Thursday, 8 February 2024

Pistis ponders other cancer experiences (weekending February 10th 2024)

 

‽istis ponders other cancer experiences (weekending February 10th 2024)

This week ‽istis has been pondering almost anyone else’s[i] experience of cancer…

‽ Those whose progress is not purportedly available via a QR code, real or spoof?[ii]

‽ Those for whom the Prime Minister has not directly expressed shock and sadness.

‽ Those c. 3m people living with cancer in the UK.[iii]

‽ Those for whom a local newspaper (Cambridgeshire Live)[iv] has not set up a facility for readers to post personal messages of support which can be added to an interactive map of the world so that others can see and read them. 1,406 messages left at the time of accessing the website: UK - 817, Sweden - 3, Spain - 5, Israel - 2, Georgia - 1, Australia - 47, India - 5, Venezuela - 1, Kyrgyzstan - 1, Florida - 27, Saskatchewan - 104, S.Africa - 25.

‽ Those for whom the Archbishop of York is not specifically praying.[v]

‽ Those being supported by the 1,683 charities registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales with the word ‘cancer’ in their title (c.1% of all charities).

‽ Those people living with cancer in Mongolia, the country with the highest rate of cancer deaths for men and women combined at 175.9 people per 100,000; or those women in Zimbabwe, the country with the highest rate of death from cancer in women at 142.9 women per 100,000. [vi]

‽  Those in the UK living with breast cancer and prostate cancer (the most common forms for women and men respectively).[vii]

‽ Those trying to cope today, right now with some of the side effects of treatment: anaemia, appetite loss, bleeding and bruising (Thrombocytopenia), constipation, delirium, diarrhoea, oedema (Swelling), fatigue, fertility issues, flu-Like Symptoms, hair loss (Alopecia), infection and neutropenia, lymphedema, memory or concentration problems, mouth and throat problems, nausea and vomiting, nerve problems (Peripheral Neuropathy, organ-related inflammation and immunotherapy, pain, sexual health issues, skin and nail changes, sleep problems, urinary and bladder problems…  and that’s the list of potential side effects of the treatments![viii]

‽ Those in the UK among the 25.8% of people who were not told that they had cancer or if cancer was definitively excluded, within four weeks (28-days) of an urgent referral under the 28-day ‘Faster Diagnosis’ standards. Those in the UK among the 8.9% of people whose first or subsequent treatment did not begin within 31 days of receiving a decision to treat/earliest clinically under the ‘31-day Combined’ standards. Those in the UK among the 35.1% of people in the UK who did not begin their first definitive treatment of cancer within 62 days of an urgent suspected cancer referral, breast symptomatic referral, urgent screening referral or a consultant upgrade under the ‘62-day Combined’ standards.[ix]

‽ Those people whose diagnoses will be delayed because of conflict, war and the destruction of hospitals and clinics; those people whose cancer treatment has been disrupted and prevented by conflict, war and the destruction of hospitals and clinics; those who will die prematurely from cancer as a result of conflict and war, if the conflict and war does not kill them even more prematurely…

‽ Those people who are terrified, or resigned, or indeed battling, or regretful, or somehow content, or hoping against hope, or fearing that there is nothing more, or believing that there is more and better, or prepared, or unprepared, or still in shock, or who do not go gentle or who indeed go gentle...

‽ Those people who work and volunteer in the more than 200 hospices supported by Hospice UK across the UK who care for more than 300,000 dying people and their families every year[x] - and who work or volunteer in the nearly 9,000 ‘Hospices & Palliative Care Centers’ businesses in the US.[xi]

‽ Those friends and relatives who care.

‽ Those friends and relatives of the c.460 people in the UK who, very sadly, will die today of cancer.[xii]

‽ Those doctors, nurses, specialist health and allied professionals, researchers, public health professionals, drug manufacturers, awareness raisers and many, many others who have played a part over the last decade in helping to decrease mortality rates for all cancers combined by a tenth (10%) in the UK (rates in females have decreased by 9%, rates in males have decreased by 12%, 2017-2019 statistics).[xiii]

‽ Those who, unlike some, may just not get the best treatment available, for one reason or another…

And as ‽istis finishes typing this, strangely, the song ‘So to Speak’[xiv] sung by Sting and Becky Unthanks from Sting’s musical ‘The Ship’ plays…  

Given the remarkable and genuine serendipity (c.1,600 songs on 'shuffle' mode), a full citing of the somewhat no-holds barred lyrics seems appropriate:

Father O’Brian

They're seriously saying it's prolonging me life,

If I'll only submit to the surgical knife?

But what are the odds on a month or a week?

When the betting shop's closing its doors, so to speak.

When you're tied to a pump and a breathing machine,

With their X-rays and probes and their monitor screens,

And they'll wake ye up hungry, saying "How do ye feel?"

And then you're stuffed full of pills and a barium meal.

 

Prolonging me life? Now that's some kind of joke!

I'd be laughing me head off and I'd probably choke.

The spirit's still willing but the rest of me's weak,

Now the bets are all off and the prospects look bleak,

When you're laid like a piece of old meat on the slab,

And they'll cut and they'll slice, and they'll poke and they'll jab,

And they'll grill ye and burn ye, and they'll wish ye good health,

With their radium, chemo and God knows what else?

 

Well ye can't fault the science, though the logic is weak,

Is it really an eternal life we should seek?

That ship has sailed,

That ship has sailed,

That ship has already sailed...So to speak.

 

Our mission is more than a struggle for breath,

For a few extra rounds in a fight to the death.

When our mission is love, and compassion and grace,

It's not a test of endurance, or a marathon race.

For love is the sabre, and love is the shield,

Love is the only true power we wield,

An eternal love is all ye should seek,

That ship will be ready to sail...So to speak.

 

Meg

I hear what you're saying 'cos I've heard it before,

But I'm afraid if I let what is past through my door,

How long would he stay, a month or a week,

When that ship has already sailed, so to speak?

Should I settle for something that's safe on this Earth?

What would it profit me, what is it worth?

If I lose something precious, completely unique?

 

Meg & O'Brian

When it's only eternity's love we should seek,

 

Meg & O'Brian

For when that ship sails, and the course has been set,

And the wind's in the offing and the sails have been let,

And the hatches are full, and the hull doesn't leak,

And the ship is all ready to sail...So to speak.

 

O'Brian

I'm tired and fading and losing the light,

And I've no way to tell if it's day or it's night,

 

Meg

Follow your heart, it's the harbour ye seek.

 

O'Brian

And this ship is ready to sail,

This ship is ready to sail,

 

Meg & O'Brian

This ship is ready to sail...So to speak.

 

Much more to ponder…

©‽istis

NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog entries to be found on X/Twitter with replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders.

X/Twitter ‘follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...  



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