Andrew Griffith's Blog, page 2

Articles of Interest This Week

Cancer In The simple act of truth in the face of incurable cancer, Elaine Waples speaks powerfully of what is important when faced with knowing that one will die. It all comes down to the people one loves. Quote: The hard things that tug at the heart and create the pain are the unbearable truths to [...]

Year 1, Week 34: Back to Reality

1:34 Funny how the drive back seemed longer than the drive down, leaving the palm trees behind and arriving back to early spring. Still a few snow patches left in Ottawa, but much less than when we left. We seemed to coming back with many of the regular ‘snowbirds’ (for non-Canadians, refers to retirees who [...]

Articles of Interest This Week

Cancer TIME’s “How To Cure Cancer” cover – worst of the year? reminds us the number of times ‘cure’ has been used and over promised, and that the complexities of cancers mean that while treatments will continue to improve and become more effective, curing all cancers is not in the cards any time soon. Novartis loses [...]

Year 1, Week 33: Enjoying the Warmth

1:33 Not much to write about this week. Enjoying the warmth, walking, biking and swimming, and occasionally checking the weather back in Ottawa to remind us of just how lucky we are to get away. And always fun, as Canadians, to be in the States, observing the differences between Canada and the US, even if [...]

Organizing your medical file – Cancerwise | Cancer blog from MD Anderson Cancer Center

A ‘re-run’ of my Organizing your medical file piece in Cancerwise. Filed under: Cancer, Lymphoma Tagged: cancerwise

Articles of Interest This Week

Cancer Ezekiel Emanuel’s A Plan to Fix Cancer Care, focuses on five changes: shift from fee-for-service to bundled payments, insurers to give doctors cost information and better data, rigorous quality monitoring, ‘high touch’ oncology services to reduce ER visits and allow for end-of-life planning, and better incentives for research. A reminder of how cancer has [...]

Year 1, Week 32: Escaping More Snow

1:32 Good timing to go South, as winter and snow continue in Ottawa…. Strange that the feeling of liberation from coats, hats, gloves (and shovelling!) is matched by the awareness that I have to get back to my summer ‘protective gear.’ While last year, I was just happy to be alive and walking, this year [...]

Articles of Interest This Week

Cancer Not much new but Is the war on cancer an ‘utter failure’?: A sobering look at how billions in research money is spent provides a sobering look on cancer research and treatment, noting that most of the improvement has come from prevention (anti-smoking campaigns), with marginal improvements in most other outcomes. I do not [...]

Year 1, Week 31: A Few Movies and a Book

1:31 Some good movies this week. First, I finally saw Amour by Michael Haneke, the winner of the Best Foreign Film at the Oscars (and far, far better and more profound than Argo ….). Not a cheery movie, about old age, and how the relationship changes when Anne, the wife, suffers a mild stroke and [...]

The evolution of writing during a cancer journey – Kevin MD

My ‘writing through cancer’ piece on KevinMD. The evolution of writing during a cancer journey. Filed under: Cancer, Lymphoma Tagged: Health, Living with Cancer: A Journey, Medicine, writing