Cancer II

I will continue with the big c, it has been on the news lately.  Apparently a lady, a homeless lady, had survived the big c and went to see the president.  She spent the night in her car and when President Obama showed up she asked him about social security.  Apparently the president did not address the ladies concern and now he is accused of being heartless.  

Once upon a time I was a nurse and took care of cancer patients.  So I know a little bit about this topic.  When you spend more time with people that are dying than you do at home you get to know people from within.  We are cowards!  Our fear of death is such that it is everything we can do to act human.  Cancer is a vortex of human emotions and professionals cant afford to fall into this.  They wouldnt be able to function.

You can imagine the state of mine of  women when they find out that the only option is a mastectomy.  Of course this calls for faith .... lots of it, not in god but in the Surgeon, who often times thinks he is god.  Now if you are considering a mastectomy get a plastic surgeon.  A plastic surgeon can prepare the site for future implants or cosmetic surgery.  If you dont get a plastic surgeon you will get a general surgeon.

Now this advise doesnt cost you anything and certainly you are under no obligation to follow my advise, you may be comfortable with your oncologist, or the surgeon he recommends. Then there is the problem of economics .... plastic surgeons make over half of their money from breast implants.  Smart women get breast implants for graduation knowing full well that they can have everything else once they heal.  The surgeon knows that the women with advance cancer is poor, especially if she is older and single.  Money is not a problem with a young women who has just increased her net worth.  So she paid $20K for the new boobs .... she can make this up her first year. 

I worked with an oncologist that was a sorry SOB.  He would tell all his patients that he would save them, that he was the best ....  his patients worshiped him.  He would give all his patients all the chemo he could, they were a vessel.  Then he got his kickback from the pharmaceuticals, and the hospitals.  Chemo is very expensive.  The patients died but they never died from cancer, it was always something else.  "She died from pneumonia ..... I could have saved her."  This was a source of tension between doctors and on more than one occasion it got violent.

He was an Arab, and the story made the Wall Street Journal.  I was there to see his fall from glory.  Just last week I ran into him at the Walmart, under cover of darkness.  The hairs on my neck stood up ....  this is how I react whenever I am knowingly standing next to a sorry SOB. 

My most interesting patient was a chemist, an old man.  I walked into his room and he was doing some chemistry.  We talked for a second.  This man had a goal, to feed the world  Apparently he had figured out a way to give a plant all the water it would need during its life.  He would process the seed with certain chemicals.  He would paint these on in layers.  He said that the plant had the ability to remove the water at the molecular level during its life and extract the water.  He said that he couldnt get anybody to buy his idea.  In retrospect now that I see the apple guy, Jobs, and how highly we thought about him ..... If my old chemist is right we should exhume his body, bring him back to life, and let him complete his goal.