Please, if anyone else reading this has the same cancer, do not listen to any medical professional saying to lay back and die. Sacks was, lucky if it can be called that, to have the less aggressive strain of Ocular Melanoma that metastasized. The most aggressive usually results in death in 18 months, but there is progress being made to extend this to 4 years. Look up Dr Sato of Thomas Jefferson. He's the expert on this cancer. Your loved ones will be extremely grateful for an extra 2 years with you, and the best treatments barely degrade the quality of your life at all.
Eeking out an extra (potential) 2 years in exchange for the mental and physical torture of chemotherapy is not worthwhile for some people, particularly the elderly.
Chemotherapy does not work on this type of cancer. The best treatments, with the exception of one semi-annual treatment, give 2 days of fatigue and that's about it. The physical torture is not there, only the mental torture of having a terminal illness. Additionally, this cancer does not cause your health to degrade until the very end.
You're right about it depending on the person though. There is just a lot of misconception about this particular cancer, which is why I commented about it.
My mother was on chemo for years. Her only 'suffering' was tiredness, and she survived far beyond what was predicted for her. For others it is horrible and/or ineffective. You won't know if you don't try.
