Post: #51

The statistic is one in three.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-i...ing-cancer

Of course - most of those cancers will not be lethal.

Indeed - the main thrust of the approach to tackling cancer is to tackle it aggressively as soon as it is found.

This means many people whose cancer would not have been lethal - undergo treatment (which is in effect pointless). And at the same time - such (pointless) treatment is used to help boost the "success" rate in combating cancer.

There is some statistical sleight-of-hand in this area. But it is to be expected since early detection of cancer is important. Since once the cancer metastasizes - your survival chances plummet.

Of course - not all cancers metastasize. Still - it seems worthwhile to take it out as soon as possible. In the window before it may or may not metastasize. But it seems that the cancers that will kill you will keep coming back (or spread irregardless of what you do).

Still - the way cancer spreads in the human body is still a bit of a mystery. So - we are still not sure if the strategies we have are flawed or not.

The history of the fight against cancer is really interesting. It makes for an interesting field to look into for those interested in popular science.

Even measuring our progress against cancer is very difficult.

Firstly - many more people are being diagnosed with cancer. Since early diagnosis is always a good thing. But - this means that we are treating more and more "safe" cancers which will never be a problem.

Secondly - cancer deaths have dropped due to fewer people smoking, drinking heavily and better industrial pollution laws.

Thirdly - at the same time - more people are living longer. And age is the biggest factor when it comes to your chances of getting cancer. Which means there is an increasing pressure - the other way - when it comes to measuring the deaths from cancer.

Fourthly - an increasing population - obviously means more people will get cancer.

So - once you juggle those statistics - you can pretty much come to any conclusion you want. Some more valid than others.

But one of the important points to remember - is that in terms of raw numbers - the number of people dying of cancer today is not much different to how it was 30 years ago. But what has changed - is the shape of that population (for example the same number of people are dying - in a population which has grown - and they are dying at older ages).

Anyway - epidemiology and statistics are very rigorous areas. So the above is just my attempt at proving a quick overview of some of the issues that get thrown up when you ask the seemingly simple question - "Are we beating cancer?"

I have a couple more books about cancer to work through. But in the meanwhile - I give the following books my highest recommendation.



http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-All-Maladi...l+maladies [Debut book by a cancer research - that went on to win the Pulitzer prize.]



http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Small-Doses-...mall+doses [This book is the best analysis of the problems we face in the fight against cancer - and how we measure how successful we are.]



http://www.amazon.com/Cancer-Chronicles-...chronicles [An interesting book by a superb science writer who gives his thoughts on the fight against cancer and how it has impacted his life. Some excellent philosophical points buried in here.]

And these are the two books I will be tackling soon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Malignant-How-Ca...+malignant

http://www.amazon.co.uk/p53-Gene-that-Cr...rds=CANCER

Post: #52

(01-12-2015 04:53 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  How old were you when you were diagnosed with cancer?

I was 22. I'm 25 now so it wasn't too long ago. I needed help walking up the stairs because I was so weak, that I needed a physical therapist to try to help regain my muscle memory because chemo had destroyed a lot of my muscle. Chemo also destroyed a lot of my bones as well. I literally felt like an old man at 22.

I rebounded quickly and by the time I was 23 I was playing basketball, lifting weights, working out, going to school, traveling, working, and banging bitches from the bars and clubs. If you saw me today, you wouldn't even think that ever happened to me. It wouldn't even cross anyone's mind.

Post: #53

(01-12-2015 07:00 PM)MidWest Wrote:  

(01-12-2015 04:53 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  How old were you when you were diagnosed with cancer?

I was 22. I'm 25 now so it wasn't too long ago. I needed help walking up the stairs because I was so weak, that I needed a physical therapist to try to help regain my muscle memory because chemo had destroyed a lot of my muscle. Chemo also destroyed a lot of my bones as well. I literally felt like an old man at 22.

I rebounded quickly and by the time I was 23 I was playing basketball, lifting weights, working out, going to school, traveling, working, and banging bitches from the bars and clubs. If you saw me today, you wouldn't even think that ever happened to me. It wouldn't even cross anyone's mind.

You are my hero.

Post: #54

(01-12-2015 08:46 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(01-12-2015 07:00 PM)MidWest Wrote:  

(01-12-2015 04:53 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  How old were you when you were diagnosed with cancer?

I was 22. I'm 25 now so it wasn't too long ago. I needed help walking up the stairs because I was so weak, that I needed a physical therapist to try to help regain my muscle memory because chemo had destroyed a lot of my muscle. Chemo also destroyed a lot of my bones as well. I literally felt like an old man at 22.

I rebounded quickly and by the time I was 23 I was playing basketball, lifting weights, working out, going to school, traveling, working, and banging bitches from the bars and clubs. If you saw me today, you wouldn't even think that ever happened to me. It wouldn't even cross anyone's mind.

You are my hero.

Thanks Suits. You're too kind. I'm just another guy who is happy to be alive at the end of the day.

Post: #55

(01-13-2015 01:49 AM)MidWest Wrote:  

(01-12-2015 08:46 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(01-12-2015 07:00 PM)MidWest Wrote:  

(01-12-2015 04:53 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  How old were you when you were diagnosed with cancer?

