"..Yet you are only as strong as the work you do"
All the article is very inspirational, mundane things like not solved paperwork, can carry lots of head aches to the family, sadly I know it by experience.
Fighting Cancer
61–70 of 162 posts
Re: Fighting Cancer
#62Just an interesting related tangent here: My father in law is dying of heart disease (will probably die in People see me upset and the first thing they say is he will get better, or, it will be ok. When I explain the situation, it's something like, "oh, well, I just KNOW he will get better. Don't worry" What? In case you are wondering: He has already had open heart 2 years ago, 4 of 5 arteries are completely blocked…
i also hate saying and hearing platitudes, but recognize that it's only because people don't know what else to say. by telling them about this unfortunate situation, you're kind of putting them into that position. these days i only tell my problems to people who have the ability to do something about it, or my closest friends who will commiserate without offering useless responses.
True, but I am usually only telling people because they specifically ask how he is doing.
Of course, if you are referring to here on HN, I only posted it to share in the phenomenon. While I appreciate that many are offering sympathy, I certainly wasn't expecting it here :)
Re: Fighting Cancer
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Some of them work and work very well. Bull. People get better randomly, but pattern matching makes this really hard to accept. After all, you best get your lucky hat before the big game just like 100,000 other people. As to caner, day one they are going to tell you your odds of survival long term and they are never 100%. https://xkcd.com/931/
>> Some of them work and work very well. > Bull. People get better randomly I completely agree. I also know that some treatments work for some people. > but pattern matching makes this really hard to accept. I'm stating that a patient needs to find what works for them. Sometimes that's surgery, chemo, radiation, all of the above or no treatment at all. I've known friends & family members improve, or not, on some/all…
Flip a coin H/T. Call it H ends up T. We really want to say T was a better choice. But, before the flip they are identical options.
Do chemo* and die in 2 months. That may seem like a bad choice. However, you don't know the outcome and can only guess at the odds.
Saying ahead of time you don't think the odds are worth it is one choice. But, you can't look at the outcome and then say the choice was wrong it must be in the context of uncertainty.
As to alternatives that's doing nothing while playing make believe. But hey, some times doing nothing works.
*Chemo, retro virus, wonder drug, or something with actual odds of working.
Re: Fighting Cancer
#64Powerful article. Something I can share from my own ordeal. When you first get diagnosed most people are strong and defiant "I'm going to beat this thing!". It is the following weeks and months, the follow up scans that show the darn thing is back or not reduced that eventually wear you down. If you know someone that's afflicted please keep in touch throughout or space out your acts of kindness. I found that initially everyone wanted to help (an outpouring) and in later months some help would have been useful.
Re: Fighting Cancer
#65Very sensible read, just one question, he mentioned "avoid junk foods, especially sugar", is sugar that bad for causing cancer?
I hear this coming from a multitude of sources too. If true, is simple sugar metabolism oncogenic? What is the mechanism?
Re: Fighting Cancer
#66I've been appreciating Pieter's posts, and his occasional comments on HN (I noticed one a few days back, on technical topics). I'm also increasingly apprehensive opening them. Though the only fatal disease I'm aware of fighting right now is life, my hope is to pursue my interests so long as I can. I wasn't aware of Pieter before his recent blog topic started appearing on HN, though I'm pretty sure I'd come across his…
> It still makes me furiously mad: preying on sick people and those about the clinging desperately to any possible hope, in full knowledge that you're peddling bullshit. And those who get swept up in this and pass on the misinformation. Maybe that's why I've cracked down on online disinformation as well. It's not just duty calling...
Single thing that flips me off on social media is seeing my friends pollute my wall with memes claiming things like "cannabis cures 7 out of 10 cancer occurences, vote legalize!" or "vitamin b17 is scientifically proven to cure cancer, FDA & Big Pharma made sure those scientists are gone."
Most of time I let it slip, but sometimes I politely try debunk the meme in the comments, hoping that at least some fellow readers would follow on my arguments and use it to widen their knowledge.
Re: Fighting Cancer
#67Just an interesting related tangent here: My father in law is dying of heart disease (will probably die in People see me upset and the first thing they say is he will get better, or, it will be ok. When I explain the situation, it's something like, "oh, well, I just KNOW he will get better. Don't worry" What? In case you are wondering: He has already had open heart 2 years ago, 4 of 5 arteries are completely blocked…
There is also this commonly held notion that if you "live right", with healthy habits, food, and exercise, you will live to 98 in perfect health, and probably die of an instant heart attack while in bed with a young lover. It's of course true that obesity and lack of exercise increase health risks at all ages, but that risk was never going to be 0. The notion that I mentioned basically makes health problems into a mo…
It is a fact that lifestyle affects likelihood and progression of heart disease. Rare cases that end life early for genetic reasons do not change this. It is unfortunate that some people assume all early heart problems are avoidable, but only because sharing an opinion is unnecessary, not because the assumption is likely wrong.
The morality of not taking care of oneself is subjective, of course.
Edit: I should say I lost a sibling to incurable cancer at a young age. I have heard no end of useless advice about her diet, special almonds, clinics, etc. So I strongly believe in not sharing advice that helps a majority when talking to a particular person, even though I know there are ways to live that reduce likelihood of some cancers.
Re: Fighting Cancer
#68I am not sure why cryonics are not in the menu of every reader here when he has the opportunity (you don't have it if you die in a sudden accident) to subscribe when it seems inevitable to die.
Not all of us want to live again in some unknown future without any sense of continuity or surviving relationships. Death is ultimately inevitable, even if a miracle like cryonics could postpone it the first time. The author's entire point is that we should accept this inevitability, not try to avoid it by any psychological means we can conjure. Only then can we respond appropriately.
Re: Fighting Cancer
#69Every time I see his posts I think about the book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. I would recommend reading it for anyone who might be having the discussion or dealing with death in their life.
https://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Book-Living-Dying-Internation...
Re: Fighting Cancer
#70Just an interesting related tangent here: My father in law is dying of heart disease (will probably die in People see me upset and the first thing they say is he will get better, or, it will be ok. When I explain the situation, it's something like, "oh, well, I just KNOW he will get better. Don't worry" What? In case you are wondering: He has already had open heart 2 years ago, 4 of 5 arteries are completely blocked…
Okay, I hate to pile on to the advice section. Actually this is not advice, but just a random tip from a random person. I read a book this year that has several anecdotes of people in similar situations to your father-in-law. The doctor who wrote it is radical and outside of the mainstream. Yet, the things he writes make a ton of sense when you have nothing else to lose. It's a short read, and his clinical results sp…
While he didn't follow this specific diet, what he follows is pretty close and I really do think his diet choices are why he has lived as long as he has, at least for his particular situation.
He has been practically obsessive about eating organic and most of it is home-grown (which is where he gets a lot of his exercise as well). Again he has done his research and takes a boatload of quite effective dietary supplements in addition to a good diet.
However, it's not an infinite cure. There is a hard limit to what diet can do.
This advice can be very helpful for someone just starting to have a heart problem, as it can significantly improve and lengthen life.
But he is way beyond that now. Many of those stories are from people who had a particularly poor diet, and turned the situation around by changing the diet. There isn't much he can change at this point, he's always tweaking, and experimenting (he's been at this for 25+ years!) but it's about as close to optimal as he can get.