when a person is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer do you wonder if maybe they should not seek out treatment?
I just wonder if the treatments actually spread the cancer alot quicker....Any thoughts?
Cancer - 10 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
It depends on what type of cancer what odds of extra time is added and what type of life is going to be added with treatment. Stage four is terminal. And I personally feel that if the quality of life is terrible for the added year etc rather not have it But it is a choice and a inside thing. If they are a fighter they might just need to fight til the end
2 :
A friend of our family who was like a second grandfather to me had stage 4 prostate cancer. He took care of his wife before she died, and they were raising their grandson. So he wouldn't take the chemo or radiation until Donnie(the grandson) graduated from high school. Well by that time he wasn't doing good and was getting worse and worse. He decided to go ahead with the chemo and by his second treatment he died at the age of 76(i think somewhere in there). At the end his stage 4 cancer was so bad that the chemo didn't help at all just made him more sick which in turn caused his death. He had been diagnosed with cancer 4 years prior to his death. Not to discourage you from treatment, but you wanted an honest answer so here it is.
3 :
It's up to the individual if they want to try for treatments or not. I know a woman who has or had gbm, which is ALWAYS stage 4. She went through chemo and whole brain radiation, as she had several of these tumors. She couldn't feed herself, speak or even walk. She was and still is in a wheelchair, but I saw her and her husband out to dinner a few weeks ago and she's feeding herself and even spoke to me. Her last mri showed only scar tissue where the tumors were. If you want to live, you should always go for treatments.
4 :
it depends on the type,I had stage 4 cll took chemo and now I,m good to go dont need to be retested for 6 mts.
5 :
That is totally a personal decision. As far as the results of the treatment, that varies widely by type of cancer, type of treatment, and over all health other wise. For anyone facing that decision, I suggest they have a consultation apt with their doctor to discuss the specifics of their case and the statistics of their prognosis with as well as without treatment. From there, you can only make the decision that is right for you and what you feel/want. The right decision for you may be wrong for someone else, and vice versa.
6 :
Like many medical decisions, that's better left to the patient and their doctor. My mother had little hope for survival with pancreatic cancer. She still insisted on treatment and lived and additional 18 months, during which she was able to pretty much take care of herself.
7 :
It depends on the individual cancer and the individual patient. Stage 4 doesn't necessarily mean imminent death. Yes, it's no longer considered curable; but it can often be managed by treatment, sometimes for years. I know someone who was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer over 7 years ago; the spread was to the bones and was widespread. She's had a lot of treatment, but her cancer is far less widespread than it was when secondary cancer was diagnosed
8 :
Stage 4 does not mean "terminal" in all cancers. Lance Armstrong had Stage 4 testicular cancer and beat it. It's not common, but it happens. New treatments are developed each year. Suppose you take the "I'm not going to get treatment," you die, and the next year they come out with a treatment that adds 5 years to most peoples' lives? Think it's improbable? Look up Herceptin. Treatment does not make cancer spread more quickly. That is an old wives' tale.
9 :
Depends on a lot of things of course - but if my choice was to live a year normally, or live a year and a half going through chemo and other torture, I would take the first option and go the alternative route.
10 :
Treatments won't cause a disease to spread more quickly, but the decision to seek treatment is a very personal decision. It depends on how advanced the cancer is, what benefit they may get from treatment, what the side effects of treatment would be, etc. For some people, the idea that they might get a few extra months to live is enough. They want the treatment. For others, the idea that those three months will be spent feeling fatigued and burdened by chemo/radiation/doctor visits isn't something they want. It's not up to us to decide what's best for another person.
Title : when a person is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer do you wonder if maybe they should not seek out treatment
Description : when a person is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer do you wonder if maybe they should not seek out treatment? I just wonder if the treatments a...