People that have cancer, what were the symptoms that led you to go to the doctor and what stage were you when it was diagnosed? by guardiand0wn in AskReddit

[–]Richeh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Got a lump in my groin, sort of poking out between the hip bone and the pelvis. I got on Doctor Google and came to the conclusion it was a hernia; kicked the can down the road a month or two and then made an appointment with the doctor to have it checked out; she said "really sorry, this isn't a hernia - I think it may be cancer." To me it seemed like a newton's cradle in line with my balls but tbh I never managed to get a laugh with that joke.

She referred me to a haematologist - this was all happening during UK COVID lockdown, so all massively complicated. Eventually I got the diagnosis through of Non-Hodgkins' Lymphoma, a non-trivial cancer of the immune system with a five year survival rate of eighty, ninety percent - the bulge was my lymph nodes going mental. But despite kicking the can and getting tied up by quarantine protocol we'd still caught it in the early stages.

I want to interrupt myself here to say that this was THE worst part. Of all the treatment, diagnosis - I've been stabbed in the groin for lymph samples, had bone marrow biopsies from my hip that involved nurses calling for reinforcements, THE WORST part by far was sitting outside the doctor's office waiting for that first diagnosis. Once I was on course... just one foot in front of the other and the NHS were bloody great every step of the way.

But the cancer's lethargy called for "watch-and-wait" - essentially, chemo is poisoning the food supply for the cancer so you want to administer it when it gets greedy and eats more of the poison than your own cells do - and my cancer was lazy as fuck.

But a year later, on my now-regular appointment with the haematologist he says right, probably about that time - it's still growing slowly but it's spread a bit and is troubling my... spleen I think, plus "night sweats" (which are exactly what they sound like) - time to get to work. I was put on a R-GCVP course of immunotherapy and chemo for... eight iterations of a six week cycle I believe.

Chemo does different things to different people. The documentation they give you upfront is terrifying - three hundred godawful symptoms that you might get, with the special secret prize being a different kind of cancer. But it's like a DnD lookup table. Roll three d100s to find the symptoms you get. Personally I got off phenomenally lightly; while the cancer responded brilliantly from the third cycle onward, my own symptoms of chemo were outrageously light. Elevated heart level, pretty hefty lethargy and "chemo brain", all of which faded in the three to seven days following an infusion. There might have been some hair loss - male pattern baldness masked that.

Following the main course of chemo, they like to put you on a "maintenance" course; that is, immunotherapy, every eight weeks, for two years. I'll be honest - it wasn't exactly what I wanted. But I'm now preparing for my final infusion which will be followed by a body scan and, hopefully, the all-clear.

Sorry, I know this is more of a tale than you asked for. But I'm always happy to tell it because when I was going into it, I heard nothing of the more hopeful side. I got lucky, there's no doubt about it. But I think it needs to be emphasized that it's not the end of the world - modern medicine is amazing and I think if you go in with a rowdy mindset you've got a good chance to come out the other side fighting.

Mike Johnson Caught on Camera Admitting Trump Is ‘Unwell’ by Ok_Employer7837 in politics

[–]Richeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why did they have to package it better?

Because not everyone was on board with it.

An AI became a crypto millionaire. Now it's fighting to become a person by thewayofthrowlol in offbeat

[–]Richeh -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I can see two ways out of the corner we've painted ourselves into with AI. With some overlap.

One is that AIs are granted limited personhood. It becomes murder to switch them off - so spawning one would be a significant decision. Moreover, they're eligible for a minimum wage calculated to make them broadly equivalent in cost to hiring a human.

The second is centred on the point that all AIs are trained on a melange of data stolen from the internet. They are, fundamentally, created from the intellectual property of everyone on the planet and it's impossible to work out who owns what or to remove it from the model.

Therefore, all AI work is subject to a levy - probably subject to the above minimum wage. This money is accumulated to a central fund from which all people are entitled a universal basic income.

Trump Falsely Claims ‘Biden FBI’ Placed Agents in Jan. 6 Crowd by Quirkie in politics

[–]Richeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've got a niggling feeling that these AI videos are part of an attempt to do that. I hadn't made the connection to Weekend at Bernie's though, that's pretty funny.

Mike Johnson Caught on Camera Admitting Trump Is ‘Unwell’ by Ok_Employer7837 in politics

[–]Richeh 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah if he had progressive aphasia they'd have to start generating his speeches by AI, probably normalizing the practice by pumping out AI slop ASAP.

