Fierce’s seventy-six-year-old grandmother passed in 2022 from cancer. She did not tell anyone that she had cancer, and she did not receive any treatments. One day, she checked herself into a hospital, and that is how the family found out about her cancer. A week later, she was gone.

Fierce believes that his grandmother did not tell anyone about her disease because she wanted to be in control. She did not want to do treatments, and she did not want anyone hassling her.

Fierce understood why she did what she did. He did not like it, but he understood the reasoning behind it. He just wished he had a little more time to say goodbye.

I understand his grandmother’s thinking. I have often thought that if I make it into my mid-seventies, it would be time to re-evaluate whether or not I should continue treatments.

I had an appointment with my new oncologist a week or two ago. Time flies. He was trying to gently pave the way for his future, and probably very soon advice that I go on permanent treatments for as long as they worked instead of the intermittent therapies I had been using for years.

When I saw the doctor, we were still waiting for my most recent PSA results. He was waiting for those results to give his recommendation.

I told the doctor that I was tired of all the tests, the surgeries, the radiation, and all the pills.

He told me that it was better than the alternative.

I told the doc that I was not sure about that.

Fierce, I think your grandmother would agree.