Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

benjamincburns.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 234 posts

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#101

Post by Mc_Big_G »

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…

The ineptitude of doctors never ceases to amaze me. One particularly idiotic fellow proudly announced to me and the entire office that he'd discovered I have diabetes. Even if that has been true, the manner in which he announced his pleasure at the epiphany made me want to punch him in the balls. hard. After a confused and sad ride home it only took a short talk with my extremely unqualified wife to convince me that he is mentally challenged and had no idea what he was talking about. Of course she was right.

In a fun twist, a month later I contacted a different Dr's office in the same plaza to get a new doctor. I wanted to verify it wasn't the same location, so I specifically asked if he worked there. The attendant said "No, but why do you ask?" I told her the story and she said that he had applied to be a part of their practice and, after my call, ther was an extremely slim chance of that happening. Made my day.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#102

Post by 3am »

mcphage wrote: post #96
3am wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an insane amount of radiation, and would substantially increase your risk of fatal cancer. A single CT scan is roughly a years worth of normal radiation exposure, and then targeted to a single area of the body.

Right, I wouldn't want to do it with CT scans. But I think it's an area where a less dangerous, cheaper scanning method might save a lot of lives, even with our current techniques for treating cancer. Frequent scanning would mean people would find tumors when they're smaller, and only treat the ones which behave dangerously.

edit: I'm replacing my entire previous comment about the superiority of ct/pet-ct vs *mri scanning; it looks like some groups are doing work with MRIs that are comparable in accuracy and nearing clinical use. I still think daily whole body scans are a spectacular waste of human capital for relatively little benefit.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#103

Post by Someone1234 »

madaxe_again wrote: post #71
debacle wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't your GP even order an ultrasound? If you're experiencing jaundice, and are otherwise healthy, gallstones are the most likely culprit and can be detected via a simple ultrasound in most cases.

Because my GP is... not cut out for his job, to put it nicely. I need to change, but it's irrelevant right now as I've circumvented him. I thought his approach was weird and off, and must have been something I'd bought about: Him: "tell me word by word what you want me to put in your notes" Me: "uh, what? I don't care. I just want you to at least have a crack at figuring out what's wrong with me." Him: "'Abdominal pa…

What country is your GP in?

If they're in the UK I implore you to complain about the lapses of care. Look at it this way, it isn't up to you to parse judgement over if the care you received was fitting or not, but it gives people who are qualified to do so a heads up so they can examine it.

The NHS has a lot of very good GPs. This clown is giving the service a bad name and worse still giving people a sub-standard quality of care. Please complain to the health authority.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#104

Post by JonnieCache »

wspeirs wrote: post #90

I am in no way trying to downplay the severity of this post, but I had a very different reaction when I read this. My reaction was, "Why did the head of the division tell the group about his condition in detail?" Maybe it is because I live in America, and maybe it is because I know someone who had cancer and was reprimanded by HR for discussing his cancer -- and survival from it -- on an internal work forum. My prefe…

Why would it not be OK? What could the company possibly be liable for?

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#105

Post by dredmorbius »

Filligree wrote: post #44
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…

I here declare, that I disagree. http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html

I fail to see the relevance of that link to this post.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#106

Post by chaostheory »

Mc_Big_G wrote: post #101
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…

The ineptitude of doctors never ceases to amaze me. One particularly idiotic fellow proudly announced to me and the entire office that he'd discovered I have diabetes. Even if that has been true, the manner in which he announced his pleasure at the epiphany made me want to punch him in the balls. hard. After a confused and sad ride home it only took a short talk with my extremely unqualified wife to convince me that…

> The ineptitude of doctors never ceases to amaze me

Yeah there are stupid people in all professions but doctors in general are overworked and there's only so much specialized knowledge that generalists can hold in their heads.

Who knows. Maybe this will help? http://www.businessinsider.com/ibms-watson-may-soon-be-the-b...

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#107

Post by chaostheory »

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…

Since Steven has a child coming, I really hope that he had some life insurance.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#108

Post by exten »

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…

I am about 10 months in to a similar experience, pre-diagnosis, and I can echo your statements about how terrifying the unknown can be. Being surprised to wake up in the morning can really alter your perception of reality. I think there is an enormous amount of abstraction needed in this perception to avoid going insane. I think it is important to be able to remove oneself from the reality of ones own mortality and I don't think it is possible to live normally while being too aware of it. Having said that, If recover from this whole thing I think it would ultimately be a good thing to have gone through as my appreciation of normal life would be much higher.

Good luck for your surgery.

Re: From hacker to hospice in seven weeks

#110

Post by danielweber »

chaostheory wrote: post #107
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…

Since Steven has a child coming, I really hope that he had some life insurance.

I hope I don't derail by telling everyone: if you have someone who depends on you, get life insurance.
Post reply on HN