Andrew Griffith's Blog, page 8

Mayo Clinic – Cancer Patients May Not be Getting Adequate Care for Debilitating Fatigue, Mayo Clinic Finds

Not surprising, given all the demands on the time of oncologists and their medical teams, but still no excuse given one page hand-outs on ‘what you can do’ would help address this gap. In my case, at one time, a nice woman would hand out pedometers on the hematology ward to help encourage walking. More [...]

BBC News – Men’s cancer risk ‘to climb to one in two’

More sobering stats on increased cancer rates, this time in the UK. Good discussion of some of the limits of screening (particularly for prostate cancer), with the usual lifestyle admonition. He said it was important for people to realise that there is a lot we can do ourselves to lower our own cancer risk, including [...]

It’s time to stop stressing about stress – FT.com

A bit of a counterpart to the previous post. Fun column by Lucy Kellaway on stress. Good dose of reality beyond much of the piffle – many people enjoy busy, active and ‘stressful’ lives, even if they complain: For a start, stress and living are not in conflict. If we didn’t feel some stress there [...]

When Daily Stress Gets in the Way of Life – NYTimes.com

Some good advice and tips on how to manage anxiety. I particularly like the ‘reboot’ analogy. Quote: Another of Dr. [Tamar] Chansky’s invaluable tips is to “let go of the rope.” When feeling pressured to figure out how to fix things now, “walk away for a few minutes, but promise to come back.” As with [...]

Not Running a Hospital: The proton beam chain reaction

Good contrast of the US marketing-based approach and the Canadian public healthcare one, and how Canadian decisions are influenced by the US. Quote: Think of it, over a billion dollars has now been spent on these machines in the United States; Medicare is paying more for the treatment than for conventional radiotherapy; and we are [...]

A rare case when needs of the dying should be secondary

Good reminder that our choices are not only about us but those close to us: If we are fortunate enough to die consciously, then we should take full advantage of opportunities to create peace for all parties. Our last words and intentions matter so much to those left behind. We should be careful how we [...]

Gatenby’s Gambit – Lower Chemo Doses | Exploreable

Some interesting research looking at alternative approaches to chemotherapy dosing, essentially seeing if lower doses can be as or more effective, with the benefit of fewer side effects. Quote: They [Robert Gatenby's group] found that adaptive chemotherapy (where chemotherapy is used in doses that does not eliminate all of the susceptible cancer cells, reducing toxicity [...]

Year 1, Week 18: Back Home

1:18 A travel week. The last few days in Geneva with my Mother-in-law, seeing her on the mend and the bittersweet saying of our goodbyes until next year. The usual per-holiday travel crowds with full planes and airports (my mask provoking one little girl to ask me if I was a doctor!). Arriving back home [...]

Taking on Cancer Again, This Time With the Wisdom of Age – NYTimes.com

Good reflections on how the more combative metaphors and behaviours (battle, fighting, winning) can change with experience and age. From that very first day of my second time around, I challenged myself not to shift into that “win at any cost” mentality. That’s where the gift of age and experience came to my aid, even [...]

Mindfulness Practices to Improve Health and Happiness | World of Psychology

Some mindfulness suggestions to help give one a greater sense of control: Become response-able, leading to being more responsible Choose your behaviour Choose your language Recognize automatic behaviours Announce every activity While some of this can be taken to extremes (e.g., announcing “I’m choosing to walk across the room”), pausing and thinking about one’s choices [...]