours. It helped some.
Times like this I feel so mortal that 108 years seems an impossible achievement... almost.
Posted by Tacitus at March 11, 2006 08:39 PM