I have been a lot less active online lately, primarily because of being diagnosed with lung cancer, made more difficult to treat with post Bronchoscopy (camera and sampler down lungs) pneumonia. My prognosis is actually quite good, so sympathy is not needed. I am in that age category when mortality approaches - we all have to go and Lung Cancer looked like the way I would go. Not so much despair as a kind of acceptance; I've had an extraordinarily fortunate life despite bad lifestyle choices and squandered opportunities.

Lung cancer is one of those "silent" killers - it had grown a lot and I never even noticed. But treatments have improved out of sight. Get tests for it regularly if you can; caught early it isn't a death sentence. More like another chronic condition that is treatable;

I have only my own Australian experience - which differs State by State here as well as compared to other nations.

There is a two tiered system here - whilst you can find GP's that bulk bill, ie covered in full by Medicare, specialists that bulk bill are a lot rarer. Mine cost me about $200 for initial consultation (and there will be some more but much beyond $1,000 to $2,000 seems unlikely), however the Bronchoscopy (like most serious treatments) was done at a Public Hospital - Lismore Base Hospital - without any direct costs to me. Pneumonia put me back in there - not as a day patient. Personally I think I may have ended up in one of the best of Hospitals. Yes taxes and a Medicare Levy on taxable income fund it. I doubt my own tax contributions would have covered it.

Pneumonia is a nasty thing even without Lung Cancer, but the cancer complicated treatment, especially since initial tests identified no pneumonia strains. Having the hospital's top specialist on my case was both alarming and reassuring - if that is possible and they seemed determined to find out.

Extraordinary to speak with people with more smarts than most (any?) billionaires, driven not to enrich themselves, but to save lives and reduce human suffering. Wow. I have come to the conclusion that stripped of the religious and political differences most people are good hearted and even well meaning, if inclined to believe BS and engage in mob mentality.

Along the way scans and tests that would have involved days to be booked, days for a follow up consultation were done. I mentioned what seemed like minor headaches in sympathy with coughing (which had gotten nearly uncontrollable) and the next day I had an MRI on my brain followed an hour later with a full body PET scan. Results by morning.

I spent 5 nights in Hospital and came out with a prescription to be filled - AU$8.85.

Unfortunately the pneumonia returned, with a vengeance. That put me in Hospital for closer to 3 weeks. Fortunately the Pneumonia was brought under control, fully. I left with a pharmacy's worth of medication but one was the cancer treatment drug, in tablet form. There may be some Chemo later and (as the Radiotherapy people called it) some 'spot welding' of a rib that has a big part pretty much eaten away by the cancer. On the outside of the body fortunately, with minimum of having to radiate through places best not irradiated. The lesion in my brain is worrisome, but the immunotherapy that will deal with it is already happening

The specific kind of cancer has some of the best modern treatments - not without some side effects. But I always knew the treatments would involve unpleasantness at best and like a lot worse than mere.

Through the hospital - through Palliative Care - most of the equipment to make it possible to go home was provided. We call them the Pal Team, because their job isn't so much just managing dying as making life more comfortable and bearable for people with serious and chronic illness.

No charge to me, although there are more prescriptions. No charges except an oxygen Concentrator. They had done an arterial blood test, a lot deeper than the usual veins and small and hard to find - and I felt every attempt and every miss to get that needle in, but the prospect of doing it all over again had me clamp my teeth and not flinch. They returned with the results... "Unfortunately your oxygen level is so good you don't qualify for the free Oxygen concentrator."

Humour is good to hear.

Equipment includes a hospital style bed, wheelie walker, wheelchair, over the toilet aid - that I already find I have gained strength to not need. A whole lot of 'just in case' medications. I get nurse visits and qualify for assistance packages. And there is the oxygen concentrator, that I use, although it could be used more as a 'just in case' - oxygen bottles don't last nearly as long as I would have expected.

An Australian experience, from someone at the lower end of the socio-economic scale.

1 hour ago, Ken Fabian said:

I have been a lot less active online lately, primarily because of being diagnosed with lung cancer, made more difficult to treat with post Bronchoscopy (camera and sampler down lungs) pneumonia. My prognosis is actually quite good, so sympathy is not needed. I am in that age category when mortality approaches - we all have to go and Lung Cancer looked like the way I would go. Not so much despair as a kind of acceptance; I've had an extraordinarily fortunate life despite bad lifestyle choices and squandered opportunities.

Lung cancer is one of those "silent" killers - it had grown a lot and I never even noticed. But treatments have improved out of sight. Get tests for it regularly if you can; caught early it isn't a death sentence. More like another chronic condition that is treatable;

I have only my own Australian experience - which differs State by State here as well as compared to other nations.

