Thequestionmade her squirm. “It’s hardto say,” she
said.
Ipushedher.“What’stheshortesttimeyou’veseenand
the longesttime you’ve seen for people who took no
treatment?”
Threemonthswastheshortest,shesaid,threeyearsthe
longest.
And with treatment?
Shegotmumbly.Finallyshesaidthatthelongestmight
nothavebeenthatmuchmorethanthreeyears.Butwith
treatment, the average should shift toward the longer end.
It wasa hard andunexpected answerforus. “Ididn’t
realize,” my father said, his voice trailing off. I
remembered what Paul Marcoux, Sara Monopoli’s
oncologist,hadtoldmeabouthispatients.“I’mthinking,
canIgetaprettygoodyearortwooutofthis?...They’re
thinkingtenortwentyyears.”Wewerethinkingtenor
twenty years, too.
My father decided to take some time to consider his
options.Shegavehimaprescriptionforasteroidpillthat
mighttemporarilyslowthetumor’sgrowth,whilehaving
relativelyfewsideeffects.Thatnight,myparentsandI
went out for dinner.
“ThewaythingsaregoingIcouldbebedriddeninafew
months,”myfathersaid.Theradiationtherapyhadonly
made matters worse. Suppose chemotherapy did the
same?Weneededguidance.Hewastornbetweenliving
thebesthecouldwithwhathehadversussacrificingthe
life he had left for a murky chance of time later.