Linda and Canada jay
Our skiing years, sometime in the 90s
Somewhere in southern Canada
The NY Times has published a thoughtful little essay by an
oncology doc, on the difference between “survival” and “cure”. Here it is; read it:
As I read this essay, I couldn’t help but think of what an
awful job these oncologists have. I don’t
think I would have had the strength. I
would love to have been a cancer researcher, but the necessity of telling
people they are about to die would have killed me. I guess I am a wus.
By the way, this essay seems to contain one arithmetic mistake. First person who spots it wins a beautiful ovarian
cancer awareness car magnet.
For my trip to Iceland I have bought a fancy camera, and
have spent many hours trying to figure out how it works. Apparently it can do many things that I have
never heard of. Explanations are couched
in language I don’t understand, using undefined terms and acronyms. What in hell is IPO, anyway?.
I've been a bit behind in reading these blogs, but catching up has been both enjoyable and educational. Keep informing us, Myrl.
ReplyDeleteThe patient in the article was approaching his 7th decade, not his 8th.
ReplyDeleteLinda Kelly wins the prize, which I will send to her just as soon as I remember to buy some stamps.
DeleteHappy Birthday, Myrl!
ReplyDeleteI see that I neglected to summarize this article; forgive me. “Survival” means staying alive to a certain anniversary (often five years) after diagnosis; “cure” means becoming, and remaining, disease free. The new study (below) gives some robust statistics on survival to ten years, and they are encouraging. “Survival” will increase for several reasons: better therapy, earlier diagnosis, better data sets. “Cure” also depends on better therapy and better data, and leans very heavily on early diagnosis; catch it early enough and you can snuff it out, permanently – sometimes. In my book the most important statistic is “Mortality”; what fraction of the population dies of the disease. This depends on all of the above and, crucially, prevention. Mortality from lung cancer has shrunk dramatically in recent decades, not primarily from better treatment or earlier diagnosis, but from prevention. I wish there was such an uncomplicated way to prevent ovarian cancer, but I can’t think of one. Can you?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/297805.php
Another take on this subject:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newswise.com/articles/long-term-ovarian-cancer-survival-higher-than-thought