Bless you for your endurance, Katie, and please let your husband know that many, many of us have been there with our own illnesses and ailments. I was in constant intractable pain for 5 years, and very nearly went insane from it, so you are very fortunate to have such a good national health there! I am glad they got his pain controlled so that his quality of life will be as good as possible. I will definitely send my prayers to you and to him both, and I second Fiona's comments on disregarding the prognosis.
Anthony Burgess, author of "A Clockwork Orange" and the screenwriter for "Jesus of Nazareth" among hundreds of books and several musical compositions, was diagnosed with incurable and inoperable cancer in 1959. He decided in the year his doctor gave him to live that he had some stories to write before he passed on. At the time, he was a civil servant in Malaysia. He wrote four novels that year - and did not die. He finally gave up the ghost in 1996 at last, after writing more than 50 novels and screenplays, and became one of the main inspirations for my own career as a novelist. It is good to be practical and to accept things as they are, but with the understanding that doctors cannot predict these things.
