I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. I’ve actually found myself thinking about you quite a bit lately, and then I just happened to stumble back onto this forum today and realized I had to say something.😢 We didn't always see eye to eye—we definitely bumped heads on a few things—but honestly, I have so much respect for you. It takes a lot to actually impress me, but somehow, you managed to do it.
@Katarina, did you totally forget about those folks from Chicago? I'm asking specifically regarding the CT results. Man, you should've just given me a ring!
Slathering on hand cream isn't going to do squat here. If those veins are popping out on your hands, it's probably just down to things like temperature, how much you're working out, or blood pressure. Honestly, Harold Anderson3 already nailed the explanation, so I don't have much else to add.
I really have to weigh in on what slymoose4 said.😠
Seriously, using an entire thread just for free marketing? I think that’s not only against the rules but honestly just kind of tacky. It’s pretty sad to see you pitching your business, your buddies, or whoever else this way. There are much better, more decent ways to go about it. It's simple: pay up and you get the promo. Honestly, I don't think anyone was actually impressed by a 20% discount. Anyone who actually knows anything about the book's subject matter—and I've shared my own take on it somewhere—isn't going to fall for such cheap and unprofessional marketing stunts.
It’s been a minute since I’ve been around here, but first off, I really want to send my sincere condolences to Brenda Richardson33.
Just gonna briefly touch on what northernfox9 said. Your username pretty much says it all, so regardless of the messy, undefined stages you're going through right now—believe me, I've been there myself when I couldn't even wrap my head around my own feelings. I’ve written quite a bit about how doctors deliver news. They often jump straight to giving these shocking prognoses based purely on statistics, yet on the flip side, they tend to gloss over crucial details regarding the disease itself, treatment options, diagnostic steps, and so on. It’s only human to fight in every way possible to find connections—strong or weak, it doesn't even matter—but that’s exactly where the trap lies. My wife, Mary, is actually heading in for another round of chemo tomorrow under a brutal protocol (it's a combo of two of the least selective cytostatics out there today), and since we both work in healthcare, we kind of have this automatic reflex to hunt for "connections." We do, but we try our best not to pull that thread too hard because we know that if we start asking verbally, we’ll just get flooded with a mountain of useless, counterproductive info. Angela Wright put it perfectly when she mentioned how, in cases like this, information often gets passed around through hearsay. My advice? Primarily, you should monitor your dad's health yourself while maintaining regular, direct conversations exclusively with his oncologist. To give you an idea, a neighbor came to me over ten years ago with her results, asking me to "take a look." If I had actually taken it upon myself to predict what was written there, that poor woman would have barely survived a month based on those papers. When someone mentions "stage four" cancer, you absolutely have every right to demand a real explanation.
As far as I know, the concept of a "terminal stage" for illnesses, including cancer, isn't even clearly defined here in America (I'm not sure if hospices in the US have a strictly defined term for it), but within this group—aside from the fact that I deal with it personally at work —under certain laws in various states, a general practitioner can issue a certification stating that a patient has about six months left to live. Now, that’s a massive topic that deserves its own deep dive, but it's such a multidisciplinary issue that it doesn't make sense to stretch it out too much on this specific subforum. Personally, I don't support that kind of thing, and luckily, it's not really feasible here, so the term "terminal stage" mostly stays within the walls of medical institutions—even if not everyone in there is totally clear on what it actually means.
I mentioned this earlier, but I really don't want to get into playing doctor and throwing around timelines like "you've got six months" or "maybe a year." I’m just not about that life. Basically, according to the rules, we all have every right to know exactly what we're dealing with—the diagnosis, the treatment plan, the tests, all of it. That said, doctors often feel they have the right to "dose" information, and there are a million reasons why they might do that. restlessmarlin6 made a great point that if doctors dumped every single detail on us at once, it could actually backfire. At the end of the day, it’s up to us. We either have to be the "annoying" patient who asks a million questions, or we try to learn the science ourselves (though let’s be real, the internet can be super counterproductive too). It mostly comes down to our own initiative. It’s not fair to paint all doctors with the same brush, though. We definitely get blindsided by that "coldness" or lack of empathy sometimes, but let’s try to see where they're coming from. You can't exactly teach bedside manner in med school. We naturally gravitate toward the sweet, chatty doctors over the blunt ones, but just because someone isn't "warm" doesn't mean they aren't doing an amazing job. To be fair, a lot of doctors do deal with "God complex" issues, and honestly, that needs to change, but it’s easier said than done. There are so few doctors willing (mostly due to massive egos) to just say, "Look, I don't know," or "I don't want to give you info if I'm not 100% sure." Some will hide behind fancy medical jargon to make things sound mysterious, but again, I’m not saying everyone does that.
