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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

#281

Post by comfypotato »

boppo1 wrote: post #262
comfypotato wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up with a good friend with a surgeon for a father, and my friend is finishing his surgery residency now. I watched (with some envy, really) as my friend was able to navigate the process of becoming a doctor with ease. He was no smarter than any other hard-working student, but he had the system working for him to point him in the right direction at every step of the process. (How to allocate his time studying,…

Which foreign language?

My/his school offered a Latin program starting as early as the 6th grade that continued through the associated high school. In this example, said system encouraged my friend to take this route (leading to familiarity with the Latin roots of many medical terms). Most folks went the route of Spanish or French. It's not like this made much difference for him getting into medical school, but it slightly helped his progress alongside other similar systemic encouragement (which scribe positions in medical facilities to work during college being another example). Most families/6th graders would never have had that sort of intuition on their own.

This sort of help is available to everyone in the form of internet forums and formal guidance for privileged folks. It just came easier at every step for my friend. Like I've been saying: I don't think this is inherently wrong/evil, but it's something of which to be aware. My family and I are perfectly competent when it comes to navigating this sort of environment, and I definitely considered/wanted being a doctor. I wasn't able to make it along that track. (That being said, I'm happy my lot in life landed me as your average code monkey; it's great.)

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

#282

Post by rightbyte »

Retric wrote: post #190
rightbyte wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get it is bad but isn't Soylent Green where they turn old non-sick people into food with a nature documentary in color as payment?

I think it was meant differently, the dying are food for the hospice industry. This sets it in conflict with other approaches like dying at home or euthanasia.

Ye. Soylent Green would work better as an analogy for horrible uneseccesary euthanasia, not bad elderly care.

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

#283

Post by Retric »

rightbyte wrote: post #282
Retric wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was meant differently, the dying are food for the hospice industry. This sets it in conflict with other approaches like dying at home or euthanasia.

Ye. Soylent Green would work better as an analogy for horrible uneseccesary euthanasia, not bad elderly care.

Hospice is quite literally a place for sick people to die while drugged up on painkillers and receiving zero life extending medical care.

It’s basically euthanasia through negligence, as it’s more culturally acceptable for the elderly to die of dehydration than drugs.

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

#284

Post by rightbyte »

Retric wrote: post #283
rightbyte wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ye. Soylent Green would work better as an analogy for horrible uneseccesary euthanasia, not bad elderly care.

Hospice is quite literally a place for sick people to die while drugged up on painkillers and receiving zero life extending medical care. It’s basically euthanasia through negligence, as it’s more culturally acceptable for the elderly to die of dehydration than drugs.

Oh I thought hospice was a fancy word for elderly care, not palliative care.

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

#285

Post by jacquesm »

qwerpy wrote: post #223
jacquesm wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bike accident (utterly self inflicted), 1000's of all-nighters, too little exercise (which I guess you can always point at, I bike a lot but that's not balanced exercise), diet, overstressed joints/muscles by doing too much physical work beyond my ability (usually when remodeling houses or constructing stuff). Coupled with a nice assortment of genetic heritage and some regular diseases (COVID, kidneys, gall bladder,…

Was really helpful for me to read this comment. I'm entering my 40s, have young children, and am still relatively healthy but I start to notice old age stubbornly pushing for a foothold. The aches and pains take longer to go away and some of them never quite do. I'm terrified of an irreversible "drop off a cliff" as you mentioned. The most important thing for me now is to preserve my health for the next 30 years so I…

Yes, please do. And - my big mistake - don't think your body will be able to do the tricks that you could do yesterday and get away with it. If you are used to taking risks scale that down before you meet a risk that is not easily recoverable. Case in point: I like to tinker with bikes and I owned a whole bunch of experimental ones that I'd take down for rides, one of them a low racer recumbent. I'd fallen off that thing many times and never as much as a scratch so I figured it was pretty safe, even at speed. Cue my surprise when I ended up with a right leg and ankle broken in many places after being launched from something as exciting as a speedbump... If i could re-do that day I would be so happy.

