Ex-mayor Katz finds comfort in the biggest struggle of her life

PORTLAND -- At 78, undergoing dialysis three times a week, former mayor and state legislator Vera Katz chatted with KGW's Pat Dooris about the biggest challenges facing her life and how she faces her own death.

Katz arrived in Oregon in 1962. Ten years later she was elected to the Oregon legislature. By 1985, she was the first woman ever elected Speaker of the House for the Oregon legislature, a post she held three consecutive sessions - another first. In 1993, Katz won the election for Portland’s mayor, where she served another 12 years until 2005.

In the summer of 2004, Katz had already survived a scare from breast cancer when a routine procedure discovered uterine cancer and changed her life.

“Yah,” she said. “It was difficult."

But there was work to do and the mayor tried to stay strong.

“You know, I thought about that the other day. I never cried. Most people cry and that's okay, but I was afraid if I cried I wouldn’t be able to go on. And so all I did was ask my oncologist, my uterine cancer came around July of my last year in office, I just said, 'keep me alive until the end of my service as mayor, until January 1,'" she recalled.

The cancer was rare and aggressive. The woman who spent much of her adult life calling the shots was suddenly not in charge.

“I am a control freak, there’s no question about it,” she said with a laugh. “I couldn’t control it and I didn’t know what they were going to do and what kind of a cocktail they were going to put together when they decided that chemo was the answer," Katz said.

Her doctor developed a special mix of drugs and chemo to attack the cancer. It worked, but the cure came at a high price.

“I was absolutely shocked when I found out years ago that I had to go to dialysis because of the chemo," Katz said.

Now she dreads the life-saving sessions that take over for her kidneys three days a week for three or four hours. But she's found peace within, realizing she can plan the end of her life.

“The one good thing about all this, I will be in control,” Katz said. “If it’s time to leave, I just don’t show up to dialysis. I don’t call a doctor, well, I might call a doctor, but I don’t want to and you, for what I understand leave this world quietly, ah without pain, and you don’t need any assistance," Katz said. “So ultimately, I have full control."

While it may be disturbing to some, it’s given Katz strength.

"Very comforting,” she said. “I see people in dialysis and I ask myself, 'what are they doing here?' It's time to let go for some people. They're in terrible pain. Their lives are very difficult. And I sit there and say, 'thank God.' I've thought about this, I’ve discussed it with my family and I’ve told them, 'I’ll let you know when I’ve had it and we'll go from there.'"

It's unclear when that day will arrive. In the meantime, Katz embraces life, urging herself on, one day at a time.

“Ha, ha, see if you can get through the day," she said, "Still remain sane, stop feeling sorry for yourself because there may be rough days, and move on."

http://www.kgw.com/news/Vera-Katz-talks-about-dialysis-and-end-of-life-choices-129692913.html