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Notes on My Chemotherapy

charlieharrington.com

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Re: Notes on My Chemotherapy

#11

Post by mmaunder »

isoprophlex wrote: post #3

My infusion center is the adult center. I'm not sure I could stomach seeing children and babies getting chemo. I'm crying right now even thinking about it (which hurts, if you remember my side effects). Powerful ending to the article... indeed, fuck cancer. Get well soon, stay well!

I beat the crap out of stage 4 blood cancer a few years ago and am now officially cured. I realized my battle was nothing when I was getting my second round of chemo, and a happy bald 5 year old with a lollipop got on the elevator with me at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (Fred Hutch) where I was being treated, and I glanced at mom and she looked so very tired.

Re: Notes on My Chemotherapy

#12

Post by NortySpock »

fab1an wrote: post #7

The absurdity of the American health care and insurance system will never not amaze me. It's just sad and weird, and even weirder that you will always find a bunch of intelligent folks to defend it. Wishing the author, who btw is a better writer than most writers, a speedy and complete recovery.

We're not done yet, we can still improve it, we just need to keep leaning on our congress-people to fix it.

Re: Notes on My Chemotherapy

#14

Post by greesil »

Nihilartikel wrote: post #6

Just taking the opportunity to chime in on this thread: Do not hesitate to press for a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy if you are worried about your colon health. Something is going on now where demographically much younger patients are getting polyps and colon cancer: https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2020... Doctors are still mostly operating under the old wisdom that it is not a problem for thos…

It still seems pretty rare, even if it's more common. I have had some similar symptoms, and similar interactions with doctors in the past. No, I don't think I have cancer. But, what I want to know is what is the probability of having this condition given the symptoms. In other words, use Bayes' rule. Most doctors seem incapable of thinking this way! If it's a 1% chance that I have a life-threatening condition because there's blood in my stool, then it makes sense to get diagnostic that would test for that. I know these datasets exist, but why can't my doctor make use of this, or me for that matter?

Re: Notes on My Chemotherapy

#15

Post by greedo »

greesil wrote: post #14
Nihilartikel wrote: post #6

Just taking the opportunity to chime in on this thread: Do not hesitate to press for a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy if you are worried about your colon health. Something is going on now where demographically much younger patients are getting polyps and colon cancer: https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2020... Doctors are still mostly operating under the old wisdom that it is not a problem for thos…

It still seems pretty rare, even if it's more common. I have had some similar symptoms, and similar interactions with doctors in the past. No, I don't think I have cancer. But, what I want to know is what is the probability of having this condition given the symptoms. In other words, use Bayes' rule. Most doctors seem incapable of thinking this way! If it's a 1% chance that I have a life-threatening condition because…

Rare doesn't really help when there are almost 8B people on the planet.

I was 41 when I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I had blood in my stool and my GP misdiagnosed me due to my age. If I hadn't pushed the issue, I wouldn't be here now.

If you ever have blood in your stool, get an exam. Preferably by a gastroenterologist.

Re: Notes on My Chemotherapy

#16

Post by Geezus_42 »

greedo wrote: post #15
greesil wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It still seems pretty rare, even if it's more common. I have had some similar symptoms, and similar interactions with doctors in the past. No, I don't think I have cancer. But, what I want to know is what is the probability of having this condition given the symptoms. In other words, use Bayes' rule. Most doctors seem incapable of thinking this way! If it's a 1% chance that I have a life-threatening condition because…

Rare doesn't really help when there are almost 8B people on the planet. I was 41 when I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I had blood in my stool and my GP misdiagnosed me due to my age. If I hadn't pushed the issue, I wouldn't be here now. If you ever have blood in your stool, get an exam. Preferably by a gastroenterologist.

I had a friend who died of colon cancer in his late teens. We weren't super close so I don't know the details like what variety it was.

Re: Notes on My Chemotherapy

#17

Post by mpfundstein »

greedo wrote: post #15
greesil wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It still seems pretty rare, even if it's more common. I have had some similar symptoms, and similar interactions with doctors in the past. No, I don't think I have cancer. But, what I want to know is what is the probability of having this condition given the symptoms. In other words, use Bayes' rule. Most doctors seem incapable of thinking this way! If it's a 1% chance that I have a life-threatening condition because…

Rare doesn't really help when there are almost 8B people on the planet. I was 41 when I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I had blood in my stool and my GP misdiagnosed me due to my age. If I hadn't pushed the issue, I wouldn't be here now. If you ever have blood in your stool, get an exam. Preferably by a gastroenterologist.

Hi,

mind sharing how the blood in your stool looked like? What was the color etc? Was it there always? Was it occassionally? Was it ON the stool or mixed through it?

And when you finally got diagnosed. What stage were you in? Are you healed now?

And how long did you put it off?

Sry for asking so much.

Re: Notes on My Chemotherapy

#18

Post by greesil »

greedo wrote: post #15
greesil wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It still seems pretty rare, even if it's more common. I have had some similar symptoms, and similar interactions with doctors in the past. No, I don't think I have cancer. But, what I want to know is what is the probability of having this condition given the symptoms. In other words, use Bayes' rule. Most doctors seem incapable of thinking this way! If it's a 1% chance that I have a life-threatening condition because…

Rare doesn't really help when there are almost 8B people on the planet. I was 41 when I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I had blood in my stool and my GP misdiagnosed me due to my age. If I hadn't pushed the issue, I wouldn't be here now. If you ever have blood in your stool, get an exam. Preferably by a gastroenterologist.

What I'm trying to say is that it's rare in the general population. Maybe it's common enough in the population of people that have certain symptoms, like blood in stool, that it really does deserve a strong response and not to be ignored by a doctor.

Re: Notes on My Chemotherapy

#20

Post by greedo »

greesil wrote: post #18
greedo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rare doesn't really help when there are almost 8B people on the planet. I was 41 when I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I had blood in my stool and my GP misdiagnosed me due to my age. If I hadn't pushed the issue, I wouldn't be here now. If you ever have blood in your stool, get an exam. Preferably by a gastroenterologist.

What I'm trying to say is that it's rare in the general population. Maybe it's common enough in the population of people that have certain symptoms, like blood in stool, that it really does deserve a strong response and not to be ignored by a doctor.

The lifetime risk of getting colon cancer is 4% for men. It's the third leading cause of cancer deaths.
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