Stage 4 as well, diagnosed in 2021. Lifelong vegetarian, mostly ate organic foods and generally active. I always suspected something was wrong with my gut, but didn't think it would be cancer. No genetic component either.
Irregular bowel movements, cramps that I couldn't attribute to what I ate, inexplicable fatigue. Eventually it was a bright red blood in stool which made me force my doctor to take it seriously.
Be careful with this, or at least scaring/stressing yourself with this. Fresh (bright red) blood in stool is 95% of the time hemorrhoids. Most colon cancers will present with old (very dark red, or black) blood in stool.
My doctors have been like that too. I have to pull their teeth when I want some sort of screening done or want to see a specialist, but because I'm relatively fit, healthy, with no family history of anything "bad", they say my risk of things is low.
I don't care. I just want peace of mind. Cost isn't even an issue, I would be willing to pay a decent sum to get regular screenings so I'm not blindsided with some stage 4 diagnosis down the road.
BTW The American Cancer Society recommends colonoscopy screenings starting at age 45 routinely now if there are not other indicators to start even earlier.
Is it doctors, or is it medical administrations reluctant to deal with "selling" your insurance provider on covering you for a service?
At least in the US, I've found that if you're paying cash up-front, you can shop around for what you want, without referrals, and without this kind of hesitation.
Accidentally submitted it without a description so I'll just put it here.
Xfinity (Comcast) support is non-existent and actively lies to me about promotions or what I will be billed. Every time I call them to dispute, they waste an hour of my time and either throw me a $10 credit that I'm not sure is even getting applied. Different departments don't know about what the other is doing.
I'm now getting charged $70 for international calls I did not make.
How can I escalate these issues? Can I just cancel all association with them cleanly by reporting them to my credit card company? They seem ok with atrocious service because of their monopoly. Why do we put up with this blight?
For your immediate issue, if you're getting charged for services you did not order and Comcast won't make it right, take them to small claims court. You don't need a lawyer to do this. The odds are very good that Comcast will make it right when they're notified of the lawsuit. If they don't, they'll probably not show up and you'll get a default judgement.
For the larger issue, I don't know. Since Comcast is the only real option where I live, I've been wrestling with this question for years.
Thanks, I am intimidated by the process of court but I'll look into it. Will they be notified automatically, or do I have to serve them the notice?
It is insane that we tolerate this in 2023. I actively switch to other providers even if speeds are lower, but it is impossible to avoid their monopoly. Short of lobbying for municipal broadband, I am at a loss as well.
You have to serve them, but you can do it through a registered letter. There is very likely a nonprofit legal services entity in your area that can advise you about how the process works and what you need to do, at low or no cost.
It's not nearly as complex or intimidating as it seems. Most of what is needed for normal court is not needed for small claims. The whole point of small claims court is to make courts useful for smaller cases, to regular people who aren't legal experts or loaded with money.
The one gotcha most people aren't aware of is if a court (small claims or otherwise) rules in your favor, it's still on you to collect whatever was awarded. The courts won't do that part -- all they do is give you the legal power to do it.
However, 90% of the time when a company is involved and they don't have a strong case, they'll just settle with you before the court ever hears the case.
My main piece of advice is to collect and retain every document you can that relates to the matter, including emails, personal notes you may have made, etc., and bring it all into court (if you actually end up having to be in court.) Have it organized so that if/when the judge asks for something, you can find it quickly.
Stage IV CRC as well. Agreed, for the vast majority, it is still cytotoxic chemotherapy. I used to follow these innovations hoping to bring it up with my onc, but rarely do any of them work better than standard of care in vivo.
I hope you're handling maintenance chemo okay. Tumor DNA can change over time, so get a biopsy at some point to see if you qualify for other treatments.
The maintenance was pretty easy tbh. 5FU for 15 minutes (bollus) once a week.
Great point about tumor dna. It does change and the “usual” treatments become less effective. That’s when the experimental drugs are usually brought in to the treatment plan.
I am living a pretty normal life for 4 of 7 days. And honestly I’m grateful it’s only 3 days that I’m less productive or just kind of tired/ spaced out.
Another PSA- start your start up before health gets in the way. Health really is wealth and having time with energy and a clear mind is in shorter supply once health issues arise. But also balance work and life. Ok no more PSAs today :)
Health really is the only wealth, amen to that. Ah, my 5FU was a 2 day pump affair that left me in a totally nauseous haze; I do not miss that at all. 4 out of 7 days is great.
I hope you are able to get to even more tolerable therapies in the future!
This is probably the funniest consequence of these models. Pre gpt training data is going to be like the radiologically inert steel we need to scavenge from sunken warships.
16 GB is a really nice offering at that price point for AI workloads. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a higher end Battlemage offering and some real competition for Nvidia.
Thanks for the AMA, Peter! What are the options for a TN visa (Canadian) holder if they become permanently disabled (cancer treatment) and are unable to work at all? Are they able to renew their TN visa assuming the employer is okay with that?
We don't want to do it but sometimes we do if it means getting to work on interesting things/paid competitively.
I've had interviews with heavy LC and ones where I got plain old fizzbuzz and there wasn't much difference in staff competence or how quickly we delivered.
If anything, the place with the low bar had more well rounded peers I wanted to spend time with after work.
Exactly. The only way to get SSDI is to quit work forever.
On cancer (stage 4) treatment, but returned to work part time by stretching myself. However, it makes me ineligible for SSDI since it is above the ludicrously low earnings threshold.
I love niche forums like HN because it satisfies my itch for mind expanding content. The closest I got to that was OG StumbleUpon, if you know, you know.
I'm unfortunately not passionate about much nowadays; in treatment for stage 4 cancer, so I'm fairly exhausted all the time. I'm glad I can still maintain my cognitive abilities during chemo so I can still do my job.
So sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Best of luck on your battle, I hope the chemo is having the desired effect. My mom recently finished her chemo rounds. Took a real toll on her. Hang in there! You got this!
I hope your mom recovers well. I'm on chemo indefinitely so its a matter of finding a cure before chemo stops working for me. I'm only in my thirties so it might just happen!
I wish you the best, I know what it is, I fought 5 years with a leukemia when I was 15.
I hope you will recover well, medicine has evolved pretty well.
The best advice I can give you that worked well for me, is to always keep your brain active, keep coding, keep thinking. :)
It was a cure for me to keep my ability to think, resolve problems, etc ...
Exactly. It sounds so cliche but just keeping active and finding purpose really helps me cope with the day to day. Dealing with Leukemia at 15 must have been truly scary, I'm glad you're well!
I appreciate the kind words. That's wonderful, I know of a couple others in my support group that have survived it. Cancer is truly the most enigmatic disease, no two people experience it the same.
Lots of incredible innovation on cancer. New, revolutionary drugs every year or two.
Hang in there. This is not a death sentence. Just the best chance to change our lives for the better.
You will get through this!
I completely understand what you are going through . I am in similar spot not cancer but chronic genetic condition that’s destroying my organ . The exhaustion is real .
