“U. S. Cancer Death Rate Continues to Drop”

“…the death rate for all cancers was 193.6 per 100,000 [Americans], down from 195.7 a year earlier and continuing a steady downward trend.”

Cowabunga! It is esoteric reports like these that make news headline writers drool with delight while the rest of of poor slobs try to understand how this minuscule mathematical mitigation helps to ease the pain of watching a loved one who “grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies.”

When I arrived at the office today on my desk was the chart of one of my wonderful patients who until two weeks ago continued to work nights. Written across the front of the chart in bitter black letters was the word “EXPIRED.” We can now say that he didn’t make it into that other group of 99,806.4 individuals. He has officially become a statistic.

Until I read “the death rate for all cancers was 0.00 per 100,000, the same as it has been the past two years,” I won’t worry too much about looking for another line of work.