Tuesday, June 08, 2010

The Fragility Of Life.

A neighbour died of cancer last Monday, she was only in her early 40s. I didn't know her well but from what conversations I had with her she seemed very friendly. The most terrifying thing is that she was diagnosed less than 4 weeks before she died.

5 comments:

banned said...

My 90 year old mum died within 6 weeks of being diagnosed with leukemia, in the local hospital where she had gone for a blood transfusion; the whole family agreed that it was a blessing since lingering on would just have meant pain and degradation.

Out of interest, did your 40 year old neighbour smoke, drink or do any of the other bad things?

Ross said...

Banned, she didn't smoke but I don't know enough to say whether she drank.

CherryPie said...

Cancer can creep up on you like that...

To some extent it is a hidden disease.

Daphne said...

Late to the dance, but I'll tap along anyway.

A friend of mine was diagnosed with fallopian tube cancer eight days ago. It was a fluke that the doctor caught it, he was busy removing a an ovarian cyst when he spotted the disease.

She had a hysterectomy two days ago and will start eight weeks of chemo next Friday. The prognosis is excellent because they caught it at Stage One, a rarity, I'm told, because it's usually found at Stage Four. Apparently fallopian tube cancer is a stealthy bastard.

She's only 38, slim, otherwise healthy, a content married woman and mother of three young children. The doctor told her she should would have been dead within 12 months without the surgery for a troublesome cyst.

Life can be full of scary events.

Ross said...

Daphne- I hope your friend is okay.

I suppose it must have been one of those cancers that gets to an advanced stage before being noticed that killed my neighbour.