[ADULT - Medical Update] Angelsboi Q & A

[JPL]

Well, like the Jem-Hadar fighter said about Worf, "I cannot beat this man. I can only kill him."

[A man is sick and all I can do is quote Star Trek. Sorry.]

Death is not always a defeat. The body's failure can bring about the soul's triumph.

A terminal illness can often be an opportunity to do make amends, to say things that need to be said to the ones we love, and to come to some kind of peace.

The knowledge that you might not have much time must be a terrible burden to bear, but that burden comes with a chance for atonement and forgiveness and closure. If a man has all of those things, then it doesn't matter whether he dies at 25 or at 100 --- he's done everything he had to do, all that any of us can do.

So I'll chime in with the others, and say, you can beat this thing, Angelsboi. I think you're already beating this thing.

 

[Numion]

Re: Re: Re: You Can Beat It?

Hmmmm... I don't agree with this statement. Technology and medicine is developing rapidly enough, that it is quite possible that some of the people alive today will never die.

It is at least conceivable that we will find some way to store human beings in another form (non-biological) during our lifetimes, or perhaps during the lifetimes of our children. One possibility is that some people will be uploaded into machine-storage, and continue to live their lives virtually. While it may turn out that it isn't possible for humans to exist independently of our bodies, I think we have reached a point in history where it is no longer possible to state with complete certainty that everybody will die.

Hey, whatever keeps you going!

I'm of the state of mind that when I read New Scientist or Scientific American, I'm not overwhelmed by what men can do with science and technology. I'm overwhelmed by how little we actually know about the immensely complicated universe around us, and how limited the scope of humankind really is.

Men can't yet replicate the functions of even the simplest lifeform, how could we begin to replicate the most complex in our lifetime? (And I don't mean cloning, but building from scratch.)

I'm not dissing you or saying you're wrong - it's just the old half-full vs. half-empty point of views.

 

[Treebore]

Just keep fighting Angelsboi,

The 93% episode I mentioned, during it I suffered a complication that I lived with for a year. Why did they never figure out what my problem was? Because the team of six doctors with over a 100 years experience between them had never seen OR heard of anyone surviving 5 minutes past the occurance of my complication. They each lost several patients a year to the complication I had. They had only read about the possibility. They had never heard of someone living a full year with the complication until me. The reason they even discovered what my complication was is they did a surgery for another reason and found it while cutting around inside of me. I felt better upon waking from major surgery then I did when I went under for it.

Bottom line, miracles do occur, it has happened numerous times in my life, for me. It can happen for you. Do not give up, ever. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how miserable you feel, it IS better than being dead. I think that attitude helped make the difference for me, plus the hand of God. Believe me, I thought of quiting many times. I looked at my two babies and I couldn't quit. No matter what. Here I am nearly 10 years later. It can happen for you. Do not quit.

 

[Umbran]

Re: You Can Beat It?

The world is not something you can control, any attempt to do so eventually leads to frustration and despair.

Ah, but it is equally true that failure to attempt to control it can lead to even more premature death.

AB has a choice - he can fight this thing tooth and nail, and perhaps live for decades (with a few problems, but reasonably well), or he can give up not try to control it, and die in fairly short order.

Decades is long enough to hope for a cure. Decades with a few problems are far better than shuffling off this mortal coil in a year. Rage, rage against the dying of the light, I say!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

You belief can shape your reality a lot more than people think. AB, just try to stay positive and WANT to get through this...it may sound foolish, but my mother should have died 2 years ago due to a liver disease that is incurable...and...now...she'd gotten better...and it wasn't the medicine, because the medicine only surpresses. Even the doctors are confused. Yes, she will probably die within a year, but she made it this far and never quit fighting...in fact, these past two years have been the best I've had with her.

Just remember. Science can't explain everything. You CAN make it through this.

 

[William Ronald]

A positive mental attitude can help with a recovery, along with good medical treatment. A poor attitude can lead to a state of depression which is not conducive to medical recovery.

I think Ryan should use every means at his disposal, including maintaining a positive outlook, to improve his health. It is not an "either/or" decision. Should AB take whatever medical means necessary to get better? YES! However, a good outlook can help a person fight back an illness.

 

[drnuncheon]

Rel, the late Robert Anson Heinlein once said, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then give up. No sense in making a fool of yourself."

Heinlein himself suffered from a variety of maladies, from the tuberculosis that got him his discharge from the navy, a case of peritonitis that nearly killed him, blockage of his carotid artery necessitating a bypass, and the emphysema and related conditions that eventually led to his death.

Frankly, I think he'd be disgusted at the implication that one ought to give up when one is fighting for one's life.

J

 

[Ferret]

Couldn't he get a blood transfusion? Obvioulsy it would have to be the full 8 (6 at a push) pints, and even then it would have to be fresh. I doubt that a dead person could be used quick enough, but isn't it a posibility?

 

[drnuncheon]

Couldn't he get a blood transfusion? Obvioulsy it would have to be the full 8 (6 at a push) pints, and even then it would have to be fresh. I doubt that a dead person could be used quick enough, but isn't it a posibility?

The virus stays in places other than the blood, IIRC, so a transfusion wouldn't cure him.

I remember hearing (long ago) about some experimental therapy where they basically pulled blood out of your body, ran it through a machine that (I believe) heated it to the point where the virus could not live, and then (after cooling it) fed it back in. Obviously you would reach a rate of diminishing returns with that as the blood supplies are not kept separate, but I wasn't ever sure what happened with that line of research.

J

 

[TrubbulTheTroll]

<B>Questions for Angelsboi</B>

1) When do you think you were infected? At what age then and what age are you now? I ask because it takes 3+ years for an infected person to develop AIDS.

2) What made you sure it was oral sex? I remember an article in the NY Times in the mid-90s about the rising rate of infection from oral sex but you hear precious little of it nowadays.

3) What meds are you taking and do you have a "meds philosophy?" A friend of mine just turned 40, full blown in '95 but made an amazing recovery in 18 months from the meds. He praises the meds and doesn't care about side effects as long as he's alive and kicking. Looking great, feeling great - although he says if he hits 50, it'll be a miracle.