111–120 of 172 posts
Imagine you didn't have cancer, but I told you that if you killed yourself, I'd give everyone at your startup an extra $200/month for a couple years (or however long you would've worked there). That's it. That's the entire deal. Would you take it? I imagine not, but that's essentially what you're proposing. Everyone will want you to survive, and anyone who begrudges you for being human because it cost them a trivial…
I am just recovering from cancer myself so a few thoughts from having just gone through something similar. 1. Get all your information first. Just because it's been deemed cancerous doesn't clarify what's ahead. It could range from intensive treatment, down to rather localized surgery. Talk to your specialists about the specifics and you'll know what you're in for. 2. Cover yourself foremost. I understand the altruis…
These sound right to me. I had cancer my senior year of college; not the same at all but also in a position of trying to hold all my classes together, not let potential employers find out, etc. Four months of treatment and I was done; I sincerely hope you're as lucky. Whether you are or not, though, it's true don't panic and cover your ass are critical. Fortunately we live in an era of obamacare, though, as well as r…
The fact that this thread exists makes me want to move back to Europe. It's really hard, for someone who grew up with state-provided healthcare, to understand how dealing with an illness involves decisions about employment. To the OP: the system is deeply unfair, and you shouldn't feel bad for obtaining what in the rest of the civilized world is an unalienable right.
> The fact that this thread exists makes me want to move back to Europe. I'm sorry to break it to you, but TTIP wants to export the "American" healthcare model to Europe. So maybe when you come back things are not to so great.
"The EU reserves the right to adopt or maintain any measure with regard to the provision of all health services which receive public funding or State support in any form"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-3163...
Note: I am a urine therapy practitioner, and have had wonderful results. My wife was cured of Thyroid in just 2 months. Several friends and family have benefited as well. So, am spreading the word.
You can find loads of information on the internet, and case histories of people cured via urine therapy. It's known as the Water Of Life or Shivambu in sanskrit. Just google - urine therapy for cancer.
Steps to intake: 1.Collect your urine in a glass/mug. 2.Leave out the first couple of seconds of your stream. 3.Collect the middle portion. 4.Again leave out the last few seconds of the urine stream. 5.The middle portion is the clear urine. 6.Early mornings are the best, as the urine is more concentrated. 7.You could drink the rest of the day as well, though it would be not as strong.
Follow the practice, till a month. Go to doctor and get yourself checked again. You will see visible results within a week itself. Continue till completely cured.
Urine has loads of antibodies and harmones, and strengthens your immune system & increases your stamina as well. Don't take my word. Try it and you will notice the difference within a week.
All the best, Ganesh.
(1) Buy COBRA. Do it now. You have 60 days from when you left your old job. Fill out the COBRA form, either your old carrier or old employer should have sent it to the last address you had on file. If you haven't received it or lost it, call your old HR person & ask to discuss in person. (2) When you start at your new job, they will submit forms for you to be covered. Those forms will take 30-45 days to process, beca…
(7) Thank Obama and vote for Democrats. They are the sole reason small group health insurance isn't medically underwritten and you aren't a financial disaster for your employer. Plus, in case anything happens with the new job, you can always get obamacare, even mid year because of a change in job status, with guaranteed issue, and it may well be much cheaper than cobra. Best of luck with treatment. ps -- my father we…
This happened to me and I got into obamacare mid year. It was pretty awesome.
Get a biopsie (if that didn't happen already, not sure from reading) with preferrably multiple samples. I don't know if you have that where you live, but where I live one sample is examined in the hospital and one to three samples are examined by external reference laboratories. The people in the hospital are good, but the people in the reference laboratories (my oncologist called them cancer nerds) are better since they often specialize on specific cancer groups and do noting else but examine cancer samples.
This way you get the best result, and if it turns out to be really cancer you can get the best treatment (definetly get a second opinion). If it turns out to be Lymphoma (non hodgkin to be precise, but hodgkin would be more likely) get your vitamin d levels checked if your doc doesn't check them on his own.
In case you get chemo newest studies show that vitamin d could be helpful [1]. Last year when I got my treatment the study was not finished but I asked my oncologist about it anyway. We checked and found out that I had only 4.4 µg/l of vitamin d3. It should be >30 µg/l, but if you live in northern areas it's likely to be between 20-30 µg/l if you're healty. Two years before my cancer was discovered I had my last vitamin d check and then it was >30 µg/l.
Also ask your oncologist about the rituximab level you will receive, newest studies show that young men and woman need a higher dosis than whats standard [2][3][4][5]
Speak to your doc about optimal 60. Some study results were presented at the international ash congress. It uses a liposomal formulation of vincristin and doubles the dosis. First results are realy promising and show even better results than 1.5 times the normal dosis.
