Cancer Treatment in the Older Adult.

My mother died in January, 2008 after an extended battle with colon cancer. She took chemotherapy and radiation treatments which, in turn, hastened her death. In her desperate bid to live, she quickly deteriorated after her third chemo infusion. My mother lost her hair, her appetite, her eyesight and her will to fight.I feel she would have faired better during her last two weeks of life if she had opted out of the treatments. I am convinced her age played a huge factor in the negative response she had to the chemotherapy and radiation. I think cancer treatments such as these should be weighed very carefully when treating older adults.