Random Pensées

Holy crap. I'd be hoovering down those pills with both fists! Mainly because I wouldn't want to waste any of the rest of my cruelly shortened life on being incapacitated, especially with kiddos around. I'd want to be as functional as possible, so they had some memories of me other than sitting in one place, immobilized by circumstances. But then, I'm a wuss. I took the drugs during childbirth, too, and was pissed off when I couldn't have them the second time around.

As one who has been there, I would say, yes, absolutely, take the drugs. I didn't take any anti-depressants, even when they were offered to me to help control my menopausal symptoms, but I will admit that the sheer volume of pain killers I was on at that point in time helped to blunt the pain of a. a radical hysterectomy where I lost seven body parts b.being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, c. losing my fertility and d. being forced into menopause at age thirty-six. It may not be kosher to admit that they helped me through a difficult period in a way they were not intended to do so, but the truth is that they did. Anything that helps you feel normal, when your world has been turned upside down, is a good thing.

As a cancer patient, you have a lot of decisions to make and you need to be somewhat like your normal self to make said decisions. You can't make life-altering decisions when you don't have your wits about you. If this is what he feels he needs to function right now, more power to him.

That's just my two cents. Perhaps I'm not the mentally healthiest of people out there, but you do what you need to do to get by.

I'd do it. Especially to get up and play with the kids. God, what a rotten thing.

Interesting reactions. I kind of tended to the other side of the debate. I would not want anything, other than physical pain, masked. I hope I never have to have this conversation for myself on anything other than a theoretical level.

i guess one never really knows until it happens....but...
i'd want to fly

and crash
on my own without the drugs.

As someone who watched someone close to me die of lung cancer just last year, I can't say I'd be taking anti-depressants but Any pain killer they could toss at me.

Are anti-depressants routinely offered to advanced stage cancer patients? Or was your neighbor having some significant problems?

In such a situation, my tendency would probably be to withdraw from the world. Anti-depressants would probably be helpful.

I definitely would take the pills. The lows aren't any fun and I would want to get through the last days with all the happiness and dignity I could muster and anti-depressants can be a great help with that.

I think I would agree with the drug takers, I mean, feeling sorry for yourself and staring at the black hole abyss that's coming your way can be a slippery slope. I'd want to be able to spend time with my kids and wife rather than huddled in the fetal position down in the basement door closed, one light on. It's not a way to spend your last days.