CANCER Are we really making progress?

Today Dr. Miranda Fielding told a wonderful story of a courageous patient on KevinMD.com

I encourage you to read it.  At the risk of plagiarizing myself, this was approximately my comment:

I salute the woman in the story, her doctor, and other brilliant oncologists. For me, the key phrase is "the cost of that survival."   And Dr. Fielding is courageous enough to use the phrase "radiation induced."

On this one patient, radiation has been used for about forty years.  

Trying to concentrate on the story, I kept thinking: Where is the research?  Where is the research? 

 We can make a six-speed automobile; we can equip it so it avoids hitting the car in front of it. Have we spent more money on automotive research than on  cancer cures? Do we spend more money on automotive research than on cancer prevention? Who pays for the research?  Who's in charge?

 What do we care about?   

NO more preaching to the choir, no more lousy statistics

Cc: Bulletin@aarp.orgDear Mr. Rand:


In your [april] Where We Stand, I read that AARP backed the ACA 2010. The rest of the article was enumerating problems and proposed problems and the AARP stand on the problems.

We need to know exactly, precisely what AARP is doing now and what AARP will do next week.

Please replace the Kaiser chart as soon as possible with a clear picture that shows the current situation of those who will be damaged and in some cases will die with the proposed cuts in Medicare. The Kaiser chart gives a MISLEADING, rosy picture for Congress to point to in justifying their plans.

The median is only the middle number in any set of statistics. The mode is the number that occurs most often. $30,000 is probably nowhere near the mode of retirees' financial assets. NOT EVEN CLOSE! Those of us who were damaged in a divorce, lost a spouse, or never married often have NO home equity, so $60,000 only represents a number between us and those with huge home equity. In other words NO HOME EQUITY is the modal situation as far as I can find out. ZERO is probably our typical home equity, not $60,000.

Please clarify with specifics.

Just put my money back where you found it!

For the first time in ages, I bought TIME at the checkstand.  I salute the woman named Phyllis for talking back to Michael Crowley, who supposedly wants Social Security payments cut.   So for the only time, I wrote to TIME:

To: letters@time.com

Let's hear it for Phyllis Hagmaier, Williamsburg, VA (January 10)!
Social Security is not a gift. Not only have we paid into Social Security all our lives, but people working long past retirement age still pay in.


Then Medicare is deducted from the monthly payout. And it pays only part of medical expenses.

The names of people who authorized "borrowing" should be published. But above all, the debt should be repaid.
                                       ***
Maybe we should stop worrying for a minute about identity theft, and get our Social Security savings paid back.

Thanks to TIME for publishing Phyllis' letter.