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.

Wishing you recovery, also, @Ken Fabian . Agree with Exchem that your postings add much to the forum, especially on green issues.

My father, thinking his non-inhaling and quite moderate pipe habit might have somewhat spared his lungs, got PF due to long exposure to fumes from printer's ink. The doctor thought it might have been early days in his career, when some press rooms were not well-ventilated or isolated from the newsroom. I may have dodged at least one bullet, being the nonsmoking family member. But lung disease has so many vectors, in terms of breathing awful stuff. Just living in an American city at any part of one's life, is to take onboard a lot of diesel particles and other nasties, so clean living is no guarantee.

Good luck to you, Ken. My brother died from lung cancer exacerbated by pneumonia earlier this year. Being the one responsible for removing all of the life support was one of the most unpleasant things I have ever done even though I am pretty sure the main cause was his being a heavy smoker. Fortunately, he was conscious enough for me to make sure that was still what he wanted.

@exchemist - doing something for someone else can be a real tonic for getting too self absorbed. Yet I never really fell into despair, even seeing the first CT scan; one thing to see a blurry blob on an x-ray and seeing it in high resolution clarity. Not normally a swearing man but "Oh, FUCK!" was the first words that came to mind.

We've lived a hermit like existence in many respects but neighbors and friends - not necessarily close friends - have been rallying in support. It is the people without those networks that fare the worst and there are a lot of people living alone around here - a lot of mental health issues as well as - as cause of - addictions. I've suffered some myself.

Thanks for your kind words and I've liked your contributions here too. I mostly follow scienceforums, sciforums and physicsforums. Plus Substack for serious not science reading.

@MigL Liked your contributions here too.

As for attribution, I've had all kinds of exposure, a lot self inflicted as well as to a variety of workplaces from PVC extrusion - besides the dusts the plastics come out HOT and smoking to stone sawing and polishing and some fabricating flexible joiners for industrial ductwork, with rockwool and glass fibre. Plus 7 years ago there were bushfires; weeks of smoke settling in the still of night to choking levels. And yet my brother had lung cancer and never smoked - detected early just because of a scan for other reasons. No-one really knows. As the top Respiratory Consultant at the Hospital said to me death escapes no-one; not doctors and not even the Queen who would have had as good as could be gotten.

Yes early detection is key and Australia - or at least my State - has a program of free screening. I have and will be urging people to take advantage. Aimed at those with obvious lifestyle risks but local doctors won't hesitate to get people access.

Got sent home with some tablets to take - immunotherapy. "Got lung cancer? Here, take some of these!" Wow. Admittedly my specific kind of lung cancer is, as my Respiratory specialist said, may be the best one to have.

@TheVat I hope to continue making some contributions here. Not just because we often do seem to agree. I don't mind a bit of an argument - if it sticks to the topic. Even so I don't mind wandering off topic too; those can get interesting sometimes.

I should add that a week ago I could not have typed a whole sentence coherently; I don't know how many drugs a hospital's pharmacy carries but I think I've sampled a big selection. A lot of opiates - not for pain but for cough suppression; still a bit surprised that the principle cough suppressant used now was being used medicinally 5,000 years ago!

All the best, Ken. My thoughts are with you.

@npts2020 Thanks for your kind words. The world needs more kind words.

I did consider "assisted dying" if the prognosis was really bad; I really do not like pain. More pain more gain is BS. Glad your brother had that choice, of his own free will. Although serious, unrelenting pain undercuts logic and reason - "just make it stop!!" in the only way available.

Yet pain management has improved out of sight too.

My father died of what started as a prostate cancer and hated morphine; his mind was his only functional part and pain medication took it from him.

A lifelong Atheist, he was in a Catholic run Hospice and not long before his last breath a Nun asked if he would like her to pray for him... "If that makes YOU feel better," was his reply.

I am Atheist and God never even occurred to me even at the worst moments. But my appreciation for Mystery - for the scale of it - has gone supernova. I was never in need of certainty but I may need to review what I've said about science circling in on understanding the fundamental nature of our universe.

@sethoflagos - the replies are still running thick. I have people I've never met thinking about me and wishing the best for me. Make no mistake, that is a good thing - priceless really.

@Ken Fabian hope you feel better, mate. Nothing more to add but to wish you the best for your recovery.

8 hours ago, Ken Fabian said:

I should add that a week ago I could not have typed a whole sentence coherently; I don't know how many drugs a hospital's pharmacy carries but I think I've sampled a big selection. A lot of opiates - not for pain but for cough suppression; still a bit surprised that the principle cough suppressant used now was being used medicinally 5,000 years ago!

Oh that's interesting. What is the cough suppressant?

If it goes back 5K years it could be Platycodon grandiflorus or licorice root, but I'd guess he means a modern derived opiate like DEX or hydrocodone. (Platycodon isn't actually related to codeine, in spite of the suffix, but I've seen herbalist types draw that conclusion).

16 hours ago, exchemist said:

Oh that's interesting. What is the cough suppressant?