I was 22. I'm 25 now so it wasn't too long ago. I needed help walking up the stairs because I was so weak, that I needed a physical therapist to try to help regain my muscle memory because chemo had destroyed a lot of my muscle. Chemo also destroyed a lot of my bones as well. I literally felt like an old man at 22.

I rebounded quickly and by the time I was 23 I was playing basketball, lifting weights, working out, going to school, traveling, working, and banging bitches from the bars and clubs. If you saw me today, you wouldn't even think that ever happened to me. It wouldn't even cross anyone's mind.

You are my hero.

Thanks Suits. You're too kind. I'm just another guy who is happy to be alive at the end of the day.

Lots of people survive cancer, but it's not heroic to survive or not survive. What I'm impressed with is that until now, I never knew that you were a cancer survivor. It came up in this thread, because it was on topic, but you aren't a guy who constantly references it.

You stared death in the face, but at least on this forum, you aren't making a big deal out of it. In a world where being the victim is trendy.

Lots of people would use nearly dying at 22 as a reason to justify their lack of achievement (even though most people suffer from lack of achievement even if they don't have an accuse). Instead, here you are on the forum, contributing just like everyone else who hasn't nearly died from a terrifying disease.

It puts my lame excuses into perspective.

Post: #56

The best way to die is not something I would assume to know, but personally it would not happen under a roof. My boat sinks, the bear got me first, anything but a bed.

Post: #57

Glad you're still here to impart wisdom on us Midwest.

I recommend an alligator wrestling class. Little harmless thrill.

http://www.coloradogators.com/

Post: #58

(01-12-2015 06:00 PM)TheSlayer Wrote:  

(01-12-2015 05:53 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(01-12-2015 05:48 PM)TheSlayer Wrote:  

(01-12-2015 03:51 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  It's pretty scary that statistically, every other person reading this thread is going to get cancer at some point in their life.

What do you mean every other person?

Half the population will develop cancer at some point in their life.

Is that for real? How have I missed this damning statistic? That doesn't make sense. Does it mean cancer scares or actual cancer meaning the individual has to get chemo and treatment etc?

It's easiest to understand cancer if you look at your body as a very repressive society. It's there for the ruling class (sperm or eggs, depending on sex), and all dissent is brutally crushed. As you get older, your body is less able to crush dissent.

Now, the reason you begin to get dissent is because once an organism grows beyond one cell, those cells will begin to differ from each other through mutations over successive generations. It's a hard process to get to slow down, as shown by the large number of miscarriages.

But, even if your body was made well enough to slow this down, it still only has so much time before it needs to go back to one cell before the revolting, mutated cells kill it. This is cancer. Sometimes it just gives you weird growths (benign), and sometimes it kills you (malignant). And rarely, it mutates enough so that it becomes a communicable disease, that is then able to move from host to host as something else entirely.

This is why so many people get cancer, and no matter how many types of cancer we cure, new ones will continue to arise.

Post: #59

My turn. Read all the comments for the updates.

https://theprivateman.wordpress.com/yeah...r-so-what/

Post: #60

For me the best way would be drowning. No body damage and short term suffering, all in the quietness of water.

Post: #61

(01-15-2015 10:30 PM)Captain Gh Wrote:  For me the best way would be drowning. No body damage and short term suffering, all in the quietness of water.

When I was about eight years old, I was nearly drowned by an older kid being an asshole. Absolutely horrible situation to find yourself in. I wouldn't have minded scrapping with the bastard and getting a busted lip out of it, but being unable to take a fresh breath was maddening and terrifying.

Post: #62

(01-15-2015 11:32 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

(01-15-2015 10:30 PM)Captain Gh Wrote:  For me the best way would be drowning. No body damage and short term suffering, all in the quietness of water.

When I was about eight years old, I was nearly drowned by an older kid being an asshole. Absolutely horrible situation to find yourself in. I wouldn't have minded scrapping with the bastard and getting a busted lip out of it, but being unable to take a fresh breath was maddening and terrifying.

Post: #63

(01-15-2015 11:32 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

(01-15-2015 10:30 PM)Captain Gh Wrote:  For me the best way would be drowning. No body damage and short term suffering, all in the quietness of water.

When I was about eight years old, I was nearly drowned by an older kid being an asshole. Absolutely horrible situation to find yourself in. I wouldn't have minded scrapping with the bastard and getting a busted lip out of it, but being unable to take a fresh breath was maddening and terrifying.

Damn, I had the same thing happen around the same time. Messed me up for a while.

Post: #64

I watched my dad die from prostate cancer, through the joke that is hospice and all.
.357 slug to the head takes my vote. Certainly cheaper.

Post: #65

Cancer is not the best way to die from my experience, it does give you time to make arragements
Those can be done in a few days, the rest of the time is waiting to die whilst dealing the reactions of loved ones see her fade away whilst enduring the slow decline of her bodily functions, dignity and hope

Post: #66

Sorry about that Bazzwaldo...

