In this Sept. 5, 2013 file photo, chemotherapy is administered to a cancer patient via intravenous drip in Durham, N.C.
The first thing one learns on this front line is that there is a “standard of care” that involves pretty much the same drugs no matter where you go or whom you see if your tumor is classified as hormone positive . Treatment includes an assault on the endocrine system. You lose a lot of hair, you start to ache in your joints, you become forgetful, and you become vulnerable to every passing virus and bacterium.
Yes, when fighting for our lives, we do find every study and wacky cure out there and we do come to appointments armed with folders and links and supplements. Sometimes we’re more insistent than our providers would prefer. We are frantic and desperate to just not die.
In other areas of life, I have guesstimated quite successfully. I can estimate the cost of a shopping cart of groceries to within two dollars. I can make a large pot of soup and lay out exactly enough Tupperware and recycled containers to hold them for the freezer. I haven’t balanced my checking account in more than 40 years — I just make sure there is more going in than going out.