Uncertainty Principle

The Uncertainty Principle states that the more precisely the position of some particle is determined, the less precisely its momentum can be known, and vice versa. In quantum mechanics and in cancer care some things can be known as other things are unknown.
The PET scan next week may help us cut through some uncertainty and decide on how well Karen’s current treatment is working.  Right now I’m thinking how much uncertainty pervades our lives. We don’t know whether a treatment is slowing the cancer until months into the regime. It’s been an aggressive and difficult to treat cancer; defying the best and latest chemo and hormone treatments.

That’s why Karen is stage 4. The PET scan that confirmed stage 4 both removed uncertainty but added new variables with a new set of uncertainties. The options are few; slowing the growth, managing the pain and treating side effects. Karen has had a couple of months with no new broken bones, a recovery from a pneumonia and a new complacency as we enjoyed life abet more limited than our former always on the go life.  
But.. the last couple of weeks we’ve noticed a lack of energy, poor appetite and a need for more supplemental oxygen. Here is where the uncertainty is so difficult. Is this the cancer rebounding or a reaction to some of the medicines to make the chemo more tolerable. 
Maybe we’re better off with uncertainty? Sometimes ignorance is bliss?  We just have to live with it for while we wait first for the test and then the results.
We once embraced uncertainty and just went with the flow but now uncertainty seems to be an unspoken but rather cruel side effect.
                                           Photo: Buttons all the way from Australia from our artist friend Heather Matthew 

---