Post: #67

(02-02-2015 04:48 PM)Bazzwaldo Wrote:  I'm nursing my wife through her second round of cancer
Late 2013 she had a lung removed due to cancer, unfortunately it had reached her lymph nodes.
She was doing really well until last October when I noticed her balance wasn't quite right, we went to a doctor, got CT scans and found tumours had metastasized in her brain, remaining lung and kidney
They won't operate and offered Radio only
Nearly lost her to seizures, they changed up her meds to stop the pain and fits whilst the Radio took effect
Happyy with the results they suggested we get scans for her lung and Kidney, they doubled in size so we are currently in the middle of Chemo.
She is receiving palliative care living at home where she wants to pass.
Cancer is not the best way to die from my experience, it does give you time to make arragements
Those can be done in a few days, the rest of the time is waiting to die whilst dealing the reactions of loved ones see her fade away whilst enduring the slow decline of her bodily functions, dignity and hope

I'm sorry to hear what you are going through and what your wife is going through. Best wishes to you and her. As a cancer survivor myself I can empathize. Cancer is a horrendous disease. There is not an individual in this world who I truly believe has not been affected by it either directly or indirectly through a family member or a friend.

It takes great courage to not only fight cancer once but twice, its very admirable. Truly best wishes.

Post: #68

The best way to go is to have your liver, heart or other organs fail in your sleep in your 60s or 70s after decades of postponing your physical decay through generous doses of HGH and testosterone.

Post: #69

Thanks HCE and MW
She want's to have a go and i'll back her every decision.
She is one of the good ones

Post: #70

A cancer death is only unpleasant for a few weeks at the end.

Post: #71

How long does it take to die from cancer, from stage 1 to stage 4? Are you in pain at stage 1 and 2?

Post: #72

(01-15-2015 10:30 PM)Captain Gh Wrote:  For me the best way would be drowning. No body damage and short term suffering, all in the quietness of water.

I have heard it's quite painful when your lungs are filled with water, also no matter what you think about it now, when you do drown survival instincts kick in and you cannot help but kick and try to swim for air.

Most painless way is probably bleeding out and slowly losing consciousness from blood loss trough a small and therefore rather painless wound in veins - therefore the popular suicide method of cutting veins in a hot bath also therefore the idea of this method of animal slaughter being the most humane in Judaism and Islam.

The best way how to die is however to be very old, realize it is your time to go - lie down and pass into afterlife. In ancient times humans had this ability. You might have heard about some native American chieftain, Christian Saint or older Hindu man doing this.

Post: #73

Unquestionably the best way to go is pneumonia, the old man's friend. You get a cough and start to feel tired. You slowly slip away from consciousness with little to no pain.

My dog just passed away from this. She just stopped eating, kept sleeping some more, stopped going to the bathroom, and eventually passed away in her sleep. She was almost 16 so the vet said that there was nothing more we could do.

Two of my grandparents also passed this way. All were at home.

This is an awful thread by the way. Ruminating about the best way to die and hearing about members either suffering from cancer or having their loved ones suffer from cancer is really depressing.

Post: #74

(01-15-2015 10:17 PM)Private Man Wrote:  My turn. Read all the comments for the updates.

https://theprivateman.wordpress.com/yeah...r-so-what/

Hope you're doing ok Private Man.

Some fucker glassed my left eyeball out of my head. Totally blind. But with the power of a good surgeon and prayer, my eyesight came back, and I now have perfect vision. Still a handsome bastard too. Super Villain scar. All helps.

Easy for me, not so much for you!

I hope you are well brother.

Post: #75

(01-27-2017 05:48 AM)Meat Head Wrote:  How long does it take to die from cancer, from stage 1 to stage 4? Are you in pain at stage 1 and 2?

Depends. Can take years.

Can be in pain from stage 1.

It ratchets up to a crescendo.

Hope you live in a country where opioid medicine is available. A lot of countries don't have this facility, or rather horde it for the higher classes. Peasants can die in pain in most parts of the world. I've read the UNODC research and it's sobering.

Also depends what you call pain. Taking a piss takes you 20 minutes? Ok, maybe not pain as such.

Having seen the suffering I would not go through it personally. Pain or no pain. Indignity and humiliation are tantamount to the pain.

The chemo wipes you out. The radio does too. Waves of it. Poison.

It doesn't make you stronger. It causes its own pain. But it kills everything in your body including the bad stuff, including the good stuff. On aggregate you can live to fight another day. You can only play that game so long...

People will treat you differently. Some family will abandon you. You are going to die. It doesn't matter. Is that painful?


http://www.rooshv.com/what-to-do-if-some...ith-cancer

It can take years to die from Cancer. The affect on those left living lasts a lifetime. Most people are familiar with it. Very few talk about it.

I wonder sometimes what they think of us. Those that say nothing, but have been just as deeply affected.

I found Roosh's piece quite touching. Brutally honest and detached, in that inimitable way he does. But still touching.


For the most part, I don't think this is something people really want to speak about. Don't blame 'em.


This is one of those posts where I decide not to post. But against my better judgement, wtf...