Where to Cut

I would rather have "Groot" working on me.

If some Nimrod loaded the wrong metabolic profile into that gizmo, you could end up in the waste basket with the cancer left on the table?

Unless there is a major change in the economics of our health care systems as of now I would consider any cancer diagnosis a automatic death sentence to myself.

I would rather die with all my possessions and assets intact and to be passed on to my family rather than die a bit later penniless with nothing to pass on to anyone.

You and my wife are apparently of one mind on this. Jury is still out how I would or could react.

you're both quitters. more and more cancer is being defeated.

She has a good prognosis - not likely for hers to re-occur in her life expectancy.

I have no diagnosis of such. Like I said, it depends on I get hit with, or not.

It's not a matter of having it defeated. It's a matter of realistic payback time to cover the expense of it all.

I find no point in giving up the remainder of my life and possibly everything I own plus working just to pay off a unjustly exorbitant medical bill only to die in the end.

At one time, any cancer diagnosis was a likely death sentence. Many cancers nowadays are curable without bankrupting the patient. New techniques are usually expensive, but as technology advances, they become more affordable and one day will become routine.

Most people would find it abhorrent to put a dollar value on a life, but perhaps your age might be a factor. An old person might be buying an extra 10 years whereas a younger might be buying an extra 50. Every person would have to make a judgement in that situation. I hope that I will never be faced with it.

We can all certainly agree that our wish is for no one to be confronted with cancer.

The issue used to be all the known carcinogens that were prevalent in the environment.

Now "that the world is all pristine and safe for life", why is there more diabetes, more cancer, and formerly unusual hormonal diseases such as gynecomastia out there? Is it just that diagnostics and screening is more adept now? I doubt it.

Could it be we have sanitized our living conditions, and such, that important flora are not being in communication with our bodies? Are we still facing the unknown threat from contact with so much electronics, such as TV, cell phone, computer, microwave, etc? Herbicide residues, pesticide residues are also always going to be around, face it.

Maybe we need to tune into what works in other countries, see what home remedies they use (spices, etc.) that statistically appear to work in spades, and start going that way also.

So far, of the near and distant relatives of mine that were diagnosed with cancer, no survivors. My wife does not count as a blood relative, and really hers was probably the most minimal diagnosis I have ever seen.

Thus, if simple things such as bona fide cinnamon (not acacia bark) works (although the studies on it have not been well documented as to what was actually being studied), tumeric (curcumin), and others were shown to have efficacy, such findings might have a seriously dampening effect of Big Pharma marketing plans (for most everyone to be sick, and being under constant medication, which appears to be playing out, that I can tell). When I was young, I did not witness the older generations (living well into octogenarian range) taking pills all the time. Did I just miss it? No. I am pretty sure something changed about the average American's expectations about health care,(not the same as being healthy), and the ability of these companies to market the latest "miracle drug". Oh yeah? Really? How long have you studied these side effects? Who made the decision that the trade offs were worth it? Oh, yes, happy to see, Mr. Big Pharma, you have made all this money that your pockets cannot contain it all.

several years ago I noticed a shadow was developing on a mole I had forever on my left bicep, I went in to have it removed. no big deal. a 3/4 of an inch scar.. 2 weeks later they called me back to inform the biopsy results had come back as melanoma.the range of thoughts and emotions I went through was new and zero fun. I never had a concern about dollars or where "my stuff" might end up.my focus was fighting as hard and intensely as I could to beat this sudden and imminent threat. I was given choices and didn't hesitate to select the one that gave me the best chance to survive without a recurrence ( in the same area, not my entire body). they took a very big chunk out of the side of my arm and I have a conversation starter of a scar to prove it!

all my years of shirtless summers came back to haunt me. wear your hats and sunscreen out there.

now I go in annually and they cut off anything with the slightest mark of irregular.

Sorry you experienced that. As a light-complexioned person, shirtless summers, hat-less times as a child, I am also concerned, but so far, so good.

I'm thankful that I live in a country with free health care.

I'm with you, brother!

Although here in Ontario, our so called "free health care" is estimated to cost us about $11,000 each annually.

when health ailments strikes hard... it really doesn't matter where you are or the healthcare system you have.

Now serving number 75987...

Are you saying there is no tax to pay for your healthcare? And guess how well it works.

your eroding they're wonderful healthcare system platform...

We all pay taxes but I know that whether I have a sprained finger or a major health problem I don't have to think about the cost before seeking treatment.

I don't have to think about the cost before seeking treatment.

No you don't,... your only concern is if there is a waiting list before you.

There is merit to a government system that pays for all catastrophic medical expenses, however, with the caveat the consumer pays for minor expenses and preventative health care (although I receive effectively free dental care, it only pays for cleanings, not things like root canals, etc.).

I think it unwise for America to go down the single provider path others have chosen.

