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NormanH

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Everything posted by NormanH

  1. This is a shortened version of an excellent article by an Australian oncologist: For my patients, life continues to unfold in all its enormity and mundanity. Parking is hard to find, specialists even harder. Tracking appointments is a full-time job. Absorbing good news and swallowing bad news – and having the stomach for both at every visit – demands equanimity. Then, beyond the heavy logistics, there is the sheer emotional fatigue of carrying a diagnosis that everyone feels entitled to weigh in on. The initial shock of a cancer diagnosis takes the wind out of everyone’s sails. What will I do now? Did I ignore the signs? What does my future hold? It doesn’t help that the usual narrative about cancer takes two forms: miracles and disasters. Either people defy the statistics or face an abject death. Of course, the truth lies in between: many cancer experiences have been transformed through modern medicine, agile technology and compassionate palliation. But surrounded by well-wishers, my patients describe feeling alone in the moment of discovery; they know that the weightiest implications will be theirs to negotiate in the silences between the noise. Unlike any other illness I can think of, cancer is a communal diagnosis. The flipside of a flood of sympathy is a tsunami of advice. Try this; eat that; go here; look there Ironically, some of society’s sickest patients face the greatest pressure to make the well among us feel better. So, while their public-facing side valorises positivity and “beating” cancer, inside they are scared and unsettled, as anyone would be. Cancer is synonymous with uncertainty; true success involves treating the body and mind. I rue how little we do of the latter. Patients explain that the way to help is to neither demand optimism nor let them drown in pessimism. Like so much in life, our response to those who have cancer requires moderation Whether treated, cured, palliated or somewhere in between, everyone wants human connection. Even the grumpy patients who scold us to “let me be” and especially the proud ones who insist they are “just fine”. There is a distinction between needing space and being alone – no one who is alone is truly fine.
  2. I have one of their cards which lets me have an account in Euros, Sterling or Dollars. It also has the very useful function that you can create a virtual card, use it for a transaction, then immediately freeze or delete it. It's useful with any site that you are not 100% sure of..
  3. https://www.20minutes.fr/sante/4074786-20240206-sante-sait-piratages-geants-vol-donnees-millions-francais
  4. More generally I sympathise with ANYONE who has a cancer diagnosis. To quote John Donne "If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind" .. .and the same can be said of illnesses such as Cancer. Would that the same concern as is being expressed at the State of the King's health, were given to his subjects.
  5. Thanks for that information. That is how it should be.
  6. I would hope so. You have a good point about the effect of the publicity. I had regular checks for both prostate and bowel cancer from the age of 50, and one after another they came up positive well before the symptoms were obvious, which meant that both could be caught early
  7. That would be a very good thing, but the fact that those who govern have access to private medicine means that pay only lip service to the NHS. The same applies to private education. Until the day (which I very much doubt will ever come) when those in power have to use the facilities that they provide for the plebs, or in King Charles's case his subjects, there is little incentive for improvement.
  8. Cancer is not necessarily a death sentence, nor is immediate as several of us are aware. My first diagnosis was in 2006..... I would imagine with the superb and constant medical attention that members of the Royal Family have that whatever it is it will have been spotted early.
  9. You could almost say that they had lost because if the Italian kicker had succeeded with the penalty which just swerved wide of the post at the end of the trajectory Italy would have won
  10. The rot set in when Tony Blair affected an accent to appear a 'man of the people' I don't watch UK TV very often but I certainly notice it when I see films.
  11. I do but knowing the level of your French I posted a link that even you might be able to understand a glimmering of ....and it was free...
  12. True but I reckon that more of the posters on here are over 65 than pregnant😇
  13. Which sort of rodeur is it?
  14. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/01/french-farmer-tractor-protests-live-updates-paris-brussels/
  15. https://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/renforcement-d-egalim-transmission-des-exploitations-aides-a-l-elevage-ce-qu-il-faut-retenir-des-annonces-de-gabriel-attal-pour-les-agriculteurs-20240201
  16. of the free deliveryoffer free delivery I had two separate deliveries from Amazon today(don't ask me why they separated them) I have a delivery of household products from Carrefour for tomorrow, and the site didn't show any shortage of what I wanted. As an aside I don't know if every body knows that Carrefour will let you order online and offer free delivery to people over 65 years old
  17. I am not sure that either bananas of cherry tomatoes at this time of the year count as local produce.....
  18. I heard that the A75 was also blocked, but the situation keeps changing
  19. Over here it has felt like that for a large part of the year. Some days I have eaten on the terrace of a restaurant in 25° (a sun-trap admittedly) with people in T-shirts
  20. " It rained for 11 days out of 14" The couple who run my favourite restaurant have just got back from a fortnight on Île Maurice. After working very hard for two years without a break, plus all the extra work over Christmas and New Year they were rewarded by the Hurricane, and confined to their hotel room for two of the days, with the airport out of action, not😰 sure when they would able to get back
  21. Not my usual reading https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/01/30/europe-france-war-on-farmers-is-playing-with-eurosceptic-fi/
  22. I think that it is in a 'bowl' so suffers from heat in the Summer, and is cold and damp in the Winter. It is also subject to atmospheric pollution. https://www.linternaute.com/voyage/climat/grenoble/ville-38185
  23. I believe that the share of a family's budget that goes towards food has diminished considerably over the years.https://www.fortuneo.fr/blog/budget-nourriture-francais-735
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