"We Said It Before And We'll Say It Again"*

I've seen the movie "The Bucket List" with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson in it's entirety before. It was on TV again over the weekend. I watched the beginning of it this time and then got distracted to something else. That's how I roll sometimes.

This time, I really took issue with this part of the movie (forgive the commercial before the clip begins). While I think Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman give amazing performances, I don't really care for the inaccurate information in this part of the movie. Yes, although the Morgan Freeman character qualified that he was receiving a clinical trial treatment and also noted that different people have different reactions, it really wasn't a good, or necessarily accurate way to describe chemotherapy. As both men had different forms of cancer in the movie, the chemotherapy regimen would also be different.

Greg, relax, it's only a movie. True. But Oscar Wilde said it best in his 1889 essay,"The Decay of Lying." "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life." 

I am concerned about how the general public obtains their knowledge of chemo and the impact of that knowledge on later decisions. I will admit, I feared chemo. However, I learned that if there was anyway possible that my reactions to chemo could be minimized, or even averted, the doctors and nurses were there with help. All I had to do was let them know I wasn't feeling well. I'm not saying everybody will have the same reactions, but I am not going the preach the gospel of "Fear The Chemo."

I will agree that chemotherapy is not the perfect method to treat cancer. However, it is the best method for certain cancers at this point in time. For myself, based on the location of the alien (nestled among my intestines), surgery and radiation was not an option I even wanted to consider, especially after I asked why they weren't an option. When I heard that a colostomy bag could be a potential permanent accessory if that route was even an option, I understood.

"Be careful, little tongues, what you say."

"Be careful, little ear, what you hear."


*Lyrics from, "This Was A Real Nice Clambake" from the musical, "Carousel" by Rodgers and Hammerstein.