"If you show up with cancer & you're 95 years old, we should say...we can't do anything..."

[peggysue2]

112. I watched my 89-year old father-in-law suffer

He had surgery and chemo for Stage 4 colon cancer. After a year of treatment, he said: Enough. He died 3 months later.

During the treatments he had absolutely no quality of life. Couldn't leave the house, basically never left his recliner except for doctor visits. The physicians at the University of Penn would have continued. In fact, his oncologist was surprised when he decided to quit. "But you look so much better," he said. This was directed to a man over 6 feet tall who weighed 125 pounds at the end. He looked ghastly, had no strength or stamina. He never really had a chance to recover from the initial surgery and never accepted the ileostomy. He gave it a go but then pulled his own plug. It was hard to witness but it was his decision.

So yes, cancer treatments are brutal enough on a strapping 40-year old. On the elderly, they're absolutely horrible.