As long as you have a government of laws such as Canada or UK, that might be just dandy, but what if it suddenly becomes the rule of men rather than law, and constitutional authority is uprooted in favor of the whim of the day? I shudder to think of the carnage, a la Nazi death camps.

re: "what if it suddenly becomes the rule of men rather than law, and constitutional authority is uprooted"

Truly a notion that many people do not care to even think about...(!) "If we keep our heads in the sand, it'll never happen!"

We, in the US, have enjoyed freedoms that few outside our borders could ever dream of... {hence, the scramble to get IN, legally-or-not}.

Yet , all-too-many , within , continue to perpetuate and propagate the myth that we can just keep-on-keeping-on, screaming down that turnpike of "progressivism" in all its rainbow-festive-flavors, doing whatever 'feels-good' and borrowing ourselves into oblivion, in order to pay for whatever-it-takes to keep anybody from feeling 'offended' ((())).

And ... as posted previously, here & here ... we're all in for a big surprise, when people like DrZeke start getting appointed to positions of "Create-Your-Own-Authority" (as will inevitably happen, if we don't collectively "screech-on" the brakes, soon). There are lotsa bad people, with more money than 'all-of-us-put-together', working diligently and methodically to insure that it DOES happen {such as ^_Georgie-Poo, who, in 2006, said “the main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States”, and intends to spend his billions to bring-us-down.}

... "^_uh-oh" . . . 'Previewing', here, I sense another censoring headed this-a-way....

...while candidly portrayed, I found the diatribe on why "America is not the greatest country in the world any more"...to be a large pile of baloney.

Yes, you can point at statistics. Yes, statistics like being #1 in the number or percentage of incarcerated persons are ugly, but they belie the truth about our justice system. American judges have proven themselves to be merciful, and God declares mercy upon those who have mercy. A people are merciful when they stop criminals from harming additional victims. This does mean that every criminal gets a "free" execution, and a hole in the ground. It means you save the ones that can be saved.

"Feel good" morality is so short-sighted, myopic, and inconsiderate of others, that all the harms arising out of it cannot be listed here. Borrowing into oblivion versus very tight fiscal "responsibility", does that mean we cannot make flexible decisions when the needs arise? Dominion over the financial stake of our nation does not now nor has it ever implied inflexibility, inability to adapt to emerging conditions that require immediate response, any more than it means spend wildly because "it is other people's money". I dare say here, that were it not for the vision of past leadership of this nation, timely borrowing when emergent, we would not exist as the nation we were founded to be.

We cannot "ride on the back of past accomplishments", only learn by the examples of these greater generations of men and women who saw something more important than their own lives, those who did pick up the falling banner of freedom, and keep stepping one foot in front of the other, one day at a time, one hour at a time, even one minute at a time toward the shining city on a hill of what our nation is yet to become. Without such a vision, the people perish. Who will now pick up the banner and march? Who will value Liberty over personal convenience? I think we all do in our own ways.

You see this in the Cajun Navy in Houston, in Texans helping Texans, in Americans helping Americans. When these trials come into our lives, and they will, let no man or woman ever say, "I can't help these people because they are not in my same class". We don't have a class or caste system in America simply because we are all Americans. When Americans need our help, we simply show up, turn it up, and outshine all the rest. Those are the days when America is still the greatest, may they ever be with us all.

The point of it of the video is to stop riding on the history what others did or accomplished.

Where today, what is in the news,,,

• Law suits on which bathroom people can use, should use? what the hell is that....
• False narratives called News?
• The innocent Children of Illegal Immigrant?
• What shoes Flotus is wearing?
• You don't agree with a party, you're label a racist...
• it goes on...

And the ones the use the what we did in the past are usually the people who have no substance...

and this....

Those are the days when America is still the greatest, may they ever be with us all.

Vietnam showed us,... didn't they... never go in a fight thinking we're untouchable or that it going to be a cake walk...

Look, buddy, in spite of the thesis list you tacked to the proverbial door, my thesis is still this - -America is great when her people act in great ways (just as they have been).

All this other stuff is an anomaly, a blip in history, it cannot stand on its on, self-deflating.

Vietnam was never a righteous war, and certainly our military cannot ever prevail with the brakes applied from Washington, D.C. We have seen that several times now.

Just remember, buddy, things are changing and continue to change. And no memory is going to stop that.

I "second" AP's(#12) sentiments to that ~

In the UK we pay for minor things but those payments are capped. When I go to the dentist, if I need 1 filling or 10, I know it will cost about £50. If I need a crown fitted I know it will cost about £250. If medicine is prescribed by a doctor, it will cost about £8 per item (in fact, it won't because I'm old enough to qualify for free prescriptions).

A healthy Amen! to that -and "GA"!

Hey, you have a choice...

detection of the early stages cancer is the key,...

I like to think that for a lot of 'cures' out there, aren't going to initially come out of the laboratory, but from nature. This is an interesting clip.

And that's why, extinction of a species is a lost in more ways that the actual death of the species.