Numbers in the guessing game.

It was an erroneous prognosis, noted the good doctor in his medical journal. The patient was diagnosed with breast cancer Stage One. The recommended treatment backed by statistics and years of research was lumpectomy (removal of lump) followed by radiotherapy. He had recommended a mastectomy (removal of breast) followed by radiotherapy, just to be on the safe side. The doctor was confident about this case. Yet the patient died proving, once again that it is impossible to make an accurate prognosis. Confidence and Experience had nothing to do with it.

We are numbers in the guessing game. Who gets to live to a ripe old age? Who doesn't? Who made those decisions? What is fair? What isn't?

"Can Will Power make a difference? I have a cousin who survived nasal cancer without going for the full treatment (chemotherapy) and was reported to have died of something else. He was pretty strong willed." I asked my GP.

"Did you know that nasal cancer and prostate cancer are the best cancer to have? They react well to chemotherapy and are very slow to spread. There were cases of patients who lived for twenty years after the treatment. It was proven statistically."

Yup! Statistics and research also indicate that lung and liver cancer are the worst of the lot.

I don't know if I'll live to a ripe old age. Statistics and research? What do they know about things like that? Yet, I have today. And I have tomorrow. And I should do whatever pleases me today and worry about tomorrow when I get there.