"The Big C" on Showtime

In case you haven't heard, Showtime has started a new series called "The Big C" starring Laura Linney. The plot of the show is that a woman is diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma at the age of 42. She doesn't tell anyone, not even her family, but she begins to act differently. She had a reputation as a careful, rather "boring" person and is now doing bold and spontaneous things. It's pitched as a comedy but I guess it's more of a "dramady". Laura Linney is excellent as the lead character, so I will keep watching. But I am interested in seeing where they take this.

I like the idea that television is taking on a tough issue like advanced cancer and further that they are doing it through comedy. We have to be able to keep laughing, and laugh at ourselves, especially when things seem bleak. I'm a little concerned, though, that a) she decides not to tell her friends and family and b) she refuses treatment.

By talking about cancer honestly, we help to de-mystify it and make it easier for everyone to deal with it. In some ways, I think cancer is scarier to those who don't have it than those who do. Also, by talking about it as something that we deal with, like so many other difficult things people deal with, we can keep our sense of who we are. Being a "cancer patient" is a bit de-humanizing. Being a person who has cancer isn't. Also, a cancer diagnosis is tough emotionally and affects your spouse, your children, etc. You need the support of those around you and you need to help your loved ones understand what's going on so that they can cope with their own feelings about the things that will be changing for them, as well as for you.

And finally, I'm concerned about the character's refusal to be treated. Her reasoning seems to be that she has been given a certain amount of time to live and wants to live it without the effects of treatment, most notably the loss of her hair. I hope the show addresses the fact that no doctor can tell you how long you will live. They can only give you a statistic for how long, on average, people with your disgnosis lived. There is a broad band of actual outcomes. For example, all the oncologists I spoke with when I was diagnosed gave me the same figure for how long I would live (on average) - 21 months. This was my life expectancy with treatment. That was 22 months ago and I've still got a long way to go. So you can never let yourself succumb to the statistics, you need to fight your own battle.

I hope these things emerge - along with some good humor - over the coming weeks of the series. And, I hope you give the show a look. The first episode (last week) was pretty good.

By the way, I don't have Showtime - it's available for viewing on Showtime.com and other on-line sources.

Hope you are having a fun finish to the summer! BB