when i first learned of jeff shields, he had already gone through three years of treatment for a rare form of lymphoma. chemotherapy hadn't worked. he hadn't given up hope. but he was also recognizing that his odds were diminishing, even as his doctors were offering him more treatment options. >> well my experience has been that oncologists, at least my doctors, are basically optimistic. and they're always looking for a way to push the disease into remission than they are in talking about the longer-term picture of mortality. i spent time talking to genie, my wife, thinking about, at least for me, i want to make a decision. i don't want to linger. >> we've had conversations about all aspects of what the end of his life might look like. and most of all he says "i want to be at the farm." and, you know, hopefully i'm in a position to make sure that happens. we have an appointment that i hope will result in them saying that the disease is lessened. but they might say, "no, it's not under control," and then we're going to start having a conversation about mortality and... because i don't