[Dion]

Cancer is very cruel in what it does to a person. To CalgaryFan1988 and Aeneas, it's unfair and I offer my condolances on your losses.

I lost my father to Colon Cancer in the spring of the year 2000. He had a colonoscopy done on Labour day and was operated on the same evening to remove a large cancerous tumour. The surgeon also found that the Cancer had spread to his liver. He was offered Chemo but declined saying he wanted quality of life over quantity. It was a death sentence and he died 6 months later.

My father chose to die with dignity and did what he could to make sure mother was taken care when he was gone. He also called in a minister and helped plan his own funeral.

One thing I learned is that the will to live is strong and people will hang on until all the tasks they want to complete is done. I got a call a week before he died saying he was on oxygen and would not last the day. The next day he was up in his bed eating his breakfast. The point to this was that my father was waiting for the sale of the winter home in Arizona to be completed with the money being transfered to my mothers bank account. Friday the sale went through and he died the next afternoon.

Patients who are dying often wait until everyone has gone home. They says it's because they feel tension in the room. In my fathers case we all told our father it was okay for him to die and we were at peace. We left for lunch and during that time got a call from the nurse saying he passed away.

One final thing. Never do an open casket funeral. We did with my father and no one would go in the room.