You’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Now what? You need to discuss a life expectancy estimate with your doctor. It’s not an easy talk to have, but it’s important for you to know. The estimate will vary based on the type of cancer you have, your age, any preexisting conditions that you have, and even the form of treatment you decide on.
If you’re diagnosed with colon cancer, the average life expectancy is around 10 years following the diagnosis. If you’re diagnosed with mesothelioma, however, life expectancy may be under a year. With it all so dependent on the type of cancer that you have, it’s critical to learn what the doctor has to say.
Further, you’ll want to consider what stage your cancer is in. The benefit of catching any type of cancer early is that you can often increase your life expectancy. It will make it possible to have more treatment options – and you’ll be treating cancer in only one area. If it’s a later stage, it may have spread to other parts of the body – and when that happens, your life expectancy may drop significantly.
You’ll also want to find out how the various treatment options can alter your life expectancy. Although chemotherapy can be hard on the body, it can also boost your life expectancy in many instances – especially if it’s capable of killing the cancer. This means you will have to make an important decision. By talking about the life expectancy estimates for the different treatment options, you can decide just how aggressive you want to be. If the estimates don’t vary too dramatically for the treatments, you may choose not to be as aggressive with the treatment.
Why should you have the talk? While you might not want to have the talk with your doctor, it’s important to have an idea about the months or years that you have left. It can make it easier for you to get your affairs in order. Particularly if you only have a short period of time remaining, you need to fill out legal paperwork, ensure your will is updated, and more.
There’s no guarantee about life expectancies. Doctors will do their best to make a prognosis. In some instances, people have been told they have months to live. Then, they go on to live for years after their diagnosis. In other instances, people are told they have 5 to 10 years and it’s less than that.
The good thing about having the talk with your doctor is it gives you something to work with. You can decide whether there’s a sense of urgency about your affairs. You can live your life the way that you want. Focus on being at peace with the diagnosis so that when it’s your time to go, you can do so peacefully.
Knowledge is power. While most doctors will have this conversation with you without any prompting from you, it’s worth being in control of it. Ask questions so that you can make the best possible decisions about how to get treated moving forward.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
