The most recent Social Security life expectancy tables show that the life expectancy for people in my birth cohort – US males born in 1949 – is 73.3. For my female classmates the number is 79. At 76, I’ve become a member of the minority – the majority of males born in 1949 have already cashed in their chips.
The same table shows that, at 75, I can expect another 13 years – if I am average. I’d like that. I have a duty to my grandsons that can’t be performed nearly so well if I’m dead. When I went through chemo – back in 2009, my oncologist told me that it would probably take ten years off my 2life span. Since he predicted a June, 2012 expiration date without chemo, it seemed like a good idea. It’s had some drawbacks, but in general, I’m pretty sure life after chemo beats the hell out of death without chemo. Statistically, if my oncologist was correct, I should expect to check out in another year and a half – but I’m fairly certain he wasn’t that good at statistics. It won’t be long before we find out that he was wrong.
I’m a demographer, not an actuary – but our professions are close. I’ve found no good studies that quantitatively show how chemo affects lifespan after it leaves you cancer-free.
But if chemo can keep you alive at fifty or sixty, how it affects you at eighty is not something of great concern.
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