Becky, over at BCBecky blogged about The costs of cancer treatment. I read her post and then commented on it. And then, I started thinking (sorry, I do think sometimes).
In her blog post, Becky talked about the costs of treatment, but not just the financial ones. And the sustainability of keeping up with her current course of treatment. Of course she has advice from people who may not have had cancer. My thought would be talk to the people who have had cancer and had to make the same types of decisions and then make your own choice.
I really think that as those who have had cancer, we need to take our learned knowledge and help others who are facing the same decisions. After a cancer diagnosis, we have gone through so much as we made decisions, coped with the treatment, and are still here to talk about it. So why can't we help others?
In making our decisions, we had to educate ourselves and go through the decision making process. We learned the 'unsaid' portions of the decisions we made. For example, I do not know a single woman who has gone through breast cancer, with a mastectomy, and reconstruction (not me) who has not said 'I wish they had made sure I understood that part', 'I didn't realize that until after' or 'I don't think I knew it would take so long' and other statements.
Honestly I know there are many decisions I wish I had known more about my options before I chose. Some of the best advice I ever got was from my friends who had been through the same crap. Because they knew. The doctors couldn't tell me. The nurses couldn't tell me. I think they assumed I would just take their suggestions and be a lemming.
But only by talking to my friends with breast cancer, or whatever ailment I needed to make a decision for, did I learn 'the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth'. None of them had medical training or social workers or anything like that. But the difference was they had been through it themselves. If we could provide 'good advice' to others, that would be great.
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