How did you make decisions about your recent medical treatment?

It’s like holding my life in two hands - everything has to be weighed carefully. I’ve been in and out of hospital with all sorts these days, and after all the needles and drips I’ve had this week, I can’t be bothered going through that again unless I really have to. The doctors say I could have died that morning - it was more serious than I thought. I overheard them talking during their morning rounds with their big entourage.

The way I see it, it’s like those old-fashioned scales with two cups, one on each end. On one side, there’s my COPD from smoking, the risk with anesthetic, my faltering heart that could bring on a heart attack any time, and then there’s the diabetes - isn’t that amazing, twenty-three years of it!

On the other side, there’s the risks of any operation. The anesthetic could kill me because of my breathing problems, and any coughing could set things off. My oxygen gets low, my potassium’s low, my magnesium’s down - there’s nothing I can do about that except take the medications. My doctor’s keeping me alive with all of that, and even though I grumble about it, he’s doing a good job. This has been ongoing for years now, so I think I’m doing pretty well. It’s about finding the balance between the two sides of those scales.