Quality of Life

I have been looking through the Cancerbackup leaflet about oesophageal cancer to see if I can make sense of what Mum is being offered in terms of treatment. Here's what it says about treatment:

"Cancer of the oesophagus can be treated using surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The choice of treatment will depend upon the exact type of oesophageal cancer, its stage, position and size; as well as your age and general health. The treatments can be used alone or in combination."

This in itself is very interesting, particularly as it's portrayed as a "choice of treatment". Thinking this through I know that the tumour is adenocarcinoma and also using the information in the booklet I've worked out that the tumour is probably 2B ("the cancer has grown into the muscle layer of the oesophageal wall" but has not spread to the lymph nodes). I should have really asked about this, but I am very aware that my need for information might result in Mum being blinded by science, so have held back a bit with the more technical questions. We also know that the position of the tumour means it is inoperable.

There's another interesting paragraph in the leaflet:

"If the cancer is at a more advanced stage, treatment may only be able to control it, leading to an improvement in symptoms and a better quality of life. Unfortunately, for some people the treatment will have little effect upon the cancer and they will get the side effects without many of the benefits."


I suppose the "quality of life" bit is the key. All of the clinicians have weighed up how Mum is, her current quality of life and what could be horrible side effects of the treatments on offer, and have made the decision that we wait. As I write this I'm still feeling uncomfortable with this. Even though Mum is happy with the decision at the moment, it's almost like she hasn't been given a choice.

At the same time that all this is mulling over in my head, I spoke to Mum on the phone today and she told me that she had sold her first hand-crafted card. She gets great pleasure out of paper crafting and has been making greetings cards again recently. Mum told me that one of her carers was looking through what she had made and had bought two cards. She was really made up about this. Who would have thought that after weeks lying in a hospital bed not wanting to do anything at all, she could possibly regain this quality of life? It might seem a small thing, but in theory the treatment might take things like this away.