Seeking Cure

Today is a good day to stay inside. With the rain it has become a bit chilly, but not everybody thinks
staying at home is the best idea. You can see the people passing by from the window of the fifth floor in an
apartment building downtown Copenhagen. On the table a big buqet of fresh flowers,
In the kitchen Pia is cutting down vegatablets for dinner while Peter is siting near on his computer, watching
a youtube video about medical marijuana. Pia and Peter have been together for 2 years now. It was 7 years
ago that she discovered that something was wrong.
„I had this little thing on my neck something that was not supposed to be there. So I went to the doctor he did
some tests and it took a long time to get the results, it was 3 and half month. „
She was diagnosed with medullary carcinoma of the thyroid (MTC) which is cancer of the thyroid gland
that starts in cells that release a hormone called calcitonin. It is a rare form of cancer and not many options
to do about it. The only thing they could offer her at the time was surgery, so they cut it away. Then about
two years ago the cancer had spread to her bones and liver. They had to cut out 6 cm of the bones in her ribs.
After that Pia´s doctor decided to give her experimental tablets for advanced medullary thyroid cancer
called Caprelsa. Caprelsa can cause a serious skin reaction called Stevens-Johnson syndrome or other serious
skin reactions that may affect any part of a patient´s body. Unfortunately Pia´s skin started peeling off
so she could not be out in the sun.
„If I am going to keep taking the pills the doctor gave me, I am going to need some medication for my skin and
my blood pressure. My body is actually reacting in a very clever way because it reacts when it gets poison into
the body. Maybe the pills will make me live longer, but what kind of life would that be? And I can tell you this
feels more like being dead than alive. I tried to protect myself with suncream, hats and sunglasses but nothing
worked. These pills are so poisonous they were killing me slowly.“
„My father was a doctor so I was raised in the hospital enviroment. He told me to not go into a hospital because
they will kill you. And he was right, he himself died in a hospital because of a medical error after surgery.
My mother and my grandmother died of cancer, not the cancer itself, but the cancer treatment. My mother´s
little sister died when she was treated for an immune disease, not the disease itself. A hospital is supposed to be
a place where you go in and you go out and you feel better. Surely that must be the idea of a hospital but it has
changed to something else. It has changed to a place where you go in and you do not get out in a better condition,
you will for sure know you go out and feel bad. That is my experience.
I feel like the doctors only try to follow the disease, not me. It is like they are trying to seperate the two.”