Every proper autopsy requires opening the skull and doing a deep dive into the brain. I won't bore you with the gory details—in our world, we just call it "slicing." Now, let's be real: we don't always go that route, and the reason is pretty simple. If the cause of death is already clear, nobody wants to deal with the hassle of a cranial exam. Plus, doing a full macroscopic analysis of the brain is a massive time sink during an autopsy. But when it comes to forensic cases? There's zero chance of skipping the head. Everything has to follow strict protocol because, honestly, there are usually "other people" watching the medical staff during those ones. As for that aortic dissection, I’m thinking it might not actually be what killed them. But hey, I could be wrong—we can speculate all we want, but the bottom line is we have to wait for the official autopsy report.
I'm not an expert on Swedish law, but you absolutely have to get your hands on that autopsy report before anyone can really talk sense about this. If you ask me, my best guess is it was a myocardial infarction—basically a heart attack—where the pain can shoot up right into your neck. Plus, let's be real, pathologists sometimes skip a deep dive into the brain, so there's always a chance they missed something crucial there too.
Regarding the press stuff, Mary and I are currently hashing things out with the New York Times and Metro (everyone else just ghosted my emails, by the way), so we're being pretty cautious with them.😉 When it comes to Noni and Propolis, I'm totally with you on what you wrote here:👍you can definitely take them together, but if you have to pick just one, go with the Propolis. Now, Noni is definitely good, but like I mentioned before, it's become such a massive industry that you really have to watch your back and be super careful about where you buy it and what quality you're actually getting. In the States, there's basically only one company importing the real deal Noni.
To really get to the bottom of this, we’d need an autopsy report. If you managed to get your hands on one, then we could actually dig into the details. But based on the symptoms described, it looks like a myocardial infarction. Sadly, that's the most likely culprit for such a sudden passing, though I’ll say it again—without an official autopsy, it's all just guesswork.
You can't definitively prove it was an arrhythmia through a post-mortem, but any scarring on the myocardium would point toward a heart attack (which, of course, could have been triggered by an arrhythmia).
There's also the possibility of a pulmonary embolism, but honestly, nothing is certain until we see those autopsy findings.
Hey there, my girls Ivanna and Catherine—I’m not sure if you’ve tried reaching out to the media yet using a strategy that avoids coming off like some sensationalist headline grabber. From my own experience, I know exactly how that kind of communication usually plays out, and unfortunately, it's not great. They just straight-up ignore you.👎 Obviously, if you decide to go the sensationalist route, I wouldn't recommend it; people will just swarm you like crazy.😠 Catherine, I hate to be the one to say this, but you really have to face the fact that—as harsh as it sounds—we aren't all "equal" in this world, and that's just our reality. Why? Well, I could write a whole book on that, but basically, even though waiting a month for radiation feels like an eternity to you, I can tell you for sure there's no room for cutting corners here.😉.
When it comes to Noni, there are so many conflicting opinions out there that it's honestly hard to play it smart. Dealing with Noni is actually a massive business involving huge amounts of money (a bottle is sold somewhere in the world every single minute), so even some "sketchy characters" have jumped into the industry. Once you start looking in local pharmacies, you'll find at least ten different brands of Noni, and every single one of them swears they are the "original." @George Palmer If your mom feels good taking Noni, there's absolutely no reason for her to stop. My advice, though, is to try really hard to track down the "original" Noni, even if finding it is pretty tough these days.
BTW-Još, a quick shoutout to anyone interested in helping out with the website—you can reach out to either slyseal28 or me. Please make sure your applications include all your contact info; honestly, I won't even look at messages from people saying "I want to help" without providing actual details. Thanks in advance!