Should you be a young high risk patient (young matches definetly) like me ask your doc about R-CHOEP 14. Studies show better results in young patients than the standard which in most countrys is R-CHOP 14 or 21.[6][7][8]
Depending on the chemo and other variables it could be that you should avoid some kinds of food. In that case remember the following sentence: "cook it, boil it, peel it or forget it".
Go for a walk/be active every day if you can, a good cardiovascular system distributes the drugs better and you preserve your muscles.
Avoid sick people and don't be near young kids if your chemo destroys leucocytes which is typical for Lymphoma treatment. In the earlier cycles your immunsystem should be able to handle it, but in later cycles sick people or young kids (they are ill often and depending on the chemo you can get sicknesses again that only kids get) are dangerous. My leucocytes dropped below 0.5 every chemo cylcle even though I had to take G-CSF to push my leucocytes. But discuss everything with your doctor.
Also, think about a port catheter. It has it's own risks but also benefits (it spares your veins) and makes the cancer treatment easier.
It's very likely that you are steril after chemo so bank sperm/eggs depending on your gender.
I'm the same age as you and was diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma stage 4 (with multiple bulk tumors > 10cm and bone marrow involvement) last year after relly bad backpain for a few months. Which I thought came from my chair at work or my mattress since I was in good shape physically and my diet was balanced. But when I got checked for a herniated disk with an MRT they found the unwanted lodgers. After more checkups in the hospital they found them in my pelvis, spinal column, rib, muscles, spleen and lung but luckily not my brain or cerebrospinal fluid.
After getting 8 cycles of R-CHOEP 14 and 2 additional cycles with only Rituximab directly after that I am in complete remission. The PET-CT after my chemo showed that and now 3 months later my first aftercare CT shows that as well.
I wish you luck, and if it really turns out to be cancer, don't panic. Stay calm, think about your next steps (but I probably don't have to tell you that, since you showed that by asking here on ycombinator instead of putting your head in the sand like some people do) and do your research ,especially about newest studies, if you know your cancer type. My oncologist was very knowledgeable (lymphona is her speciality and she reasearches and publishes about it herself since 20 or so years) about newest studies but liked it that I informed myself and even found infos she did not read yet (no wonder, she gives around 500 chemos each year, teaches at university etc.). With this she could alter my chemo before my first treatment.
[1] Bittenbring J, Neumann F, Altmann B et al. Vitamin D deficiency impairs rituximab-mediated cellular cytotoxicity and outcome of DLBCL patients treated with, but not without rituximab . J Clin Oncol 2014
[2] Murawski N, Pfreundschuh M, Zeynalova S et al. Optimization of rituximab for the treatment of DLBCL (I): dose-dense rituximab in the DENSE-R-CHOP-14 trial of the DSHNHL. Ann Oncol 2014
[3] Pfreundschuh M, Poeschel V, Zeynalova S et al. Optimization of rituximab for the treatment of DLBCL (II): Extendet rituximab exposure time in the SMARTE-R-CHOP-14 trial of the DSHNHL. J Clin Oncol 2014
[4] Pfreundschuh M, Poeschel V, Zeynalova S et al. Increased rituximab doses eliminate increased risk of elderly male patients with aggressive CD20+ B-cell lymphomas: Results from the SEXIE-R-CHOP-14 trial of the DSHNHL. J Clin Oncol 32[6], 2014
[5] Pfreundschuh M, Schubert J, Ziepert M et al. Six versus eight cycles of bi-weekly CHOP-14 with or without rituximab in elderly patients with aggressive CD20+ B-cell lymphomas: a randomised controlled trial (RICOVER-60). Lancet Oncol 2008;9:105-16.
[6] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21460380 [7] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23168367 [8] http://i.imgur.com/bq5ZZsr.png
Don't worry. There is a cure. This might sound awkward at first. But you can completely cure yourself of cancer(and any other ailments), by drinking your urine. Urine therapy is an age old practice dating back thousands of years. Note: I am a urine therapy practitioner, and have had wonderful results. My wife was cured of Thyroid in just 2 months. Several friends and family have benefited as well. So, am spreading th…
If I had to give him advice, it would be to change his diet and try to eat as much vegetables as possible while at the same time reducing protein and carb intake.
We did everything we could to help him. He didn't want to just sit at home and feel sick, so with a few modifications to his normal schedule/workload he could be productive.
It didn't really have any negative impact on the company, and years later even I definitely don't regret that he joined and don't feel that he "burdened" us with his problem.
I would think that most startups would feel this way. So 1) don't quit 2) get them to help you and 3) stay positive :-)
Moreover, if that's the case and there is a good outcome, then you've been blessed with something that many others like me discover on their late thirties, fourties or fifties. To appreciate life and enjoy every minute of it.
Good luck.
