4 ms·

This is so sad because if you read his blog post from January 2021, he sounds so very hopeful and happy at the prospect of the immunotherapy working. It sounds

This is so sad because if you read his blog post from January 2021, he sounds so very hopeful and happy at the prospect of the immunotherapy working. It sounds like he discovered a new lease of life. Being thrown from that situation to the new prognosis which is infinitely worse, sounds like a hammer blow.

vmception 6y ago
Cancer requires clinging to glimmers of hope. Yes, he felt that way at the time and yes, he wrote it down, but these improbabilities are all anyone ever has, its not over till it’s over. I read that post too, going from a tiny undetectable bump under the skin that only his partner noticed, to unbearable pain pressing against his spine making him unable to sleep and think clearly. It seems like 4 months were wasted just getting appointments.
- genewitch 6y ago
  There's a progression that is "forced" when you get a cancer diagnosis, especially if they have to surgically remove anything. They won't start chemo or anything else for several weeks post-op. It seems like you're trying to get appointments or whatever, but realistically, they're getting you in as soon as their liability (or patient care laws) says they can. Stage III, stage IV, doesn't matter. If they operate first, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting. If you're an american, remember that FMLA only lasts a quarter, so if you can go back to work after the surgery but before the chemo i strongly suggest you do that if there's any concern about insurance or whatever, since you're probably going to want to sleep for the first few weeks worth of chemo dosing. Good luck to 1/2 of the american population, because that's the rate of cancer in the US.
  - howenterprisey 6y ago
    1/2 sounds a bit high? (I'm completely ignorant on the matter, of course.)
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- 1996 6y ago
  > It seems like 4 months were wasted just getting appointments. That's the NHS "free" healthcare at play. Remember, you get what you pay for!
- sneak 6y ago
  > Cancer requires clinging to glimmers of hope. Does it, though? Is there anything that suggests the mental state of the patient is a factor in the efficacy of treatment? Pieter Hintjens has written a bit against the "fight" model.
  - alecst 6y ago
    A better mental state is its own reward, isn't it?
  - vmception 6y ago
    I specifically didn't say fight and this wasn't a reference to someone's mental state having any affect on the user experience. This was simply about the user experience itself. A dramatic way of saying that people grasp for hope, not that "beating cancer" requires glimmers of hope, only that the "user experience of cancer" involves the patient/host/victim grasping for them. I'm surprised you read it any other way, but I can see how, yeah this definitely wasn't one of those unquantifiable "beat cancer because they're a strong fighter [and everyone else that didn't was a useless weak wimp that gave up]" voodoo posts. His blog post was one of those glimmers of hope. It is predictable that people do that because they have nothing else. No more, no less. The point is that deep down he still knew the odds and that his mortality was still in question. Its "the last good day", a trope in cancer, where things seem normalizing and improving, but you don't know its the last good day.
- rodgerd 6y ago
  > It seems like 4 months were wasted just getting appointments. Unfortunately the UK health system is struggling with the huge COVID overload. It's one of the additional tragedies in countries with high infection rates: the acute care for COVID patients also decreases the care for all other illnesses.
canucker2016 6y ago
He was diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest of skin cancers. He also mentioned in his first cancer blog entry that he had a malignant melanoma cancer removed two decades ago. Immunotherapy came from left field as a cancer therapy - and for stage 4 cancers, the 4/5-year survival rate is much better than control groups - about 50%. Jim Allison and Tasuku Honjo won the 2018 Nobel prize in medicine for their work in cancer immunotherapy. There's an interesting documentary on Jim Allison's work - see https://www.breakthroughdoc.com/ https://www.breakthroughdoc.com/ (for USA PBS viewers: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/jim-allison-breakthrough/ https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/jim-allison-breakt..., for TVOntario viewers: https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/jim-allison-breakthrough https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/jim-allison-breakthr...)

vmception 6y ago

Cancer requires clinging to glimmers of hope. Yes, he felt that way at the time and yes, he wrote it down, but these improbabilities are all anyone ever has, its not over till it’s over. I read that post too, going from a tiny undetectable bump under the skin that only his partner noticed, to unbearable pain pressing against his spine making him unable to sleep and think clearly. It seems like 4 months were wasted just getting appointments.

genewitch 6y ago
There's a progression that is "forced" when you get a cancer diagnosis, especially if they have to surgically remove anything. They won't start chemo or anything else for several weeks post-op. It seems like you're trying to get appointments or whatever, but realistically, they're getting you in as soon as their liability (or patient care laws) says they can. Stage III, stage IV, doesn't matter. If they operate first, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting. If you're an american, remember that FMLA only lasts a quarter, so if you can go back to work after the surgery but before the chemo i strongly suggest you do that if there's any concern about insurance or whatever, since you're probably going to want to sleep for the first few weeks worth of chemo dosing. Good luck to 1/2 of the american population, because that's the rate of cancer in the US.
- howenterprisey 6y ago
  1/2 sounds a bit high? (I'm completely ignorant on the matter, of course.)
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
1996 6y ago
> It seems like 4 months were wasted just getting appointments. That's the NHS "free" healthcare at play. Remember, you get what you pay for!
sneak 6y ago
> Cancer requires clinging to glimmers of hope. Does it, though? Is there anything that suggests the mental state of the patient is a factor in the efficacy of treatment? Pieter Hintjens has written a bit against the "fight" model.
- alecst 6y ago
  A better mental state is its own reward, isn't it?
- vmception 6y ago
  I specifically didn't say fight and this wasn't a reference to someone's mental state having any affect on the user experience. This was simply about the user experience itself. A dramatic way of saying that people grasp for hope, not that "beating cancer" requires glimmers of hope, only that the "user experience of cancer" involves the patient/host/victim grasping for them. I'm surprised you read it any other way, but I can see how, yeah this definitely wasn't one of those unquantifiable "beat cancer because they're a strong fighter [and everyone else that didn't was a useless weak wimp that gave up]" voodoo posts. His blog post was one of those glimmers of hope. It is predictable that people do that because they have nothing else. No more, no less. The point is that deep down he still knew the odds and that his mortality was still in question. Its "the last good day", a trope in cancer, where things seem normalizing and improving, but you don't know its the last good day.
rodgerd 6y ago
> It seems like 4 months were wasted just getting appointments. Unfortunately the UK health system is struggling with the huge COVID overload. It's one of the additional tragedies in countries with high infection rates: the acute care for COVID patients also decreases the care for all other illnesses.

canucker2016 6y ago

He was diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest of skin cancers. He also mentioned in his first cancer blog entry that he had a malignant melanoma cancer removed two decades ago. Immunotherapy came from left field as a cancer therapy - and for stage 4 cancers, the 4/5-year survival rate is much better than control groups - about 50%. Jim Allison and Tasuku Honjo won the 2018 Nobel prize in medicine for their work in cancer immunotherapy. There's an interesting documentary on Jim Allison's work - see https://www.breakthroughdoc.com/ https://www.breakthroughdoc.com/ (for USA PBS viewers: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/jim-allison-breakthrough/ https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/jim-allison-breakt..., for TVOntario viewers: https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/jim-allison-breakthrough https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/jim-allison-breakthr...)