I found out yesterday that my younger Stepbrother has been diagnosed with Lung Cancer. Possibly the second worse place to get cancer. Second only to Pancreatic Cancer whose survival rate is generally 1 year give or take.
What makes this a close second is that it has already invaded his Lymphatic system which is like the Internet for the body and allows cancer cells to travel almost anywhere in the body they choose to go. Wherever they plant themselves, a new cancer grows.
Surviving Lung Cancer is still a pretty remarkable thing even today. Couple that with the Lymphatic Cancer and the future is bleak. If he really fights and does what the doctors tell him to do, they give him as much as 2 to 5 years which seems pretty vague to me. If he does nothing they seem to agree that 6 months to a year is about all he has. That sadly, seems much more defined.
This little rant of mine is clearly off topic for this site, but the nice thing about having a blog is that you can rant about any damn thing you want no matter how vile it may be.
Where this does come back around to the topic is his future level of comfort and care especially when he goes into the hospital for chemotherapy.
For most, chemotherapy is a cruel, debilitating and emotionally draining process to go through to say the least. My Stepbrother will be going through some very intense chemotherapy in the very near future. He will be nauseated worse than he's ever been in his life, he will be weak, his hair will fall out, he will have mood swings and the last thing he needs are delays and an uninviting atmosphere, but chances are that's what he'll be faced with.
As he sits there waiting to go have this horrendous procedure, he'll be greeted by running screaming, out of control little children. Our speaking to them won't do any good, because they don't speak English and naturally their parents couldn't care less about what their misbehaving little brats are doing or how they annoy the other patients.
Let's not forget the almost certain delays from the seemingly constant yet somehow unexpected heavy load of Oregon Health Plan patients that inevitably show up because the anchor baby spit up and the very young mommy doesn't understand that babies spit up now and then. It's part of their charm. Or there was another injury accident caused by an uninsured person of possibly Latino heritage that was seen running from the scene, or a knife fight or shooting or domestic dispute that got violent or a rape or attempted murder. And, somehow these people seem to get shoved to the head of the line. I watched it happen 2 nights in a row up at our own St. Vincent's Hospital.
My wish is that my Stepbrother gets the kind of first class health care in a prompt and courteous manner that his health care insurance dollars are paying for, but alas the words still ring in my head, "We're doing the best we can with the number of people we have to see."
Please get well Kenny and God's Speed -
What makes this a close second is that it has already invaded his Lymphatic system which is like the Internet for the body and allows cancer cells to travel almost anywhere in the body they choose to go. Wherever they plant themselves, a new cancer grows.
Surviving Lung Cancer is still a pretty remarkable thing even today. Couple that with the Lymphatic Cancer and the future is bleak. If he really fights and does what the doctors tell him to do, they give him as much as 2 to 5 years which seems pretty vague to me. If he does nothing they seem to agree that 6 months to a year is about all he has. That sadly, seems much more defined.
This little rant of mine is clearly off topic for this site, but the nice thing about having a blog is that you can rant about any damn thing you want no matter how vile it may be.
Where this does come back around to the topic is his future level of comfort and care especially when he goes into the hospital for chemotherapy.
For most, chemotherapy is a cruel, debilitating and emotionally draining process to go through to say the least. My Stepbrother will be going through some very intense chemotherapy in the very near future. He will be nauseated worse than he's ever been in his life, he will be weak, his hair will fall out, he will have mood swings and the last thing he needs are delays and an uninviting atmosphere, but chances are that's what he'll be faced with.
As he sits there waiting to go have this horrendous procedure, he'll be greeted by running screaming, out of control little children. Our speaking to them won't do any good, because they don't speak English and naturally their parents couldn't care less about what their misbehaving little brats are doing or how they annoy the other patients.
Let's not forget the almost certain delays from the seemingly constant yet somehow unexpected heavy load of Oregon Health Plan patients that inevitably show up because the anchor baby spit up and the very young mommy doesn't understand that babies spit up now and then. It's part of their charm. Or there was another injury accident caused by an uninsured person of possibly Latino heritage that was seen running from the scene, or a knife fight or shooting or domestic dispute that got violent or a rape or attempted murder. And, somehow these people seem to get shoved to the head of the line. I watched it happen 2 nights in a row up at our own St. Vincent's Hospital.
My wish is that my Stepbrother gets the kind of first class health care in a prompt and courteous manner that his health care insurance dollars are paying for, but alas the words still ring in my head, "We're doing the best we can with the number of people we have to see."
Please get well Kenny and God's Speed -
