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Bridge to Nowhere

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Re: Bridge to Nowhere

#81

Post by zeroXeng »

gregfjohnson wrote: post #76

I work at a medical device company that specializes in radiation treatment for brain tumors. This thoughtful and profound essay brings home the lived reality of the patients who are treated by our systems. The writer speaks lived truth that has a tone of heft and substantiality. Human life is a fragile and temporary gift. Most of us are lucky enough to have a few moments of transporting and profound beauty and joy. W…

>Human life is a fragile and temporary gift. Most of us are lucky enough to have a few moments of transporting and profound beauty and joy.

>While life's journey has an inevitable end for all of us, we can help each other in innumerable ways to make the journey more bearable, and at times joyful.

very nicely articulated. thank you.

the series of essays is moving and profound. what we take for granted is a miracle and we dont realize it, and are caught up in trifles.

thanks to whoever brought this our collective attention.

Re: Bridge to Nowhere

#83

Post by zeroXeng »

zombot wrote: post #68

I'm not normally one to read "my road through pain and suffering" articles, and to be fair, this isn't one. And I sure am glad I read this, just in case it should ever be my turn.

my takeaway from such essays is to gain perspective and hopefully keep that perspective in the rest of the moments we have.

Re: Bridge to Nowhere

#84

Post by daedrdev »

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #42
Mistletoe wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most brain tumors form in people without any known risk factors. But some factors may increase your risk for brain tumors, such as: >Radiation exposure. People who have had radiation to the head are at higher risk for brain tumors. Most often this exposure comes from radiation therapy used to treat another type of cancer, like leukemia during childhood. >Certain inherited syndromes. People who are born with certain…

What about smoking cigarettes?

Cigarettes directly damage lung tissue, thats why the cause so much lung cancer, so probably its just when the lung cancer spreads everywhere

Re: Bridge to Nowhere

#85

Post by silexia »

Super important to investigate all medical diagnoses and treatments yourself. I was diagnosed with stage four hip osteoarthritis at age 36 due to some ongoing pain in my hip I had while playing golf.

The Harvard educated doctor treated me brusquely when I tried asking more questions. He told me to immediately get a hip replacement.

I did a bunch of research and decided to try lifestyle changes first. I quit playing golf and running. I took up cycling and taking anti inflammatory supplements (no drugs). In a couple of months, the pain was mostly gone. Now I have no pain at all and do a large variety of farming manual labor work and am roofing my own house.

Doctors see you as a paycheck. Always do your own research into diagnoses and alternative treatments.

Re: Bridge to Nowhere

#86

Post by sangnoir »

bluecheese452 wrote: post #75
arp242 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty clearly against the guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html "Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes." "Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. That tramples curiosity."

Right back at you. You are the one making this an ideological battle which is clearly against the guidelines. This is a place for curiosity, not ideological witch hunts.

Forum 101: someone who posted flamebait cannot blame those who got baited for flamebaiting. Both are problematic, but the baiter is responsible for raising the temperature.

Re: Bridge to Nowhere

#87

Post by rootusrootus »

freehorse wrote: post #62

Anecdotally, when negative scenarios are probable, a strategy of the medical system is hiding them from the patient (until more progress is done, at least). I wonder if that is still a common occurence in the first place, and if it is, I wonder if it is really backed up by scientific evidence of this improving prognosis and outcome of surgeries (though in cases like OP's this seems sort of irrelevant anyway, same wit…

Probably situational. Maybe in-person it is more likely to be held until diagnosis is firm? Anecdotally, the raw results that get published to sites like MyChart are pretty to-the-point if you have any idea what you're looking for, and sometimes even for laypeople. My mom had a chest x-ray and the radiologist report came back with a great big, red, bolded "THIS IS A RED DOT CASE" stamped on it. The doctor called within a matter of minutes of that result being published. I had just barely finished googling the likely meaning of that phrase when the doc confirmed it.

Re: Bridge to Nowhere

#88

Post by [deleted] »

gus_massa wrote: post #2

> But more than this I would come to learn that that I'd fallen into a trap of my own making. I'd blame the medical doctor. In similar cases, they use misleading remarks and partial information to guide the patient in the path they prefer.

[deleted]

Re: Bridge to Nowhere

#89

Post by pirate787 »

bruce511 wrote: post #36
alexashka wrote: post #5

It may be a bridge to nowhere for the patient but it is a profit opportunity for hospital owners. You're just another input in their number go up paperclip maximizer - where your road leads beyond their number go up is not a concern for them.

In one sense your comment is accurate - hospitals exist to "do something". And yes, in the US the hospital us part of a for-profit health system. But your comment is not limited to hospitals. It's true for every business. If I sell an ice-cream my interest ends after you pay for it. Equally I'm not going to withhold ice-cream from overweight people - my job is to sell ice-cream. If the hospital was a non-profit, and…

Actually a majority of hospitals in the US are not-for-profit.

Re: Bridge to Nowhere

#90

Post by ranbato »

smallerfish wrote: post #63
Mistletoe wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most brain tumors form in people without any known risk factors. But some factors may increase your risk for brain tumors, such as: >Radiation exposure. People who have had radiation to the head are at higher risk for brain tumors. Most often this exposure comes from radiation therapy used to treat another type of cancer, like leukemia during childhood. >Certain inherited syndromes. People who are born with certain…

>Radiation exposure. People who have had radiation to the head are at higher risk for brain tumors. Most often this exposure comes from radiation therapy used to treat another type of cancer, like leukemia during childhood. Notably, dental xrays have been linked with tumors. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3396782/ The US is the "largest market" for dental xrays: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industr…

From the study:

Conclusion Exposure to some dental x-rays performed in the past, when radiation exposure was greater than in the current era, appears to be associated with increased risk of intra-cranial meningioma.

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