In Burlington, VT one of the closest friends to my family is Rose Greenblatt. I showed her Montreal's Chinatown many years ago, she came to my cousin Ellen's college graduation in Boston a few years ago too. She isn't a spring chicken at 87, but she's one of the closest people to a blood relation for us there.
Last week, she saw a doctor about a compound back fracture. When the results came back, the doctor suggested she come in with family. My aunt and a very close friend Joan Chernoff came with. The reason they were asked to come in: Rose has a major case of cancer.
Her doctor was good enough not to mention the c-word directly to her. Unfortunately, an idiot intern blurted it all out.
Here's a woman who diligently got checkups, pap smears, whatever... but American medical folks don't look for things diligently, so this has been building up for years untreated. Result: what might have been treatable is now terminal.
The doctor won't assign her chemotherapy. She has maybe 6 months left. Chemo would leave her sick and weak for maybe 3 months more.
Thing is, the doctor told this only to my aunt and the friend. Rose saw an Oncologist yesterday, and got the verdict. From what mom told me, after hearing this it was as if all the fight she had left drained away.
This sucks. DAMMIT, THIS SUCKS!! We'll all die some day, but fate can at least be good enough not to give us suffering too... especially this. Rose doesn't deserve it.
