shakespeare in life

to be, or not to be.immortal words. the only bard i could quote, since literature was not offered as a subject in my school. no matter, because i managed to pick up some eg. goodnight, goodnight, parting is such sweet sorrow, & some i learned the hard way eg. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

mr C has AAA. nope, that's not his credit rating & he's neither a member of the automobile association nor alcoholic anonymous. he has an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm - an abnormal bulge in the main artery in the abdomen from a weakness of the vessel wall. it has grown to a diameter of over 5cm & needed to be repaired before it leaks or worse, ruptures - then all hell will truly break lose!

earlier, he had seen the urologist for difficulty in passing urine - typical of a prostate problem for someone his age. it was during a routine abdominal ultrasound examination that it was fortuitously discovered he also had AAA. the vascular surgeon was called in & as this was the more urgent problem, mr C agreed to have the aneurysm repaired 1st. as part of a pre-operative assessment for major surgery, he underwent a gamut of tests. the chest xray revealed that he has a suspicious-looking 3 cm nodule in his lung. unfortunately, the subsequent CT scan showed that this nodule, very likely cancerous, is too deep-seated to be removed without excising the whole lung as well.

to be, or not to be.

it looked like it was not going to be for mr C. he thought he only had a urinary disorder - the prostate surgery could be done in an hour & he'd be out of hospital in 2 days. then we found he also has AAA - the aortic repair could be done in 4 hours, he'd be in ICU for 2 days
& then discharged from hospital within a week. but this lung tumour is a different ballgame & adds a sinister dimension to the scenario. should he have the AAA repair & then to discover that he has incurable lung cancer? or maybe, proceed with lung surgery & then have the aneurysm rupture on him? shakespeare aptly described this scene, also in hamlet :

when sorrows come,
they come not single spies,
but in battalions.the logical way out of mr C's predicament is 1st, to biopsy the lung nodule, determine it's nature & assess if it's amenable to chemothearapy or radiotherapy. then decide the sequence of treatment option for the best survival. not an easy resolution. mr C has but a short time to confer with his family & we await his decision.

i face instances like this all the time, & it only serves to remind me of my own mortality. in my pursuit of dreams & ambitions, i often take for granted the many little things in life whose worth far exceed any worldly rewards. what price do we put on the power of sight, the ability to laugh & the unfailing love of our family? when do we decide that we should be contented with gifts our ungrateful selves have been bestowed upon but don't deserve? shakespeare may not have the answer but the wise men of yore did shed a clue :

give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
otherwise, i may have too much & disown you
& say,"who is the Lord?"
or i may become poor & steal
& so dishonour the name of my God.
prov 30:8,9