Thank you so much for the signal boost, TC, I greatly appreciate it! And +1 to everything you said, cancer is teh sucksimus maximus and we are way overdue for having a 100% survival rate. Hopefully efforts like this one will make that so. :)

Unf... yeah. Just heard from my co-worker Doug this morning that he was at a wake last night for a friend's wife who just lost her fight with it. Scary thing was, she was diagnosed just 3 weeks ago. We really, REALLY need to figure out how to beat it for good - far too many good people are being snuffed out in their prime by it. :(

Damn, just diagnosed 3 weeks ago? That's awful. :( I'm really hoping that some sort of cure (or at least SUPER early detection that is easily available and affordable) will happen in the next 5-10 years or so. We really are overdue for a breakthrough there.

Well, here at least there's no cost to get tested. In her case, she just wrote off feeling ill as something different. What happened was she feel and broke a rib, and it was that which lead to the discovery she had bone cancer, but the break seemed to kick it into high gear. Goes to show, if you feel the slightest bit off, you really need to get tested for stuff immediately. :/

For some good news on the front, a co-worker's wife was diagnosed with stage 3 multiple myeloma. She was immediately started on treatment which involved an immune suppressant, then chemo to knock the cancer down and weaken it. When the numbers got to a level the doctors felt was better, she went into the hospital into quarantine for over 2 weeks, during which time they extracted stem cells from her blood and cultivated them. After the 2 weeks and a few days was up, and she showed no signs of other illness, they did some sort of stem cell infusion into her bone marrow which, in simple terms, rebooted her immune system. She remained in quarantine for another 3 weeks until her immune system was up and running correctly again. Now, about 2 months later, she tests normal in all levels - the cancer is either gone, or in extreme remission. She'll be tested periodically to ensure it stays that way. The technique is VERY new - even just 5 years ago, it was not possible and her prognosis would have been a death sentence.

So there IS good news out there - and we are slowly winning this fight.

Woah, that is really neat to hear about a bone marrow procedure not only being done, but working so well! That is pretty awesome, and great that there are some newer techniques that are proving their worth. :)

I would say that it's worth it to just have regular check ups, whether something feels off or not (though, admittedly, I'm being a bit of a hypocrite as I have procrastinated scheduling an appointment for 2 years now >_<). As much as I hate going to the doctor's office it's a very minor inconvenience compared to not finding cancer (or any other serious illness) in time.

For some though it's also a matter of feasibility. In the US, without exceptionally good coverage, a visit to the doctor can cost a lot of money, and the treatment my co-worker's wife got would likely be so expensive in the US that some insurance may not even cover it, not to mention that in some states stem-cell usage is still illegal. And that's the other thing that really burns me about dealing with cancer - where you live and your insurance status should NOT be something your life depends on when it comes to medicine, but it is. :(

As a US citizen with a health plan courtesy of being a state employee (meaning it's the cheapest thing they could find)...ugh, yeah, this definitely applies. Our politicians LOVE to point out how expensive taxes and such are up in Canada when talking about Obamacare and such, but, really, our healthcare system is all sorts of stupid already. Yes, we do have some exceptional facilities and doctors, but it's ridiculous to constantly be in fear of getting the treatment you need because your insurance will instantly drop you for filing a claim.

Yay for greed and politics! Making the world a better place since NaN.

Mmf... yeah, that would be stomach-knot frustrating. :( Politicians are such idiots - of course we pay more taxes, but there's a reason for it! My co-worker's wife paid exactly $0 for her cure, just like my mate paid $0 for her major shoulder surgery. I've never understood the mentality of folks that do NOT want to pay any taxes, yet expect a world of benefits - where do they think the cash is going to come from!?

I often wonder if their train of thought isn't something along the lines of, "The gubberment makes the money so it can pay fer erryting! All it gots to do is print more!" Though, honestly, I think the real answer is more along the lines of "someone other than me can pay for it, I'm special and don't need to pay for this." I can't stand that entitled mentality, ugh.

*frowns* Yeah, this is very true. And the sense of entitlement seems to be getting worse instead of better. Better come to Canada. *nudge nudge*;)

Heh, I don't know about moving to Mapleland (though if the politics here ever do turn to super dumb, maybe), but I definitely would like to come back and visit sometime. Maybe when there isn't snow on the ground so I can actually see what it looks like when it's green. :P

*chuckles* Yes... gods, especially this crazy winter. Definitely come back in the summer sometime! Would love to show you a bunch of new and cool places and take you out kayaking. ^_^

That would be fun! Not sure when I could seriously consider a trip like that, but I'm pretty certain my passport is expired by now, ha ha ha. I don't even know where it is (aside from in my house somewhere). Yay organization!

*laughs* Yeah, you might want to renew that. I gotta do that to mean later this year, now that you mention it. Well, you're always welcome. So whenever you can is fine with us! ^_^