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I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

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Re: I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

#151

Post by rightbyte »

cj wrote: post #144
pifm_guy wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd totally be up for fining companies retrospectively for harming people's health even before the harm was well understood. That gives the companies an incentive to do the research ahead of time to minimize damages.

“Fine company” will just turn into higher costs for consumers. If raising the price of Coke is the goal, I believe there are already proposals for a sugar tax in various jurisdictions. Let’s tax the hell out of processed foods so they become at least on par with the price of healthy food. It’s very tricky since taxes like that will hurt low income households the most. Another option: ban advertising of heavily proces…

> Let’s tax the hell out of processed foods so they become at least on par with the price of healthy food.

Isn't processed food already more expensive than "healthy"? E.g. precut fries vs potatoes. Etc.

What is cheaper to buy processed?

Re: I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

#152

Post by zuno »

jacquesm wrote: post #141
CyanBird wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vos qui transitis nostri memores rogo sitis Quod sumus hoc eritis Fuimus aliquando quod estis Heu quantus est noster dolor

My high school Latin has faded to the point that I resorted to Google translate, here is what it says: "You who remember our passing, I beg you to be what we are, you will be. We were once what you are Alas, how great is our grief"

"The origin of the saying of the dead, which emphasises the nothingness of earthly life, is attributed to Arabic poetry. Thus the Arab poet ʿAdī b. Zayd, as he rode past graves with the king of Hira (c. 580 CE), has the dead exclaim to the king:

"We were what you are; But the time will come, And it will come to you swiftly, when ye shall be what we are."

Like the dance of death and the triumph of death, the motif is emblematic of the medieval admonition memento mori. Simultaneous depiction of the topoi is common, for example in Francesco Traini's mid-fourteenth-century fresco Triumph of Death, which depicts the three living and the three dead. The legend was also integrated in the Dance of Death by Kientzheim.

A fresco from the Isefjord workshop in the church of Tuse (Denmark) from the 15th century shows three mounted kings on the hunt, who are met by three dead kings from whom maggots and worms escape. Each of them is assigned a banner. On the first dead man's banner is written: "Vos qui transitis n(os)t(r)i me(m)ores rogo sitis" (You who are passing by, I beg you: Remember us), on the second: "Quod sumus hoc eritis" (What we are now, you shall become one day) and on the third: "Fuimus aliquando quod estis" (We were once what you are now). Above their heads one reads: "Heu qua(n)tus est noster dolor" (Oh, how great is our pain)."

https://old.reddit.com/r/latin/comments/n8dzuo/quod_sumus_ho...

Re: I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

#153

Post by vorpalhex »

pifm_guy wrote: post #65
melling wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish people would stop saying “F cancer” As a society, we have the option of greatly reducing cancer deaths whenever we so choose. Let’s do that rather than raging against something that feels nothing. It has been over 15 years since the Last Lecture and we still have done little for pancreatic cancer, for example. https://youtu.be/ji5_MqicxSo According to Craig Venter, early detection is what we need to eli…

We also have a lot of data on ways to reduce cancer before it happens. Reduce obesity. Reduce pollution. Etc. Yet we really aren't doing an awful lot about those things. Imagine for example if we had an obesity tax - everyone obese must pay 30% of their earnings into a Medicare fund. Sure it would be unpopular, but obesity would very quickly be solved, and cancer rates would plummet.

That would overwhelmingly be a tax on the poor and low income. It would probably not fix obesity anymore than taxing cancer patients would fix cancer.

Re: I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

#154

Post by toomuchtodo »

jacquesm wrote: post #125
burritas wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather not go into personal detail but I share a similar experience. The thing that really drove it home for me was when I got back home and was telling my own doctor about my experience dealing with family in the medical system and she said I was mistaken or there was a misunderstanding because that kind of thing doesn't happen. I asked why she was siding with a doctor she'd never met before instead of listening…

The one thing that every doctor should have happen to them is to go through the medical system as well for something non-trivial. That usually gives them a lot more perspective on the reality of being on the receiving side.

Some doctors have a more healthy relationship with death than others.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doctors-death_b_1500871

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/feb/08/how-doctors-...

Re: I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

#155

Post by jghn »

bulbosaur123 wrote: post #62
melling wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish people would stop saying “F cancer” As a society, we have the option of greatly reducing cancer deaths whenever we so choose. Let’s do that rather than raging against something that feels nothing. It has been over 15 years since the Last Lecture and we still have done little for pancreatic cancer, for example. https://youtu.be/ji5_MqicxSo According to Craig Venter, early detection is what we need to eli…

Referring to early screening, this seems like the right way to go: https://grail.com/

Sort of.

The issue with current early detection methods is that they tend to cause more harm than good at population scale. Between getting dosed with radiation in the process, false positives causing at best psychological trauma if not unnecessary treatment, and it's hard to tell if you just detected a cancer you'll die with instead of dying of - and thus another form of unnecessary treatment.

The blood tests remove some, but not all of that. Yes, for any arbitrary person it might be lifesaving, just like current methods. But at population scale it's not a panacea.

Re: I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

#156

Post by [deleted] »

adamredwoods wrote: post #101
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! New treatments at the UofIowa are sending patients home cured. Not in remission. Only very specific cancers, and at great cost. But there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

There currently is no "cure" for cancer. Patients can get to the NED (no evidence of disease) stage, but cancer comes back unless resected early enough. This may be referring to immunology, which is promising, but only keeps it at bay and needs continuing therapy. It becomes a chronic disease, which is preferable to a uncontrollable disease.

[deleted]

Re: I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

#158

Post by qorrect »

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #24
drowsspa wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually envy people who have such a drive to live to the point of battling cancer for so long. If I got diagnosed I definitely would just give up.

same ... chemo with all its uncertainties and pain. can't see myself go through that. but you only really know when you're there. survival instinct can just kick in when death is around the corner.

Agreed on all points. Thinking about developing a crippling disease is the only time I've been thankful that you can buy a pistol in any walmart.

Re: I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

#159

Post by jemmyw »

bckr wrote: post #123
beebeepka wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious about your last paragraph. What does it mean?

Death is something people in my culture try not to think about much. It is considered that the dead are totally dead and gone, never to be spoken to again and spoken of with sadness and distance. People of other cultures think differently about death. Death is welcomed into the day to day life. Consciousness of death is invited, even celebrated. The dead are spoken to. This second group of people don't believe in the…

The processes in your brain and body that are your consciousness stop and you cease to be forever. After that point nothing that happens or happened matters to you because you no longer exist.

Various cultures, religions, spiritual people want to deny this. They're probably happier for it, but I can only accept the dull explanation that we just stop and it's not very interesting.

Re: I’ve been battling cancer last 2 years, but now only have a few days left

#160

Post by zikduruqe »

orangepurple wrote: post #139
enraged_camel wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The American medical system is an absolute travesty. To be fair to you though, this only really becomes obvious when one experiences functioning medical systems in other countries.

How else would health insurance executives, hospital executives, and doctors afford their third million dollar home? The system is working just fine for them.

Except for me; they didn't get any yacht payments from me. When we had a medical disaster, I filed for bankruptcy once the bills came in, and this is with good insurance. It really didn't affect my credit score, and we bought a house and car 18 months afterwards.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, through no fault of their own.

I mean, rich fat cats get debt forgiveness when things don't work out for them.

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