7 ms·
That sounds incredibly tough. My brother has a similar/worse sickness that halves his life expectancy. He's also a programmer. Some quick thoughts from going t
by 5mv2 4y ago
That sounds incredibly tough.
My brother has a similar/worse sickness that halves his life expectancy. He's also a programmer. Some quick thoughts from going through the downs with him:
- There's no silver bullet. More sleep, better nutrition, more sports, and less stress make a difference.
- My brother literally left a PhD in treatment optimization using ML at Cambridge because pharmaceutical companies are churning such better treatment so fast that optimization past ones felt irrelevant. The bad news is that most new treatments only stabilize your situation, so you have to stay as healthy as you can until the cure comes. We felt it was better to plan around this, and open the door to be positively surprised, than hope for the moon and get crushed with never ending disappointment.
- There are many ways of earning a living that don't involve programming. Career switches can be daunting when you've lost self confidence, but most jobs require only a fraction of the brain it takes to program.
- If the prospects are very gloomy, consider changing country. We had my brother move country so he could get a medication that's not covered at home and costs >$250k/year. The medication changed his life, and will soon be covered at home too. Having to leave your friends for health reasons suck, but European countries offer such better health coverage that it can be worth it. And it's easier living a happy life when you don't have to worry about unpredictably becoming homeless.
- Mezzie 4y agoIf you move, keep in mind you may need someone to marry you to let you in. I have MS and a Canadian master's degree. Wasn't eligible to stay in the country because my crippled butt costs too much. Most modern countries with universal healthcare have very strict rules about disabled immigrants.
- neltnerb 4y agoI am considering moving to Canada, do you have a link about this?
- Mezzie 4y agoYup! The Government of Canada discusses medical inadmissability [0] on its site. Specifically, those of us with MS are prevented due to "Excessive demand on health or social services". Cases of this have happened: there's a WaPo article from 2017 that includes some examples [1] such as a family being denied immigration due to their child's intellectual disability and spouses of Canadian citizens who are denied permanent residency due to costly disability. Also worth noting that there are very few things that can offset MA. One is potentially marriage. But again, I'm a qualified Canadian professional who's half Canadian. (2 grandparents on opposite sides/both families are from border regions so I'm not eligible for citizenship that way). Still couldn't stay. [0] = https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/inadmissibility/reasons/medical-inadmissibility.html https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se... [1] = https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/02/03/canada-is-a-progressive-immigration-policy-dream-unless-you-have-a-disability/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/02/03/...