Opium. Opiates of course. Primarily Morphine in my case. Although the pain suppression is starting to become more important - I suspect there was pain being suppressed but just noticing it more.

I asked if there were alternatives - I don't like the foggy brain it gave me - but doctors insisted that even now there really aren't any superior cough suppressants than opiates.

Yes it is available in a variety of forms now, but the basic ingredient is derived from the same plant. Australia grows a lot of opium poppies for medicine. Fields of it in flower do look pretty.

Opiates were never a recreational drug for me. Luckily. Missed the gambling addictions too, which are probably the most expensive kind of compulsive behavior of all.

On 11/9/2026 at 10:41 AM, 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.

The oxygen concentrator interests me. I've looked this up and its mode of operation seems quite subtle. Apparently it exploits a difference in the tendency for nitrogen and oxygen molecules to be adsorbed on certain zeolites. At higher pressures nitrogen is adsorbed preferentially, being desorbed again when the pressure returns to atmospheric. So the machine cycles chambers containing zeolite between 1 and 3 bar approx, providing a stream of nitrogen-depleted (i.e. oxygen enhanced) air to the patient and releasing air with higher nitrogen content into the surroundings.

So then the obvious question for me was why would a zeolite prefer to adsorb nitrogen rather than oxygen? The molecules are of similar size (though N2 is slighter the larger), molecular weight etc., and it is oxygen which is the more chemically reactive species. So it seems counterintuitive. The answer, at least according to what I found in a brief internet search, is that the particular zeolites used exploit the greater polarisability of the N2 molecule, something that is said to arise due to its quadrupole moment. The zeolites contain Li+ ions which are small and highly polarising and this is what causes the nitrogen molecules to have polarisation induced in them, sufficient to make them stickier when they enter the zeolite lattice.

So now I need to go down the rabbit hole of finding out about the quadrupole moment and polarisability of the nitrogen molecule, unless some bright spark here on the forum can explain that to me. 🙂 I suspect it may be something to do with the triple bond, i.e. 2 π-bonds, but that's just an initial guess.

@exchemist That is a bit out of my expertise - I don't really have any of that barring randomly acquired.

Wikipedia mentioned two ways, including a membrane based one. I don't know what mine is - it makes a repeating thump and clunk and what sounds like some spring return with some hissing as well; had us chasing the sound because it sounded a lot like someone tapping and whacking something outside! It was set up and running when I got home.

It does have to be serviced - but not until 2028 - including filters, which could include zeolite. If zeolite I'm thinking it must release the nitrogen during the cycle.

Looking at getting a portable one for longer trips to town; gas bottles don't last nearly as long as I expected.

Lithium batteries of course. The hospital runs on them; gone are the days of 'turn off mobile (cell) phones'; every nurse has a phone, they wheel their workstations around with them, all running on batteries. Floor scrubbers, bed movers...

Edited Wednesday at 08:27 PM2 days by Ken Fabian

1 hour ago, Ken Fabian said:

@exchemist That is a bit out of my expertise - I don't really have any of that barring randomly acquired.

Wikipedia mentioned two ways, including a membrane based one. I don't know what mine is - it makes a repeating thump and clunk and what sounds like some spring return with some hissing as well; had us chasing the sound because it sounded a lot like someone tapping and whacking something outside! It was set up and running when I got home.

It does have to be serviced - but not until 2028 - including filters, which could include zeolite. If zeolite I'm thinking it must release the nitrogen during the cycle.

Looking at getting a portable one for longer trips to town; gas bottles don't last nearly as long as I expected.

Lithium batteries of course. The hospital runs on them; gone are the days of 'turn off mobile (cell) phones'; every nurse has a phone, they wheel their workstations around with them, all running on batteries. Floor scrubbers, bed movers...

From what I read, the zeolite type, what they call the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) method, is the one favoured for medical use outside a hospital environment. The thump and hiss would presumably correspond to when it changes over from one zeolite canister to the other and releases the surplus nitrogen it has collected in the pores of the one that is degassing, while the other is pressured up and starts to extract nitrogen from its charge of air.

Sorry if this is a bit intrusive into your medical condition. I found when my wife had cancer it was helpful to me to understand a bit about the treatment and the drugs etc. I was for instance surprised to learn that the first line chemo agent for ovarian cancer like hers was a cis-platinate drug (carboplatin in her case). I remember we learned about cis-platinate drugs for cancer in the 6th form at school, back in the 1970s! So some of these drugs can remain the treatment of choice for a long time. (At school, the point of interest was that the Pt atom forms square planar complexes, the "cis" denoting the fact that both halogen atoms were on adjacent corners of the square, rather than opposite corners.)

Thanks for the details, @Ken Fabian . What a rough time you've had! I hope things get better soon.

I've noticed the cell phone seems to be everywhere in healthcare these days. No more general loudspeakers, no more pagers, and the technicians aren't as tied to computer stations. Thanks, Lithium!