The night before

Chemo starts tomorrow, I can't say that I have looked forward to this moment but it is a necessary component to achieving remission. I have such great support from my wife Judy and children Greta and Megan. They are so strong and full of spirit. They will not even let me get down and out for an minute. i hope I will not burden them.

The Port A Cath went well the second day out now and only feels like someone has punched be in the shoulder. I feel assured that it will be well utilized.

How do statistics contribute to predicting a patient’s prognosis?

In estimating a cancer patient’s prognosis, doctors consider the characteristics of the patient’s disease, the available treatment options, and any health problems the patient may have that could affect the course of the disease or its ability to be treated successfully.
The doctor bases the prognosis, in large part, on information researchers have collected over many years about hundreds or even thousands of people with the same type of cancer. When possible, doctors use statistics based on groups of people whose situations are most similar to that of the patient.
Several types of statistics may be used to estimate a cancer patient’s prognosis. The most commonly used statistics are listed below.

• Cancer-specific survival: This statistic calculates the percentage of patients with a specific type and stage of cancer who have survived—that is, not died from—their cancer during a certain period of time (1 year, 2 years, 5 years, etc.) after diagnosis. Cancer-specific survival is also called disease-specific survival. In most cases, cancer-specific survival is based on causes of death in medical records, which may not be accurate. To avoid this inaccuracy, another method used to estimate cancer-specific survival that does not rely on information about the cause of death is relative survival.
• Relative survival: This statistic compares the survival of patients diagnosed with cancer (for example, breast cancer) with the survival of people in the general population who are the same age, race, and sex and who have not been diagnosed with that cancer. It is the percentage of cancer patients who have survived for a certain period of time after diagnosisrelative to people without cancer.
• Overall survival: This statistic is the percentage of patients with a specific type and stage of cancer who are still alive—that is, have not died from any cause—during a certain period of time after diagnosis.
• Disease-free survival: This statistic is the percentage of patients who have no evidence of cancer during a certain period of time after treatment. Other similar terms are recurrence-free or progression-free survival.

Now putting this into real life terms. I am going to place myself into the best position to place this stuff into remission. This very harsh and expensive chemo is the only game plan in town. To me I have a 100% chance  of remission with this regimen or a 0% chance, no in between. God assures us that He is with us through our burdens and is willing to carry the load. I am trusting in the Word through all of this and will allow the battles to be fought by Him.

till tomorrow

Sincerely

Bo