Comments on: A story, an anniversary and a moral

By: Colin Campbell

Colin Campbell — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 09:01:50 +0000

My Grandmother, a Scottish miners wife from Kirkcaldy put off seeing a cancer specialist for two years because he was Pakistani. She couldn’t bear the thought of having a black man look up her bum. By the time that she got help it was too late and the cancer was well developed and untreatable. She died an agonizing death doped up with morphine. Sad but true. At least the next generation in Scotland is a little more tolerant of other races in the community (except the English of course).

By: Tom N.

Tom N. — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 07:12:40 +0000

Yes, a great post. And within what is a serious piece this brilliantly simple yet wonderfully amusing line: “He had blood in his urine, which the doctors called haematuria

By: Bannerman

Bannerman — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 06:18:27 +0000

The real moral being not to trust the word of medicos or place one’s faith in medical science. If you want to know something and are prepared to pay for the service, then you have every right to have your demands met, in my view.

By: Peter Fuller

Peter Fuller — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 03:18:29 +0000

Nicholas,
I’m pleased to commend your post also. Fred was my lecturer in Agricultural Economics in the late ’60s at Monash, and everything that others have said about his fine intellect and gracious manner rings very true for this very minor pilgrim who happened across his path. Your cautionary advice about medical checks is spot on.
I hope that the memories inspired by the anniversary are predominantly happy ones, even if the wistful note of the post is unmistakable and entirely valid.

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 01:10:51 +0000

Michael, I heard the name John Dillon around my family too! And yes James, you’re right, all those friends of one’s parents – all dropping off the perch. It’s very sad.

By: michael dillon

michael dillon — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 23:42:12 +0000

An evocative post, redolent of “what might have beens” and “what might be’s” for us all. Thanks Nick. My father shared an office with Fred at the NSW Department of Agriculture, I think in the late fifties. Certainly Fred’s name was regularly mentioned in our household as i grew up, my father explaining how he had arrived on the Dunera with nothing, the difficulties which followed, and the huge contributions he had made to the discipline of economics in Australia. On a lighter note, your post reminded me of John Cassidy’s recent article in the New Yorker (September 18 2006)on developments in neuro-economics, essentially exploring recent work which points to the continuing role of emotion in our decisions. While your advice on five yearly ultrasound scans makes sense, it wont do much to prevent a brain tumour , or being hit by the number fifteen bus. My father died of melanoma, possibly initially contracted during field visits to farms in outback NSW while working for the ag department. I am now much more careful about wearing a hat and rolling down my sleeves. But what can we do about that number fifteen bus?

By: James Farrell

James Farrell — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 23:34:40 +0000

A good way to celebrate the anniversary, Nicholas, with some practical lessons.

Chris’s comment reminded me of something that doesn’t seem to attract as much comment as it deserves, namely the chance influence – mostly positive – that adults can have on children who come in contact with them. Not parents or teachers or relatives, but friends of your parents and parents of your friends. These people start dying en masse when you get to my age, and with each one that goes, I remember something he or she taught me, some colorful phrase they used , or something they said set that sent me into spasms of laughter. In some cases, as in Chris’s, they can be important role models, though you don’t realise it until the funeral forty years later.

By: Gaby

Gaby — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 22:47:51 +0000

Hey Nicholas, really nice post. And thanks for the prudential advice. Food for thought there.

By: Chris Lloyd

Chris Lloyd — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 11:42:04 +0000

Fred was indeed a gracious man. He was also my Dad’s best mate. As a kid, I found Fred hard to fathom because he was on such a different intellectual level to me. But he was not at all threatening. And I recogised the discussion and arguments that he and Dad had were a kind of sport. Between the two of them, they planted the idea in my impressionable mind that it might actually be cool to be an academic.

By: Rafe Champion

Rafe Champion — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 10:47:29 +0000

Great post Nicholas. Last week a colleague at work described a publicity program that was run in the UK to alert people to the symptoms of an impending stroke. Rapid action can save a life and/or avert serious and permanent disability. John Newcombe had a near- death experience with stroke and a chapter in his autobiography describes how it happened with emphasis on the need to take preventive action, and to know what to do when the emergency arises.

By: Jonno

Jonno — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 07:30:08 +0000

The download has gone but this might be interesting:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2006/1711788.htm

I have borrowed the book from the local library, but am yet to read it.

The science of cancer is very much being developed – this is one man’s exploration of using the latest means to fight cancer and challenging practitioners constructively.

By: skepticlawyer

skepticlawyer — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 04:55:33 +0000

Don’t really have anything to add, Nick. Great post, that’s all.

By: anon

anon — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 02:16:04 +0000

My father was diagnosed with lung cancer on Friday. I’ve just returned from spending the weekend at my parents house in the Dandenongs. At this stage, they’ve got to do more tests before they know the best course of action, though it’s going to be chemotherapy or radiotherapy of some kind – surgery is not possible. So I’m trying to come to terms with the possibility that my father (aged 58) may only have a few more years left.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever write about this on my own blog, but your post seemed like a timely place to let this little bit out. Thanks.