Chapter 4 - Treatment

29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Home

After the initial shock of diagnosis of Max’s leukaemia we were introduced to treatment. Successful treatment is the Holy Grail. It is that distant treasure, that salvation that every parent seeks at the end of the rainbow. It gives you hope but you soon realise that the paths to successful treatment are littered with unforeseen pitfalls. This is no easy journey.

The journey is helped by the arcane magic of the doctors and we soon became familiar with treatment protocols and the jargon of children's cancer. You soon realise that you have a lot to learn, and you learn very quickly but these are unlike any lessons you have ever had before.

The disease and its treatment were explained to us and we were grateful for the explanations. The basics were fine but soon you enter a dancing mirror world where events cease to make any sense and your previous experiences count for very little. This follows hard on the fact that nothing makes a lot of sense when your child has just been diagnosed with cancer.

The explanations were usually given by the consultant.

“Allan, I must let you know that some of the drugs we are giving Max might induce an unrelated cancer.”

For God's sake, where is the sense there? My child has cancer and yet they intend to treat him with a drug which might give him a second cancer. Ah, but this is not the real world. This is the world of uncommon sense.

“Where is the logic there then?”

“These drugs may well save Max from his current illness. That is our prime and only aim. We cannot anticipate the cancers he has not yet got. If we do not treat him then he will die. If we treat him he may survive. He may get another cancer but the chances are small. We must treat his current cancer and treat for survival.”

When put in such stark terms you tend to see the point. There is no other option. This is not like buying a stereo system.

“Oh well, sod you, I'll go to the discount Hospital which offers better options.”

This was not the case because we were at a hospital which offered the best treatment available. That was it, there was no other option. End of story. I believed it then, and I believe it now. We had the best care we could have had. They did everything within their power. We all lost. Life’s like that sometimes.

29

Copyright © 2001

Click here if you would like details of how to buy a copy of the book