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From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

benjamincburns.com

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Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#61

Post by saboot »

I would like to take this opportunity to remind our fellow hackers to be aware of changes within your own body. Being alert to physical and/or mental changes and relaying concerns to your doctor is one the best methods for overcoming several diseases and cancers.

As a personal testimony, about ten months ago user ifktaotc made a very helpful comment regarding testicular cancer and it's prevalance among young men warning that it was likely that at least some of those reading his comment will have it or already do so. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7120102

After reading I checked myself and found what was confirmed a few days later to be a cancerous mass.

I am very fortunate to be alerted to the fact very early as aside from some initial surgery it hasn't affected the rest of my life. Even though the odds of survival overall are high, not knowing it earlier would have required much more intense and painful treatment (chemo, RPLND).

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#63

Post by AznHisoka »

phkahler wrote: post #60
AznHisoka wrote: post #57

So I'm somewhat confused by the responses to this post. It seemed to me that his long hours at work contributed to his developing the disease. But ppl seem to be responding as if he had a natural inclination to developing it, and that we should accept it. So there's absolutely nothing to learn here aside from "visit the doctor often"?

>> It seemed to me that his long hours at work contributed to his developing the disease. What on earth makes you say that? Is there a documented link between working long hours and getting cancer? Citation please.

I'm not claiming that at all. Just that OP mentions a lot about his working long hours the weeks prior.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#64

Post by pawelkomarnicki »

I had very similar situation at work, one day we found out one of the teammates passed away in his sleep (a young, heavy, although sporty person), but I would never make a blog post like the one I'm commenting on. Being Nicole I would be really angry about you invading my privacy, making her tragedy all about yourself and your fear of mortality... Just saying.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#65

Post by peapicker »

johnaspden wrote: post #56
edw519 wrote: post #41

I am so sorry to hear this and also so glad you posted it here, Ben. Thank you. We all get so busy in our daily details, it's nice to be reminded what's really important. Just some quick, well intentioned feedback from someone who has lost almost every important loved one... Please don't be angry. That may seem like a natural response, but it is wasted output, serving as input into no productive process. Life is not…

Death is a bad thing. Anger is appropriate. We can probably fix it. If not in time to save ourselves, we might be able to save our children. We need to start now and spend a fortune. People need to stop pretending that it's ok.

Death is neither good nor bad. All life is terminal. You can't fix it, even if you can prolong it.

The sooner you get this into your head and heart, the better you will live.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#66

Post by vadman »

madaxe_again wrote: post #50

I don't have a brain tumour, but I have had, and am still having, an experience which has made me think seriously about my mortality. I'm 31. About three years ago I started having three/four day long bouts of total delirium, roasting fever, extreme nausea, can't even keep sips of water down when it happens - by day three or four, I'm usually too weak to move, totally dehydrated. Two years on, my GP is still going "c…

Thank you for the sincere post. Best of luck with your surgery, hope everything turns out well.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#68

Post by seren »

geographomics wrote: post #33
josephagoss wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought a MRI is both more accurate and safer.

MRI does have some caveats - it's not available to people with ferromagnetic material embedded within them, and not suitable for those who are claustrophobic. Also CT scans tend to be more accurate for bone, and are quicker to perform so less susceptible to the subject moving about. There's also the issue that, at present, MRI scans are considerably more expensive than CT.

And a MRI needs an enclosure, I am not aware of small portable MRI systems that would allow you to image a single leg, or breast. X-Rays are more dangerous but are more versatile in some cases.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#69

Post by mcphage »

DanBC wrote: post #10
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #9

How long until a daily brain scan and body scan is a part of everyone's routine, the same way brushing your teeth is? Problems like these are untreatable if left for too long, but if caught early, there's sometimes hope. The solution seems to be to develop as many types of passive scanners as possible. The problem is false positives. But wasting a month needlessly visiting the doctor doesn't seem that bad.

False positives don't mean a month of visiting a doctor - they mean several months of anxiety inducing "watchful waiting" or invasive biopsies. And false positives are not a rare event. False positives are very common. On top of that the radiation (from CT scans) increase the risk of cancer. Scans for healthy people are strongly discouraged. There's a possible benefit if you have any of the genetic markers for lung c…

> And false positives are not a rare event. False positives are very common.

Sure, but if you're scanning daily (or close to it), then you don't need to do anything immediately for a positive. You see a growth that looks like it might be cancer—then have the doctor watch it. If you're scanning often, then you'll see any changes. Does it grow? Then it's something to be concerned about. Does it stay the same? Then you don't need to worry.

With frequent enough scans, finding something isn't a cause for any alarm. You can watch how it changes, and decide if it's a concern based on that. Like skin moles. Yes, they could be a problem, but if you have one, you don't need to worry unless it starts changing. Just having one doesn't cause anxiety.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#70

Post by pond_lilly »

phkahler wrote: post #60
AznHisoka wrote: post #57

So I'm somewhat confused by the responses to this post. It seemed to me that his long hours at work contributed to his developing the disease. But ppl seem to be responding as if he had a natural inclination to developing it, and that we should accept it. So there's absolutely nothing to learn here aside from "visit the doctor often"?

>> It seemed to me that his long hours at work contributed to his developing the disease. What on earth makes you say that? Is there a documented link between working long hours and getting cancer? Citation please.

You people are all insane. I know it is HN, so my comment will be seen as blasphemy, but working long hours, lack of sleep, stress, constant exposure to technology, EMR, coupled with messed up environment, poor diet could absolutely lead to cancer along with some other numerous issues. The commenters in here are absolutely naive and clueless about all that. A typical 20-something invincibility complex.
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