There is a two tiered system here - whilst you can find GP's that bulk bill, ie covered in full by Medicare, specialists that bulk bill are a lot rarer. Mine cost me about $200 for initial consultation (and there will be some more but much beyond $1,000 to $2,000 seems unlikely), however the Bronchoscopy (like most serious treatments) was done at a Public Hospital - Lismore Base Hospital - without any direct costs to me. Pneumonia put me back in there - not as a day patient. Personally I think I may have ended up in one of the best of Hospitals. Yes taxes and a Medicare Levy on taxable income fund it. I doubt my own tax contributions would have covered it.

Pneumonia is a nasty thing even without Lung Cancer, but the cancer complicated treatment, especially since initial tests identified no pneumonia strains. Having the hospital's top specialist on my case was both alarming and reassuring - if that is possible and they seemed determined to find out.

Extraordinary to speak with people with more smarts than most (any?) billionaires, driven not to enrich themselves, but to save lives and reduce human suffering. Wow. I have come to the conclusion that stripped of the religious and political differences most people are good hearted and even well meaning, if inclined to believe BS and engage in mob mentality.

Along the way scans and tests that would have involved days to be booked, days for a follow up consultation were done. I mentioned what seemed like minor headaches in sympathy with coughing (which had gotten nearly uncontrollable) and the next day I had an MRI on my brain followed an hour later with a full body PET scan. Results by morning.

I spent 5 nights in Hospital and came out with a prescription to be filled - AU$8.85.

Unfortunately the pneumonia returned, with a vengeance. That put me in Hospital for closer to 3 weeks. Fortunately the Pneumonia was brought under control, fully. I left with a pharmacy's worth of medication but one was the cancer treatment drug, in tablet form. There may be some Chemo later and (as the Radiotherapy people called it) some 'spot welding' of a rib that has a big part pretty much eaten away by the cancer. On the outside of the body fortunately, with minimum of having to radiate through places best not irradiated. The lesion in my brain is worrisome, but the immunotherapy that will deal with it is already happening

The specific kind of cancer has some of the best modern treatments - not without some side effects. But I always knew the treatments would involve unpleasantness at best and like a lot worse than mere.

Through the hospital - through Palliative Care - most of the equipment to make it possible to go home was provided. We call them the Pal Team, because their job isn't so much just managing dying as making life more comfortable and bearable for people with serious and chronic illness.

No charge to me, although there are more prescriptions. No charges except an oxygen Concentrator. They had done an arterial blood test, a lot deeper than the usual veins and small and hard to find - and I felt every attempt and every miss to get that needle in, but the prospect of doing it all over again had me clamp my teeth and not flinch. They returned with the results... "Unfortunately your oxygen level is so good you don't qualify for the free Oxygen concentrator."

Humour is good to hear.

Equipment includes a hospital style bed, wheelie walker, wheelchair, over the toilet aid - that I already find I have gained strength to not need. A whole lot of 'just in case' medications. I get nurse visits and qualify for assistance packages. And there is the oxygen concentrator, that I use, although it could be used more as a 'just in case' - oxygen bottles don't last nearly as long as I would have expected.

An Australian experience, from someone at the lower end of the socio-economic scale.

Ugh, bad luck mate, doesn't sound like fun. I wish you all the best for at least partial recovery. It seems that cancer treatments have come on by leaps and bounds, already better today than when my wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, something over 15 years ago. The first thing she did when they said she would need chemo was to go out and buy a sick bowl. In the event it was never used and is now part of our cleaning paraphernalia. Anti-nausea drugs are far better than they were. The same applied to our church organist who had surgery for bowel cancer at the age of 37 and was given some follow-up chemo just in case. He seemed to cope very well and carried on playing on Sundays throughout. He was a bit worried about nerve damage to his hands, which tingled a bit for a while. He seems OK now though.

On your point about people being good-natured, I agree. I suspect most people just need an excuse to be useful to someone else, so long as it doesn't drag them into a commitment they can't see the end of. I found the way people rallied round during the covid pandemic, for example, was eye-opening. But the caring professions naturally attract people of such a disposition.

By the way, I always enjoy your informative posts about climate change and renewable energy technology.👍

Good luck with the treatment.

I'm hoping for a good outcome for you Ken.

Like all cancers, early detection is the key.
I have worked with an Irish fellow who smoked like a chimney, and got an early diagnosis right after he retired.
They removed a quarter of one of his lungs, and he's been playing golf every day for the past ten years.
Unfortunately, I was recently at the funeral of an old friend, also a heavy smoker and married an ex-girlfriend of mine, who had been diagnosed late ( Italians don't like going to the doctor ), and he went very quickly from his lung cancer.

I sometimes wonder if that's how I will go.
Over the years I've had the occasional exposure to fumes/vapors that can cause scarring/thickening of lung membranes ( pulmonary fibrosis ), but, at least, I've never smoked.