Saturday 26 April 2008

HOCUS POCUS

Here’s a conundrum. How come that as of 15/04/2008 the Consumer Price Index remained unchanged at 2.5% despite prices spiralling out of control? That’s the type of sleight of hand hocus pocus that only an economist can produce! Our assets are diminishing by the minute, our money isn’t safe in the bank, food has become a luxury item but hey, the dodgy CPI has remained the same. Goodie, goodie.

Back to the real world and another conundrum. OG has a decision to make following our meeting with the oncologist on Friday. We were told that we are now in the realm of the unknown. What we do know is that of the 6 lymph nodes removed, 2 were cancerous.

There is a possibility that these two lymph nodes in the area of the tumour were the only nodes affected and that chemo is unnecessary. However, it is also possible that there are other cancerous nodes and chemo could prove to be beneficial. He said that if cancer is still present and OG decided not to have chemo he may feel that he hadn’t given it his best shot.

There has been a study to compare success rates of groups of patients that had chemo against others than had decided not to. Unfortunately, results of this study are not yet available. However, his opinion is that although the benefits of chemo are very uncertain and it isn’t an exact science if OG decided to have the chemo then the sooner it started the better because it would be ineffective if left for more than 3 months after the operation.

So, the conundrum is should OG put himself through this new ordeal so soon after the “major, major operation and major, major reconstruction” (the oncologists words) or take his chances that chemo is not a guarantee and concentrate on building himself up again.

14 comments:

Maggie May said...

If it was me I would go for it as there is such a small slot of only 3 months!
Sorry to hear about the lymph glands. I was only 2 out of the 5. My sister in law had lots of glands affected after a mastectomy 10 yrs ago. She had chemo & radiotherapy. She also was on drugs for 5 yrs.
Son in law is not out of the woods as latest scenario is that it is most certainly caused by malignant melanoma 10 yrs ago.
Bloody cancer!

The award means <3 Its supposed to look like a heart on its side! It means I love your blog!

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

Thanks for the explanation of the award. Once you explained it it was pretty obvious. I'm such a dumbo.

Yes,bloody cancer!

DogLover said...

Decisions, decisions. What a difficult one to have to make. Whatever his decision, knowing OG, I'm sure it'll be the right one.

doglover

Anonymous said...

Damn if you do and damn if you don't, that is the question. Only OG can make that decision for himself. If it were me, I'd go the chemo route. I wish OG would eat like me and he'd have the extra fat stored for his body to feed on while he's undergoing the chemo. Maybe we could get a fat transplant done.

Carolyn said...

Sorry you're struggling with such a difficult decision. Thinking of you and sending best wishes and support your way.

(Oh, and thanks for Maggie for the <3 explanation. I didn't understand it either, but it's so obvious now that I know!)

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

You have more faith in OGs decision making skills that I do DogLover!

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

I wish OG would eat like the pair of us Flagmaker! We sure do enjoy our food don't we and you know what a picky eater he has always been.

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

This is probably one of the most difficult decisions we have had to make. (I used the Royal we - of course it is actually not my decision). I'm glad I wasn't the only one puzzled by the award. It's so simple when you think about it isn't it?

aims said...

Perhaps waiting 2 months and getting his strength up and then going for it?

What a tough decision.

Gives the doc's an excuse in the long run doesn't it? Leaving the responsibility of the decision up to you.

Jean Genie(us) said...

What a bummer decision to be made but "no one said it would be easy" - there's a song in there somewhere, and the singer went through much the same decisions and look at her now.

Next question is: Who's the fit one in the car????

Yep I'm back - lunch and thrash it all over?????

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

aims I get the feeling that you don't like doctors much and I would normally agree with you but I cannot praise the staff at Addenbrookes enough. They not so "up themselves" as most doctors and have given us good information and left us to make the decision. OG is still undecided but I think he will probably go for the chemo once he feels better.

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

So jean genie(us) you escaped NY, but did NY escape you? We are booked into Sophie's new Greek restaurant for 1230 on Saturday where cocktails will be waiting at the door for us. BUT no getting rat-assed and trying to evict Flower Queen from her thrown now y'hear?

Penny Pincher said...

Belatedly catching up on your news - I see your man has opted for the chemo -probably wise. Good luck - hope it works out well - for you both.

Re the CPI and inflation - I had a whinge on this point on:
http://sidmouth-town.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-is-true-rate-of-inflation.html

All best wishes ...

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

Hi ladythinker, I did actually read your blog. It's nothing short of criminal is it?