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How Long Have I Got Left?

nytimes.com

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Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#171

Post by algopats »

300bps wrote: post #159
chroma wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not entirely sure how your reply connects to my comment. Are you arguing that death isn't bad? If so, try pointing the argument at someone else: "The universe existed for billions of years and did just fine without you. It will probably be good for eons after you're gone. And the funny thing is, I have never lost a minute of sleep over your non-existence for those initial billions of years." It sounds both psycho…

Are you arguing that death isn't bad? I'm actually quoting many philosophers and authors that have said the same thing and for which I agree. For example: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/25647-i-do-not-fear-death-i-... Essentially, it didn't bother you that you didn't exist 100 years ago. Think hard about why it bothers you that you won't exist 100 years from now. In 200 years, nobody will remember you. In 1,000 year…

illusion my friend. How certain/confident are you with that belief ? The "I" that you think you are, was different when you are 3yr old, when you are 30yr old, or at present...the way you behaved, reacted to pain(both physical and psychological) have evolved. There is a theory the subconscious (not consciously comprehended) evolves through lives. Its not rebirth (of your PRESENT SELF), in the traditional sense.

"I" at any moment through out your PRESENT life, is illusion (in other words, its constantly evolving, not same or real). If you cant even pin down present life, how can you be sure of past and future.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#172

Post by dollar »

nova wrote: post #55
dollar wrote: post #44

For Christ's sake, is there no safe haven in this world for the unapologetic atheist? I thought that Hacker News might be the one safe zone where Jesus brainwashing is not regurgitated to the masses, but I guess not. News flash for everyone, death is inevitable, and people do not rise from the grave, whether they harbor sympathy for humans or not. Life's meaning, if there is one, is at this stage incomprehensible to…

> News flash for everyone, death is inevitable As far as we know there is nothing in the laws of physics about death (or life). It's all about fields and particles. Or maybe strings or loops or something else, but vitalism ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalism ) is over. So death "is" inevitable only because we don't know how to prevent it. > How many more years must humanity be shackled to superstition and death…

People would still die indeed. But I think technologically our odds favor tackling the issue of colonization over death. If we remain here on this planet, death of the entire species is a certainty. That could happen a lot sooner than people think.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#173

Post by algopats »

belluchan wrote: post #160
sdegutis wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only think of three reasons you're asking me why I believe in Christianity (or Catholicism). 1. You want to learn more about Christianity for yourself to see if its worth believing in. 2. You just want to have a conversation with me. 3. You want to find my reasoning so you can tear it down and show me how I'm wrong. I don't believe #3 is true, as I believe you're a better person than that. And I don't see why y…

I'm not trying to do anything malicious but intentions are irrelevant when it comes to truth. It's either right or wrong. If someone really had a good reason for believing in God I'd like to know about it. I am also interested in atheists who later turn to God because I don't comprehend how such a thing is possible unless they were never rigorous in their scepticism or had some kind of terrible psychological trauma.…

wrong questions you two banging heads for. Before you go for the ultimate, first, pin down a thing (anything) thats not changing (what, why, how, ...until all questions satisfy you/logically-subside). Atleast you will have a REAL thing to anchor/pivot from. As they say, reality(atheist's synonym for god) is real. God is reality. Real reality is not changing; get your mind established on it, the wisdom unfolds.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#174

Post by marincounty »

I was told that Japanese Doctors don't discuss mortality rates with their patients. I was told they don't even mention the word Cancer. If a patient has stomach cancer, the patient is given the best currently available treatment, and is told they have a bad case of heart burn--and told they will get better! The reasoning is they want to get every once of magic The Placebo Effect has to offer. I don't know if it's better to quote stats to a patient, or lie(hopeing the Placebo Effect will take over?).

Personally, I don't use the Internet for any health related concerns--It has always just made me feel worse, and is loaded with hysteria, and just horrid advice.

And yes, I know U.S. Doctors can't lie to their patients. I'm just relaying what I was told twenty years ago.

