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I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

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Re: I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

#41
post #17

PSA for anyone reading this: Colorectal cancer for younger people seems to be on the rise. They don't seem to know why. My father had colon cancer and was not expected to survive it. I think he was 69 when he was finally diagnosed. He had put off seeing a doctor because he thought it was "just old age" and it was quite advanced by the time he was diagnosed. He did survive it and died, iirc, just short of his 89th or…

Oh we know why! It's just not acceptable to talk about it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3311490/ Asking people to take responsibility for this one simple thing is taboo. (I have a Colonoscopy just last week as part of a routine exam at my age. The procedure really isn't that bad. A couple hours on the toilet during the prep, and that's about the worst of it).

That's what I thought, too, but then I read this [1]:

> “The honest truth is nobody knows 100 percent why there is an increase,” said Dr. Mohamed E. Salem, an assistant professor at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. He said that he is older than about 60 percent of his patients — and he is 42. “It’s hard to blame it on obesity alone. We suspect there is also something else going on.”

The weird thing is that the sharpest increase is among young whites, and it doesn't seem to be entirely correlated with obesity.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/well/live/colon-and-recta...

[2] http://www.webmd.com/news/20170808/colorectal-cancer-death-r...

Re: I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

#42
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh we know why! It's just not acceptable to talk about it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3311490/ Asking people to take responsibility for this one simple thing is taboo. (I have a Colonoscopy just last week as part of a routine exam at my age. The procedure really isn't that bad. A couple hours on the toilet during the prep, and that's about the worst of it).

That's what I thought, too, but then I read this [1]: > “The honest truth is nobody knows 100 percent why there is an increase,” said Dr. Mohamed E. Salem, an assistant professor at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. He said that he is older than about 60 percent of his patients — and he is 42. “It’s hard to blame it on obesity alone. We suspect there is also something else going on.” The…

Diets high in sugars? I wonder if we can plot the consumption of sugar and corn syrup on a trend of colon cancer incidents over the last 4-5 decades.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9298574/

Re: I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

#43
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I thought, too, but then I read this [1]: > “The honest truth is nobody knows 100 percent why there is an increase,” said Dr. Mohamed E. Salem, an assistant professor at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. He said that he is older than about 60 percent of his patients — and he is 42. “It’s hard to blame it on obesity alone. We suspect there is also something else going on.” The…

Diets high in sugars? I wonder if we can plot the consumption of sugar and corn syrup on a trend of colon cancer incidents over the last 4-5 decades. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9298574/

You could argue that high sugar diets are just a proxy for obesity, so if obesity has been ruled out as a cause for this new increase then high sugar diets can be ruled out as well. Plus, no real reason it would be confined to young white people only.

But I still avoid the stuff, because it seems so unlikely that the quantity of sugar we consume is just harmless.

Re: I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

#45

With much sensitivity to the physical and emotional turmoil the author must be experiencing right now, I disagree with his advice: > Stop just assuming you have a full lifetime to do whatever it is you dream of doing. Rare and catastrophic events like this that can severely shorten your life are ones you should not plan for. If they occur, that's very unfortunate, and maybe you'll still have a contingency plan that c…

Life is random, from birth to death. We probably should not live it with fear or hard expectations. I remember reading on Twitter about an entrepreneur that was killed instantly from an avalanche on Mt Everest. Who could predict? Just do the best you can, try to be kind, and use sunscreen.

I agree with your conclusion, but really you should not be doing adventure tourism (edit: Maybe I'm assuming too much) on Mt Everest unless you realise that you are dramatically elevating your chances of sudden death.

Re: I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

#46
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diets high in sugars? I wonder if we can plot the consumption of sugar and corn syrup on a trend of colon cancer incidents over the last 4-5 decades. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9298574/

You could argue that high sugar diets are just a proxy for obesity, so if obesity has been ruled out as a cause for this new increase then high sugar diets can be ruled out as well. Plus, no real reason it would be confined to young white people only. But I still avoid the stuff, because it seems so unlikely that the quantity of sugar we consume is just harmless.

[deleted]

Re: I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

#47
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diets high in sugars? I wonder if we can plot the consumption of sugar and corn syrup on a trend of colon cancer incidents over the last 4-5 decades. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9298574/

You could argue that high sugar diets are just a proxy for obesity, so if obesity has been ruled out as a cause for this new increase then high sugar diets can be ruled out as well. Plus, no real reason it would be confined to young white people only. But I still avoid the stuff, because it seems so unlikely that the quantity of sugar we consume is just harmless.

[deleted]

Re: I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

#48

My brother was diagnosed with a rare form of sarcoma (cancer) at age 35. Basically was given about a 10% to live. 180 servings of chemo/radiation later we started lining up hospice and he prepared to say goodbye to his 2 young kids and wife. Last ditch effort was an experimental drug. Out of 150 people in the trial, he's the only one alive 12 years later. 6 years ago he started a company that is about to hit 8 figure…

Your brother is amazing. I would definitely read his autobiography if he were to write one.

Re: I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

#49

With much sensitivity to the physical and emotional turmoil the author must be experiencing right now, I disagree with his advice: > Stop just assuming you have a full lifetime to do whatever it is you dream of doing. Rare and catastrophic events like this that can severely shorten your life are ones you should not plan for. If they occur, that's very unfortunate, and maybe you'll still have a contingency plan that c…

Life is random, from birth to death. We probably should not live it with fear or hard expectations. I remember reading on Twitter about an entrepreneur that was killed instantly from an avalanche on Mt Everest. Who could predict? Just do the best you can, try to be kind, and use sunscreen.

Not to be callous, but dying climbing Mt. Everest isn't random. Climbing Mt. Everest has a lower survival rate than stage 1 cancer. Chance of death is about 10%.

Re: I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life

#50
post #17

PSA for anyone reading this: Colorectal cancer for younger people seems to be on the rise. They don't seem to know why. My father had colon cancer and was not expected to survive it. I think he was 69 when he was finally diagnosed. He had put off seeing a doctor because he thought it was "just old age" and it was quite advanced by the time he was diagnosed. He did survive it and died, iirc, just short of his 89th or…

Oh we know why! It's just not acceptable to talk about it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3311490/ Asking people to take responsibility for this one simple thing is taboo. (I have a Colonoscopy just last week as part of a routine exam at my age. The procedure really isn't that bad. A couple hours on the toilet during the prep, and that's about the worst of it).

I wouldn't overlook or absolve the thousands of chemicals that have been recklessly deployed into the biosphere and rather haphazardly regulated. But if the corporate class gets its way (and it usually does), that is also not acceptable to talk about.
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