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Starting Hospice

jakeseliger.com

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Re: Starting Hospice

#91

Post by Bluestein »

causi wrote: post #54

If our civilization survives, we will, one day, through one manner or another, banish death. If that day comes, when it comes, I hope Jake's name is remembered for the monument to all who we lost, all of us who've had to grow and live and find meaning under the specter.

> If our civilization survives,

... that is to - perhaps - say "if we manage to survive the 'collective' death that seems oftentimes inevitable" ...

> we will, one day, through one manner or another, banish death.

How do I ever wish I had your certainty - I do not mean it as a backhanded criticism. I mean it literally.-

Re: Starting Hospice

#92

Post by sizzle »

jseliger wrote: post #2

Hacker News, thank you for all the links and all the great reading. Now I have to say goodbye. I’m with my wife Bess ( https://bessstillman.substack.com/ ) and my brother Sam, and crying, but it is okay. At the end of Lord of the Rings Gandalf says to the hobbits, "Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.” And that is how I feel now. Ending prematurely hurts, but all things must end, a…

Thank you for sharing your story, may the end come peacefully with family at your side, wishing you a safe journey to where we all must go someday to be reunited. My heartfelt condolences brother.

Re: Starting Hospice

#93

Post by Bluestein »

dl9999 wrote: post #37
monero-xmr wrote: post #14

Here's a couple mind-bending NDE experience reports from doctors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL1oDuvQR08 https://youtu.be/gpfriTZDWCY?t=2777 See you on the other side

These are very interesting. I used to be convinced that NDEs were either made up, or the brain rebooting or something like that. I'm not so sure about it anymore. I'm not religious (not anti-religious either), but there are a lot of options between nothingness and a religious expectation of an afterlife. Maybe these NDEs are indicators of something else. I was surprised to see that almost 20% of people that "die" rep…

> options between nothingness and a religious expectation of an afterlife.

May I ask what you consider some of those are? Honestly curious.-

Re: Starting Hospice

#94

Post by renewiltord »

jseliger wrote: post #2

Hacker News, thank you for all the links and all the great reading. Now I have to say goodbye. I’m with my wife Bess ( https://bessstillman.substack.com/ ) and my brother Sam, and crying, but it is okay. At the end of Lord of the Rings Gandalf says to the hobbits, "Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.” And that is how I feel now. Ending prematurely hurts, but all things must end, a…

Thank you for all the work and sharing your journey.

Re: Starting Hospice

#95

Post by alspaca »

jseliger wrote: post #2

Hacker News, thank you for all the links and all the great reading. Now I have to say goodbye. I’m with my wife Bess ( https://bessstillman.substack.com/ ) and my brother Sam, and crying, but it is okay. At the end of Lord of the Rings Gandalf says to the hobbits, "Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.” And that is how I feel now. Ending prematurely hurts, but all things must end, a…

Absolutely heartbreaking. Your writing has been a gift. Thank you for everything.

Re: Starting Hospice

#96

Post by jseliger »

keeptrying wrote: post #73
jseliger wrote: post #2

Hacker News, thank you for all the links and all the great reading. Now I have to say goodbye. I’m with my wife Bess ( https://bessstillman.substack.com/ ) and my brother Sam, and crying, but it is okay. At the end of Lord of the Rings Gandalf says to the hobbits, "Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.” And that is how I feel now. Ending prematurely hurts, but all things must end, a…

Thank you for your writing - its taught me a lot about a lot of things. One concrete highlight is how important patient agency is in the patient-doctor relationship - which you've written about a few times. I'm truly deeply sorry about this whole situation. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge.

I hope too to accomplish at least two concrete ends:

1. Help and educate other people who are suddenly facing the opaque clinical-trial system: https://bessstillman.substack.com/p/please-be-dying-but-not-...

2. Ultimately, reform and speed FDA approval for fatal diseases like recurrent / metastatic head and neck cancers: https://jakeseliger.com/2024/01/29/the-dead-and-dying-at-the.... A drug like petosemtamab (MCLA-158), which I was on from Sept. 27 2023 to March 29 2024, should already be approved, instead of continuing to wander around in clinical trials.

Re: Starting Hospice

#97

Post by doctoring »

joevandyk wrote: post #79

I hope this is an appropriate place to ask. Say I am eating well, exercising consistently, getting enough sleep. For a male in his 40s, what are the best bang-for-the-buck ways to detect cancer before it becomes life-threatening?

Whole body MRI is fairly available in major metro areas, though not cheap and not very sensitive or specific.

The Galleri blood test screens for a range of cancers (sensitivity varies by cancer) and is ~$900, although you need a doctor to order it. You also may not technically be within the intended use population unless you have some risk factors (e.g. you are older than 50, or have family history of cancer).

Colonoscopy is a good idea, given the rising rates of colon cancer among younger adults.

Re: Starting Hospice

#98

Post by bigDinosaur »

jseliger wrote: post #2

Hacker News, thank you for all the links and all the great reading. Now I have to say goodbye. I’m with my wife Bess ( https://bessstillman.substack.com/ ) and my brother Sam, and crying, but it is okay. At the end of Lord of the Rings Gandalf says to the hobbits, "Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.” And that is how I feel now. Ending prematurely hurts, but all things must end, a…

Thank you for your writing. I'm sorry it has come to this, and I don't quite know what to write other than that you've provided lots of valuable insight to an area I was unaware of.

Re: Starting Hospice

#99

Post by bigDinosaur »

cgijoe wrote: post #80
joevandyk wrote: post #79

I hope this is an appropriate place to ask. Say I am eating well, exercising consistently, getting enough sleep. For a male in his 40s, what are the best bang-for-the-buck ways to detect cancer before it becomes life-threatening?

Talk to your doctor, and ask to be screened for all common cancers. A colonoscopy is in your future (I just had one). Also ask for a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Test. Also look into the HPV vaccine.

HPV vaccine has to be the biggest bang for buck. To anyone reading this, you should get it at any age because you likely haven't been exposed to all the strains that e.g. Gardasil-9 protects you from. You should also get it if you're male despite it being initially known as the cervical cancer vaccine because HPV causes oral cancers and you also don't want to potentially be a carrier.

Re: Starting Hospice

#100

Post by kelnos »

Bluestein wrote: post #91
causi wrote: post #54

If our civilization survives, we will, one day, through one manner or another, banish death. If that day comes, when it comes, I hope Jake's name is remembered for the monument to all who we lost, all of us who've had to grow and live and find meaning under the specter.

> If our civilization survives, ... that is to - perhaps - say "if we manage to survive the 'collective' death that seems oftentimes inevitable" ... > we will, one day, through one manner or another, banish death. How do I ever wish I had your certainty - I do not mean it as a backhanded criticism. I mean it literally.-

I don't know about banishing death entirely, but I do believe (echoing the sentiment of "if our civilization survives") that we'll significantly, massively increase life expectancy in the next century (like by a factor of two or more), and/or discover how to digitize or preserve brains to the degree that we'll be able to live on in some capacity beyond the deaths of our bodies.

If this does turn out to be true, it's a bummer that many/most of us alive today are likely too early to benefit from it.

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