nabeepchen

No, it’s not really an update about Ivan Noble, just about what I wrote earlier. I had actually gone back to read some of the entries in his online diary which I had never read, and he does mention that he has a “brain tumour called a high grade glioma.” In another place, he calls it a glioblastoma. So unfortunately, I was correct in my diagnosis. They are almost always lethal, as Ivan, despite his determination and optimism, is now experiencing.

If you don’t read the BBC online, chances are, you’ve never heard of Ivan Noble. But if you do, then you are probably just as sad as I am today, as his long running diary has come to an end.

Ivan is a science and technology writer, but ironically and tragically, that is not what has brought him the most fame. Rather, it is the journal that he has been posting at fairly regular intervals, detailing his life since his diagnosis with a brain tumor.

In August 2002, at age 35, Ivan was found to have an aggressive and malignant tumor growing in his brain. While he has never actually said what kind of tumor it is, from his descriptions, I am guessing that he has a glioblastoma. They are highly aggressive and virulent tumors, with a high rate of return, no matter how many times they are surgically removed. They also have a very poor prognosis. No significant advancements in the treatment of glioblastoma have occurred in the past 25 years, and current therapies are generally palliative, as they improve the quality of life.

Without treatment, lifespan after diagnosis is about three months. With therapy, and that includes throwing the book at it, average survival is about one year. Some live longer, some less. At any rate, I could be wrong, but Ivan’s descriptions seem to point to this type of tumor.

I first discovered his diary about a year ago, and have been following it since. That he survived two and a half years is quite an accomplishment, and his diary is filled with optimism and hope that he will be the one to beat this cancer. He celebrates his birthday, the birth of his son, his remissions, a vacation, and focuses on the little miracles of life.

However, his last few entries have foreshadowed this final one. His last remission gave him only a reprieve of a few weeks before the cancer returned. He is cautiously optimistic that he still will be around to celebrate his son’s first birthday. The entry after that one, while still trying to be optimistic, is decidedly more retrospective, quieter, reflective. We are not sure what the doctor’s have said because Ivan does not reveal that; however, we sense that it is not good news, and perhaps, there is nothing more that can be done for him.

And this am, I was stunned by his entry.

This is my last diary.

That time has now come.

Ivan is dying, and even though I have never met him, I feel like a friend is leaving me. I was teary eyed this morning as I read this final post, where he thanks his doctors and nurses for his care, while he is still “able” to, and then goes on to try to make some sense of it all.

What I wanted to do with this column was try to prove that it was possible to survive and beat cancer and not to be crushed by it.

I have not been defeated.

Ivan will probably not be here six months from now, when his son celebrates his first birthday, and his son will have no memory of him. Even his three year old daughter, while she will feel the loss, is still too young to understand fully what is happening. As she grows older, she will only have the faintest memory of her father.

But they will have his diary, and they can read about the journey that he was set upon against his will, and how he persevered. Perhaps it will give them courage as they face their own problems and issues, and help them deal with whatever life gives them.

What will politicians think of next? Here in Seattle, they close libraries periodically to save money. I have written to the mayor’s office and suggested that they close down for several weeks instead, as no one in the city would know or care. Libraries are an essential part of life in this city and closures are sorely felt, whereas closing the mayor’s office to save some money would go entirely unnoticed.

So here is another brainstorm. To raise money for poor children’s health insurance, a Washington state senator came up with the idea of taxing plastic surgery. The assumption is that only rich people have these procedures done, and they won’t notice having to pay a “vanity tax.” Thus far, New Jersey is the and only state to tax plastic surgery, at 6%.

I have a better idea. Why not put a whopping tax on junk food? The tax would include all fast food, all junk food sold in supermarkets, and all foods containing deadly ingredients, like known or suspected carcinogens (yes, the FDA allows them) or trans-fats, and over a certain percentage of sugar. Now not only will that raise money for the poor children, but it may help curtail junk food appetites. And that will result in improved health in the general population, and a subsequent lowering of health care costs.

But I can tell you why that scenario isn’t likely to happen. The processed food lobby will throw a fit, and probably run a zillion dollar campaign condemning such a drastic notion. On the other hand, taxing plastic surgery isn’t likely to cause much of an uproar. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has called New Jersey’s law a “dangerous precedent,” but they don’t have nearly the clout of the food and dairy industry. Now if all doctors got together to protest a tax on medical procedures, that might make some headway.

Basically, politicians pick on those who are unlikely to fight back in any significant way. The idiot who proposed this new tax is Washington state senator Karen Keiser, who, according to an article today in the Seattle Times, thinks that “we could do Botox-for-babies parties. It might be the new thing.”

Botox for babies. Maybe she’d like to hold the first one at her house. And how about “veins-for-vaccines,” where parties can be held to remove spider veins from faces and legs? Or “Kollagen-for-kids?” Yes, the stupidity is endless.

“Anyone who can afford the money for cosmetic procedures, I don’t think they would be deterred by a little sales tax. You pay it on your lipstick.”

Gee thanks, Karen, for that brainstorm. But paying 6.5% tax on a $10 lipstick is slightly less than having to add an additional 6.5% on a procedure that may cost several thousand dollars. Some people spend years saving up to have a cosmetic procedure done. It helps their self-esteem, helps them feel better about themselves, and may even help them keep their jobs if maintaining a youthful appearance is essential.

How about putting a tax on a big Mac with cheese, or on those products which kind of pass for food, but you’d need an organic chemistry textbook to decipher the ingredients? Then we can hold “junk-food-for-junior” parties!

I have mixed feelings about this milestone in health history, I have to admit. I know, I know, primitive dentistry was cruel and unusual punishment. As the story goes, my great-grandmother died from overwhelming sepsis after having a tooth extracted, but it still doesn’t make me feel anymore sympathetic to the discovery of that device which belongs in horror movies–the dentist’s drill.

Primitive drills have been around since the 18th and early 19th century, although most people really didn’t make regular trips to the dentist. Power drills began to appear after the second half of the 19th century, and todays tidbit of history celebrates (?) the electric dental drill, which was patented on this date in 1875, by Kalamazoo, MI, dentist James B. Morrison. It was a revolutionary step in dental technology, and hopefully, technology will continue to march on and someday, dental drills will be obsolete!