The blogger people say there was no damage was done, though someone seems to have stolen my password and left another insulting comment in my name at hotboy's place.
Just found out that a dear person I used to know back in Jocko-land has got the big C. Meanwhile, my physio lady here with the brain cancer is just surviving. And the annual Xmas party this year will be the poorer without the presence of one of Australia's most famous (famous in Australia) living playrights, because, well, he's no longer living either. What a fortunate creature I am to be alive and well, 21 years after I had the big C.
If you or someone you know is ever offered radio-so-called-therapy for cancer, my advice is to read the medical literature very carefully. Find out if there's any evidence of its effect on the particular variant of cancer that you're looking at. Remember, cancer isn't a single disease, but a mixed bag of wildly different cellular types, each responding very differently to the various treatment options.
In my own case, a visit to the medical school library revealed that radiation was known to have little or no effect on my type of cancer. When I questioned the docs, they admitted this but explained they were giving me extra blasts, just to see if it would help.
Nowadays, I'm left with the fallout (metaphorically) from the radiation. E.g. root canal dentistry becomes complicated, because radiation makes the root canals fill themselves up with calcium, thus hiding themselves from the dentist.
Next week I'm being referred to a specialist dentist who works with a microscope to find and drill out the canals.
The cost for two hours' treatment is upwards of $2000 (about 800 quid). This is why I have no money to buy beer, and have to brew my own.
I'm blogging this just to remind people there's a big downside to most treatment. We tend to overlook that when there's a medical panic going on. I sometimes wish I had been more assertive with the docs at the time. But I did challenge them on one thing - they were planning to fry my thymus gland as well.
The thymus is the control centre of the immune system. So I asked them why they were trying to kill it off. The next day they agreed to shield it with lead so it wouldn't be blasted after all. If only this book had existed back then:
Yet I feel fortunate to be alive, and to have had 21 extra years (so far), while other poor basturns are dropping like flies around me.
