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Posted by Deanna on 5/21/2008, 1:14 am, in reply to "Re: Hi Deanna.............................................................."
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Thank you very much for all that. I think I understand palliative care a little better. I've always thought of it as the end of life care, or comfort care. And while I know my mom is suffering from a disease that will only get worse over time, I didn't think that at this stage that we were at comfort or palliative care. I really did think, that the Dr's were giving us hope of controlling this by keeping it at bay. They even told us (6 months ago), that BC in the 4th stage is becoming more like a chronic illness, one where you have battles, you are treated, you persevere and you continue on. I guess I'm just not feeling that same vibe now, now I feel like they are giving up and saying, just go and live and feel good until the cancer is too far gone for us to do anything about it. I have been doing a lot of thinking about the Dr.'s perspective of providing mom with quality of life by allowing her this time to enjoy her symptom free time, and I wonder if this would be a good time for mom to consider alternative methods of treatment to help with the cancer. Do you know of any non-traditional medical treatments that patients benefit from. I've been recently introduced to Monovie, a fruit juice made from the acai berry full of antioxidants and also hemp oil as a treatment to help slow down cancer. I obviously have a lot more reading, researching to do, but I would be interested in hearing if you have heard of any of these products or others that might help. I just can't help but think there is a reason we are being told to "wait for the cancer to get worse". As for power of attorney over health decisions, my dad has that position if my mom is unable to make those decisions and I'm sure he would confer with me as he is not from the medical field and tends to look to me for advice or information. I will be sure to keep you posted on what happens with mom. We see the oncologist again June 6. I'll keep you posted.
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