The doctor’s office
is not a good place
to get bad news.

Your PET scan lit up
like a Christmas tree.
Biopsy confirmed Stage IV.
The goal is no longer recovery,
but control.

There will be more chemo,
but not surgery—that would
be useless, and endless.
No more radiation—you’ve
used up your lifetime allotment.

Pain management, later, will give you
unlimited morphine,
and no one will worry you might
become addicted, because—
well, you know why.