For most people, he added, the time left would be far better spent putting their affairs in order, preparing their funeral or memorial service, repairing damaged relationships, leaving lasting legacies and saying their goodbyes.
QUESTIONS PATIENTS SHOULD ASK
Patients armed with clear-cut facts are often able to make wiser choices about their care. Yet doctors are often reluctant to broach these matters.
In their review in The Journal of the American Medical Association of the role of chemotherapy at the end of life, Thomas J. Smith and Sarah Elizabeth Harrington listed these questions to ask — of professionals and of yourself — when considering chemotherapy that is unlikely to cure the cancer but may extend the length and quality of life.
Treatment and Prognosis:
● What is my chance of cure?
● What is the chance that this chemotherapy will make my cancer shrink? Stay stable? Grow?
● If I cannot be cured, will I live longer with chemotherapy? How much longer?
● What are the main side effects of the chemotherapy?
● Will I feel better or worse?
● Are there other options, like hospice or palliative care?
● How do other people make these decisions?
● Are there clinical trials available? What are the benefits? Am I eligible? What is needed to enroll?
● What are the likely things that will happen to me?
● How long will I live? (Ask for a range, and the most likely scenario for the period ahead, and when death might be expected.)
Planning:
● Are there other things I should be doing?
● Should I prepare a will?
● Do I have an advance directive?
● Have I assigned a durable power of attorney for health care?
● Are there financial or family legal issues that should be addressed?
● Do I need a durable power of attorney for financial affairs?
● Should I be setting up a trust?
● Family issues: Will you help me talk with my children?
● Spiritual and psychological issues: Who can help me cope?
● Legacy and life review: What do I want to pass on to my family to tell them about my life?
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