After A Lot of Deep Thought

As a professional patient, I have met with a few million doctors over the years. I have recently done a lot of deep thought recently as well. I have decided I am glad I never even considered being a doctor.

Never mind the ick factor of having to touch people you don't know and look at all sorts of mystery ailments and figure out what is wrong with them. There also is the issue of medical school and internship - way more education than I would ever want. Besides I deserve all the sleep I can get.

On the plus side of being a doctor would be the ability to find a cure for all my ailments. That would be really nice. Actually it would be phenomenal!

But I digress. Another part of being a doctor is that everyone wants to tell you how to do your job. You would think you have enough education to make your own decisions but no. Medical school might train you on how many bones are in the human body, what the spleen actually does, or what your blood count numbers actually mean with having to look it up.

But according to the rest of the world, it doesn't give you a good bedside manner or how to manage a medical practice or deal with insurance companies. And every patient you see presents symptoms (and attitudes) differently. All their family members want to give you their opinions. Never mind the people that want to sue you if you make the least mistake.

So my ultimate conclusion is that, while I am sure I could be the first to come up with a cure for cancer if I was a doctor, I'll pass. I just want my next doctor to be the one to find a cure for all the horrible diseases of the world and cure me.

Are You Cured?

While leaving the hospital yesterday, I followed this car out. While rounding all the corners in the parking garage, I couldn't help wondering what they could be cured of, or what it would take me to get a similar license plate.

I do not consider myself cured of either cancer. They are just in hiding right now. Actually, if you can tell me there is not a single cancer cell left in my body I would consider myself cured but since there are no guarantees in Cancerland, I'm not cured.

Also there are no cures for rheumatoid or fibromyalgia, or degenerating disks. So I clearly wouldn't consider myself cured yet.

This lead me to wonder, when do you consider yourself cured? Or at what point are you cured? I mean skip the common cold. You get a cold, you get over it - that means cured. Or a broken bone eventually heals and you are good to go, so that would make you cured. Or is 'cured' the wrong word to use there?

If you have an organ transplant are you cured after that? As far as I know, you are then on antirejection meds for a long time and would require frequent medical care. But does that make you cured? You could have cataracts and then have surgery, are you cured then? That I would think.

Too much to ponder this early in the day. But I do welcome other's thoughts on this.

We are still waiting!

I haven't nagged in a while but I would like to remind the world that all of us unhealthy people are waiting for that cure. We have aches and pains and doctor appointments and prescriptions (out the whazoo!). We would like those cures so we could return to our normal life as soon as possible.

Once diagnosed with something nasty, life changes (and we are told there is this new normal - that doesn't exist) and are stuck in a yucky limbo waiting for medical advancements to put us back together.

There are a lot of politics and corporate policies and big brother and much more involved in medical research. We don't really care. Take your billions and fix us.
K? Thanks.

PS I am whining and in a cranky mood today.

Excuse me, we would like a cure

Actually a lot of cures. Please.

Biotech and big pharma have come up with all sorts of pills in the last decades. Some of which ease symptoms, think pain meds for arthritis or other ailments. Others represent cures, think penicillin for infections. While the ones which ease symptoms are helpful, personally I would prefer cures.

Last year Gilead Pharmaceuticals released Solvadi, which cures Hepatitis C for 90% of its patients. Previously the only cure for Hepatitis C was a liver transplant. A not so good alternative with a long wait period. This is the $1000 a pill which costs $84,000 per cure for a seven week course of treatment.

In addition to its eye popping cost, it has raised the bar for biotech and big pharma.They need to stop looking at incremental medications which offer a few weeks or months of extended life or symptom easing pills and focus on the medications which provide true cures.

Biotech is teetering on the edge of a precipice where the big dollar mergers and investors could become a thing of the past. Incremental advances for huge prices may also become history.

As the patients, we should be able to add our two cents to the discussions as well.

The killer bacteria

There is killer bacteria at your doctor's office, in the hospital scope, in the air, on the ground, and on the nine things in your house dirtier than a toilet seat. All those unvaccinated people are going to spread measles and other diseases. People with compromised immune systems should take extra precautions to avoid these bacteria. Blah, blah, blah.

And how am I supposed to avoid doctor's offices anyway? I am a regular visitor. There has been so much new recently on all these topics. And I couldn't care less.

I am the poster child for immune system issues, bad health, and all that. And I take zero precautions. Other than being normal and avoiding sneezing, coughing people.

Isn't there anything else on the news anyway? Where are we in terms of a cure for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia? And lymphedema if we are on the subject of cures.

The killer bacteria are out there but so are many other ailments that warrant news, research, and cures.

John Hopkins did not discover a dietary cure for cancer

There are a couple of hoax emails going around that have gotten the folks over at Johns Hopkins riled up enough to write a rebuttal.

I do find this humorous in some ways. How many emails have you gotten offering you a cure for anything you want and more. Either they are based on some known item that you just need to eat more/less of or not something like not cook in saran wrap. Or they refer you to someone far away with a really long name who promises you an elixir or prayer or something else that will cure you.

There are a few things they all have in common:

• Typographical errors and misspellings.
• Bad English
• Over promising

Back in the 19th century we had quack doctors who went around the country selling their cure alls. Now they don't need the horse and buggy, they just need the internet and your email address. But just remember if its too good to be true, it probably is. Use your delete button.