Hobson's Choice?

A dear friend is cancer stricken. He was diagnosed a few weeks ago and the trauma for him is unimaginable. In order not to have to repeat himself this IT savvy buddy has opted to blog regularly about his condition.

As with Randolph’s Rokiah he was introduced to B17 and has undergone a full 19 days of the protocol. His first blood test results came out yesterday; he believes that the last two and a half weeks could have been futile. His cancer markers have gone up and he is seemingly between a rock and a very hard place. Time is of the essence and no one really knows how much sand is in the hour glass.

He went to see an oncologist today and chemotherapy is the obvious option since the tumor at the pancreas is too dangerous for surgical removal at this juncture.

So how does one advise him? We don’t actually. We can only give our opinion and all major decisions rightly belong to him. In the final analysis, they are all merely opinions…regardless that the opinions come from the heart or from years of medical practice. If this scourge were fully understood, it would not exist anyway. We would not be faced with so few options.

This dear friend is a perfectly rational man and sometimes I feel he is too rational. He would have considered all options available and weighed time against measures. No one can imagine what goes on in his mind and the perceptions that result. He has perceived that his decision slightly more than 19 days ago has not achieved his desired results, and has decided to try the other two options available i.e. chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Hopefully a radiation bombarded tumor will be reduced to make surgery a viable option. My fear is that his decision will shut the door to a more effective alternative treatment though I have no right to agree or disagree; I cannot fault him for his perceptions.

It is all so easy for me to be typing all this while he remains in his solitary world wrecked with uncertainty and urgency. Yet I have seen too much to want to leave him to himself and absolve myself of all moral responsibility. I have to offer him another perception.

The funny thing about perception is that it is personal-to-holder. I have always believed that justification drives all of us and how we perceive determines how we justify. My dear CK, allow me to show you another perspective.

and...NEVER GIVE UP!!!