No Coming Back

There was well-known person (celebrity) in the news recently, who made a very personal and difficult healthcare decision. This woman chose to have an elective breast removal (and reconstruction) because she carries (in her family), a genetic pre-disposition for Breast Cancer (reported to be as high as an 85% probability). Persons facing this dilemma, certainly have a daunting “possible future” of Cancer. I am not diminishing their experience by asking the big question of probability: If I might risk dying from a disease, that I know I have a greater than 75% chance of acquiring...........would I choose to remove the organ now?

Wow!    

No Coming Back

If my mom and dad had a brain cancer

Should I remove my brain?,

If I remove my nervous system

Could I eliminate my pain,

If my left leg has cancer

Should I lop off the right?

If I remove both of my kidneys

I won't have to pee at night.

Removing healthy organs

Seems drastic to me,

It was hard enough to grow them

And they certainly weren't free.

Celebrities

Described in magazines and TV,

Do a lot of crazy things

Unlike you and me,

Would you lop off your eyeballs

Just because there was a threat?

You would never see the world again

Children, beautiful flowers or a favorite pet.

Most of us have hearts

Guaranteed to disease,

If we manage to live too long.......

“So, Doctor, I ask you, please,

I want to eliminate the possibility

Of any chance of heart attack”,

Hopefully, my Doctor says, “No, Bobby

You're going down a road, where there is no coming back”

Fibril_late;

6/5/13