When I get sick--I'm not sure if I would want to the statistics of survival. I would live every day as my last. I would take any drugs the Pallitive care Physician offered though. My father benefitted greatly from the opiates the doctors prescribed before he died.

I hope the doctor makes a full recovery, and commend him on his honesty and openness. Sometimes I forget doctors will someday be patients.

Oh yea, to the Marin General counter person who asked me if I wanted to sign a Advanced Procedure Directive, before even saying hello--if you happen to read this--one day you will be on the other side of the counter.

Good night! I hope you all stay well and are happy!

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#175

Post by saboot »

ifktaotc wrote: post #29

A few years ago I got testicular cancer. The information about the disease came in pieces: first all I knew was that there was a lump; then came the ultrasound, the CT scan, then biopsy of the testicle, then a second surgery to sample lymph nodes to which the cancer might have spread. At every step I would obsessively query my doctors for conditional probabilities: given what we'd just found out, what were the chance…

> Given HN user demographics, there are almost certainly some of you reading this who've gotten it already, or who will.

Just checked myself .. I may (hopefully not) have proven your statement. Will see doctor on Monday.

Thanks for the PSA

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#176

Post by MarkMc »

thomasz wrote: post #63

> We never cite detailed statistics, and usually advise against Googling survival numbers, assuming the average patient doesn’t possess a nuanced understanding of statistics When I was at the receiving end of that talk, this attitude made me incredibly angry. They know exactly that we will look up those numbers, they are just too afraid to have a honest discussion with us. People make very bad decisions because those…

I too was on the receiving end of that talk. Are statistics so really so difficult that doctors cannot give them to patients?

Here's a Kaplan-Meier curve for patients with Leukaemia: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202035/figure/F...

Would it really be so difficult to say, "We estimate you have a 50% chance of being alive in 18 months, and a 25% chance of being alive in 10 years. But don't give up hope because that will reduce your chances."

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#178

Post by ifktaotc »

saboot wrote: post #175
ifktaotc wrote: post #29

A few years ago I got testicular cancer. The information about the disease came in pieces: first all I knew was that there was a lump; then came the ultrasound, the CT scan, then biopsy of the testicle, then a second surgery to sample lymph nodes to which the cancer might have spread. At every step I would obsessively query my doctors for conditional probabilities: given what we'd just found out, what were the chance…

> Given HN user demographics, there are almost certainly some of you reading this who've gotten it already, or who will. Just checked myself .. I may (hopefully not) have proven your statement. Will see doctor on Monday. Thanks for the PSA

Good luck. It could be a number of things, but please do see the doctor soon.

And if you (or anyone else reading this) want to chat, get advice on picking a specialist, etc., I'm more than happy to talk - hit me up at ifktaotc7583@hmamail.com.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#179

Post by robert-wallis »

vanderZwan wrote: post #68
thomasz wrote: post #63

> We never cite detailed statistics, and usually advise against Googling survival numbers, assuming the average patient doesn’t possess a nuanced understanding of statistics When I was at the receiving end of that talk, this attitude made me incredibly angry. They know exactly that we will look up those numbers, they are just too afraid to have a honest discussion with us. People make very bad decisions because those…

And would you suggest doctors would take two to three extra hours with every patient to work them through a basic statistics class which still isn't sufficient to explain the concept?

In the case of terminal illness. Absolutely. In fact, they should be sending the charts to a specialist teaching a week long personalized class to help them understand the data.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#180

Post by MarkMc »

This part annoys me:

> Where was the study of nonsmoking 36-year-old neurosurgeons? Maybe my youth and health mattered? Or maybe my disease was found so late, had spread so far, and I was already so far gone that I was worse off than those 65-year-old smokers.

You don't need a 'study', you just need a comprehensive database that includes patients' age, smoking status, body-mass index, health status, and other prognostic factors. Then run a query to find what percentage of similar patients are still alive after 5 years.

Just about every person who is diagnosed with cancer asks, "What are my chances?". (And the best treatment usually depends on an accurate answer). Wouldn't the benefit of compiling and maintaing a central database of all US cancer patients be worth the cost?

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