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

#286

Post by theandrewbailey »

My mom died of cancer almost 2 weeks ago.[0] For about 2 years, it was managed well, and she did all the stuff she used to. In August, things started going downhill.

I'm getting something for Christmas that no one should want: an inheritance.

I love you mom, and I miss you. Don't worry, my brother and I are picking up the pieces, one day at a time.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33969098

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

#287

Post by NumberWangMan »

poulpy123 wrote: post #278
NumberWangMan wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy cow are you me? I haven't had as bad an experience as you either in terms of symptoms or medical care, but I'm hoping that right now I'm turning a corner, having started supplements of both of these and am feeling a lot better. The weirdest things I've been through were uncontrollable muscle spasms and numbness on half of my body, in various places. I had shingles a little while back and it seems like that side…

Not a doctor by did you try to also take magnesium? When I start to get cramps and muscle twitches a 2-4 weeks cures it completely

Yes, it was one of the things I've tried. It didn't really help much, maybe except for sleep, but it wasn't a noticeable enough change that I can't rule out placebo. The spasming was extremely sudden to come on, and the weirdest thing was that 90% of it also resolved very suddenly when I passed gas. It felt like some sort of nerve crosstalk or something.

I've continued taking magnesium (a little bit) as it seems recommended when taking a lot of D3 as well to avoid issues, though I haven't researched it well enough to tell if that's actually really backed up by strong evidence. I'm staying well under the recommended daily maximum intake for supplements so I think I'm ok. I'll probably keep taking it for a month or two, then stop and see if anything seems to go wrong.

Also, magnesium deficiency can explain twitching, but a large part of my symptoms have been numbness and weird sensations, which I don't believe is something that magnesium deficiency would explain.

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

#288

Post by [deleted] »

brandonmenc wrote: post #237
jacurtis wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll share another story as an example. Late last year I started having trouble swallowing. It started as a discomfort, and eventually turned into trouble breathing and inability to eat solids. I went from perfectly healthy (literally ran a triathalon two months before this, and a marathon a few months before that) to unable to eat solids and bedridden within ~3 weeks. I visited the ER a total of 5 times during those…

> I had asked for basic tests like a metabolic panel or other broad tests You researched the internet for a whole year but never found out that you can just pay someone like Private MD Labs [0] a hundred bucks and get this done yourself? Sorry, but I'm skeptical. [0] https://www.privatemdlabs.com

[deleted]

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

#289

Post by JeanPierreK »

brandonmenc wrote: post #237
jacurtis wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll share another story as an example. Late last year I started having trouble swallowing. It started as a discomfort, and eventually turned into trouble breathing and inability to eat solids. I went from perfectly healthy (literally ran a triathalon two months before this, and a marathon a few months before that) to unable to eat solids and bedridden within ~3 weeks. I visited the ER a total of 5 times during those…

> I had asked for basic tests like a metabolic panel or other broad tests You researched the internet for a whole year but never found out that you can just pay someone like Private MD Labs [0] a hundred bucks and get this done yourself? Sorry, but I'm skeptical. [0] https://www.privatemdlabs.com

Hi Brandon, thanks for spreading the word about PrivateMDLabs. I'm the ceo, please email me to get you a nice gift for helping others stay healthy and helping us in the process. jp AT privatemdlabs.com

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

#290

Post by eric_cc »

tekknik wrote: post #276
zamalek wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I am a person who would want millions spent to save my life, but despite that I take further issue with all this: people who refuse treatment are forced into a hospice because they are not allowed to choose euthanasia. You either suffer through a shit medical system, or have a needlessly painful/uncomfortable death.

> treatment are forced into a hospice because they are not allowed to choose euthanasia. Killing babies is OK and now so is euthanasia? But suicide is used as ammunition to remove access to guns?

I would not compare euthanasia and abortion.

Euthanasia is a choice you make governing your own life.

Abortion is a choice you make governing another being’s life.

As for suicide and guns - I’ve never heard this one before. There are plenty of options for suicide that don’t involve guns.

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