Cancer

Many patients die of cancer as a result not only of metastases but also recurrence of their primary tumor and treatment with cytotoxic drugs. In most patients with cancer, the cause of death is usually indirect; death is not the result of an overwhelming metastatic burden.

Renal damage may occur as a result of direct renal or ureteric invasion rather than renal metastases. The most common causes of death in cancer patients are chest or urinary tract infections, usually of gram-negative organisms. The infections usually result from an impairment in drainage caused by metastases.

Paraneoplastic syndromes occur in as many as 75% of patients at one time or another; these syndromes contribute to an electrolyte imbalance and subsequent demise. These syndromes have no direct relationship to tumor metastases. Most patients with liver metastases die with metastases rather than from metastases.

And there was no more time.

I waited thinking there was time
I waited to take that vacation
I waited thinking let my son grow up a bit more
I waited to do that family get together
I waited thinking let her get better

I waited, 34 long years
to get to know my sister better
and suddenly - There is no time left
Suddenly within a span of 6 months
Our lives have changed forever

I'll never know what her favourite colour was
I'll never know what she liked doing best
I'll never know what made her laugh
Or what made her cry
Now, to put it simply - I'll never know

There is no more time left - with her
to laugh, to cry, to soothe, to fight
No more time left!