Cancer decisions get to be made based on each person's unique situation.
BY Barbara Tako
PUBLISHED April 22, 2018
Barbara Tako is a breast cancer survivor (2010), melanoma survivor (2014) and author of Cancer Survivorship Coping Tools–We'll Get You Through This. She is a cancer coping advocate, speaker and published writer for television, radio and other venues across the country. She lives, survives, and thrives in Minnesota with her husband, children and dog. See more at www.cancersurvivorshipcopingtools.com, or www.clutterclearingchoices.com.
Cancer in my 80s might look different to me than cancer in my 40s did. I don't know … yet. If I am physically and mentally healthy and able at that age, I might be more aggressive with cancer treatment decisions than I would have otherwise. I don't know. I do know that watching my mom, in her 80s, go through the cancer treatment decision process was difficult.
Who understands older patients? Who is their voice? Hopefully, they get to have their own voice heard. At 46, I wanted to fight my breast cancer with everything that was available. For my mom, at age 80 at first diagnosis, her choices were different. That was sometimes hard to support and it was my job to support her choices.
My mom chose to have only a lumpectomy. She decided against radiation and chemotherapy but she did take hormonal therapy. When the cancer reappeared in the breast three years later, she was fortunate it had not spread outside the breast. She bravely chose a double mastectomy without reconstruction. Again, she did not choose radiation or chemotherapy. Again, I accepted and tried to support her decisions.
Who understands older patients? Who is their voice? Hopefully, they get to have their own voice heard. At 46, I wanted to fight my breast cancer with everything that was available. For my mom, at age 80 at first diagnosis, her choices were different. That was sometimes hard to support and it was my job to support her choices.
My mom chose to have only a lumpectomy. She decided against radiation and chemotherapy but she did take hormonal therapy. When the cancer reappeared in the breast three years later, she was fortunate it had not spread outside the breast. She bravely chose a double mastectomy without reconstruction. Again, she did not choose radiation or chemotherapy. Again, I accepted and tried to support her decisions.
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