Super detailed breakdown👍 but if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?😉 It sounds like you’ve already adjusted to your other issues, but this blurry vision thing and using Maxitrol drops is definitely new. I know I'm preaching here, but honestly, go see an eye doctor. Even if your prescription doesn't change much over the next two years, getting a specialist's take is always smart. Speaking of prescriptions, I went from having perfect vision to needing +2 in just a few months. 👎 Obviously, that doesn't mean the same thing is going to happen to you.😉 Look, I'm no doctor, so let's wait until Sam Hall15 weighs in,😉 but if you ask me, it sounds like an accommodation issue, which would explain why things look fuzzy. Anyway, I deal with something similar myself. I talked to my ophthalmologist and, plain and simple, it's just age catching up with me.🙄 Not exactly a medical breakthrough, but that's my experience. For me, the blurriness lingers for a bit while my eyes try to adjust. It usually only lasts a few seconds, but it depends on a bunch of stuff—like whether it's day or night, the lighting, and those constant headaches I deal with that hit me at different intensities. It's definitely not nothing, especially since I spend at least 14 hours a day staring at my monitor set to 1600x1200 resolution.🙄
There isn't really one single rule for all meds. Some you take before eating, some after, and some go right under your tongue. Honestly, if you’ve always just taken yours on an empty stomach and it works for you, I don't see why you'd mess with that. It might not be the most "medical" way to put it, but if your body handles it fine, there's no magic rule you have to follow. Of course, if it's a specific type of medication, your doctor will give you the lowdown on whether to take it before, after, or during a meal. You didn't mention which pills we're actually talking about here. I see someone mentioned Advil. When my head is absolutely killing me, I'll pop a 400mg, but even then—if I can't face a full meal—I'll grab at least one bite of something. If I don't, the headache might go away, but my stomach starts burning like crazy. It's the worst.😠
Robert Morales40, maybe try chatting with your doctor first about those sinus issues and whether using Johnson & Johnson might actually help. You probably know it works on the principle of phototherapy, so I’m a little skeptical about how the doc will take it.🙄 You can grab it online through this link, but I'm pretty sure even CVS Pharmacy in Miami will have it in stock.
Yeah, Ivanna, I am totally with you on this one.👍 It really comes down to faith and hope. Unfortunately, if you don't have that faith, even the perfect diet, lifestyle changes, and supplements won't mean much.
Like, I'll say it again: spontaneous healings definitely happen, they're just rare. And honestly, how we interpret them all depends on our own perspectives, our beliefs, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
If you're looking at skin tags, definitely hit up a dermatologist. But if you're thinking about removing moles, you really want an aesthetic surgeon on the job to make sure things don't get messy. Honestly, even with moles, there's always that big question of whether you should pull the trigger on removal at all, let alone how or when. I wish I could give you a specific recommendation, but since I'm living over in Cleveland, I'm a bit out of the loop. That said, for skin tags, any decent dermatologist will do the trick. Unfortunately, here in Cleveland, we've only got two specialists at the local hospital 🙄 plus two private practices nearby.
Look, I’ll be honest, it’s tough for me to give you a definitive answer here. You really need a deep-dive neurological exam to figure out if there's an underlying condition driving that spastic paraparesis. The thing is, even for top-tier specialists at places like the Mayo Clinic, these cases aren't always straightforward, so sometimes they just list "spastic paraparesis" as the diagnosis because that's what they can observe.
Spastic parapareisis isn't really a "disease" on its own. It’s more like a red flag pointing toward some underlying neurological issue. Honestly, since both my dad and grandad are dealing with other health stuff too, it's getting pretty hard to pin down exactly what's going on. You could technically group parapareisis under the umbrella of cerebral palsy, but I'm definitely not an expert—better to let a specialist weigh in on that one.
Did you actually get your testosterone levels checked? High testosterone can really mess with your oil glands. Definitely try to hash this out with your doctor.
And just a heads-up, this stuff is strictly for hospital use only. Honestly, the easiest way to get your hands on it is to just let the doctors at the hospital in Ottawa handle the heavy lifting with the National Institutes of Health. You can grab all the specifics you need from what Steven Murphy posted earlier.