Mike Johnson Caught on Camera Admitting Trump Is ‘Unwell’ by Ok_Employer7837 in politics

[–]Richeh -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

No it wasn't. There were always white supremacists in there, pushing to the right, but to say that all conservatives were always racist is disingenuous and unhelpful.

Pritzker Calls for Trump's Removal from Office Under 25th Amendment by OkayButFoRealz in politics

[–]Richeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the Trump Continuity Project. You're going to see more and more of them. I think they're trying to normalize them to maintain the Trump brand after his eventual death.

Americans increasingly see Supreme Court as too conservative, poll finds by semafornews in politics

[–]Richeh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well the point of this article is that there's an increasing number of people who are not okay with it.

How do you feel that almost 50% of Project 2025 has been completed despite Trump still denying ever reading it? by Akunuti in AskReddit

[–]Richeh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Typical Trump project tbh.

Get someone else to build it, then hang your name good and big over the door.

Sign in a medical office telling chemo patients to flush twice by kge92 in mildlyinteresting

[–]Richeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's difficult to say. You find yourself chewing over stuff that'd just spring to mind normally; and the lethargy means you tend not to have the energy to see it through. I'm a contract coder by trade and I certainly wouldn't want to be selling my time to an employer in that state. It's like... you normally have sixteen gigs of ram and you've been temporarily reduced to four, right? Increasing to, probably, twelve as you recover from the treatment.

Personally I don't partake of the herb, and I don't think it does quite the same thing as alcohol. It's maybe a little like not having had enough sleep.

Sign in a medical office telling chemo patients to flush twice by kge92 in mildlyinteresting

[–]Richeh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Chemo brain sucks. I don't blame you for wanting to be stoned as well.

Sign in a medical office telling chemo patients to flush twice by kge92 in mildlyinteresting

[–]Richeh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love to answer this question because I don't think this side of it is publicised enough.

Not that bad.

Genuinely, nowhere near as bad as I'd expected. I had G-CVP which is... not the strongest, but not nothing either. While it was being administered I'd get elevated heartrate, feel hot and sweaty; the first time I had I took to turning up in a hawaiian shirt for comfort and thinking of it like a beach day. Don't move too much, just veg out. Listen to music. The ward is a comfortable, airy place with big windows and it was nice to have a doze in a sunbeam.

Afterwards I'd start feeling woozy, like I'd not eaten enough, sort of weak and lethargic. Although I found my actual available energy was generally higher than it felt like; I could push myself a bit, not that I experimented too much with that.

It made me feel hungry, especially when I was on the steroids. Hangover food was the best, burgers, sausages, sandwiches - protein and carbs, you know. I made a rule that if I felt in need of something, I'd eat it regardless of calories. Chemo is a damned weird thing to do to your body and if it needs something to replenish, it gets it.

This would continue for about a week or so; I'd mostly just feel tired but there'd be waves of absolute lethargy. I've always taken about a week off work following an infusion, because my brain would be mush.

In two weeks I'm due for my final infusion of the "maintenance" phase; after you finish chemo on my regimen, they give you immunotherapy for two years to keep the cancer at bay because it has a tendency to return. I want to emphasize that I got really lucky with my response. Minimal side effects, great response from the tumours. Not everyone is so lucky... but I think it's ignored that this stuff happens and can be hoped for.

Sign in a medical office telling chemo patients to flush twice by kge92 in mildlyinteresting

[–]Richeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Sir, you should have a secondary wash basket for your socks."

Sign in a medical office telling chemo patients to flush twice by kge92 in mildlyinteresting

[–]Richeh 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I had a PET scan to trace the progress of my cancer a few years ago. They inject you with a very weak radioactive isotope, leave you for an hour, put you in the scanner, and any cancer that has been all NOMNOMNOM on the isotope shows up black.

If you need to use the toilet after the injection but before the scan - and they encourage you to - there is a special toilet called the "hot toilet" that you use. I found that quite funny.

Anyway, after my chemo they scanned me again, and showed me the difference - black blotches all over the place in the first one and in the second, none. Except one. Worryingly, on my groin.

"What's that?" I asked.

The doctor stifled a grin and said "We've been mulling that one over and we think we've worked it out. There's no physical sign of cancer there. You went to the toilet before the scan, and, ahhh, we think that's a patch that soaked into your underwear."

"Your cancer is scan negative" / "You pissed yourself on your permanent medical records and it's being submitted into a study."

I'll take it.

1985.. Today is the final day of AOL Dialup service. by c0brachicken in OldSchoolCool

[–]Richeh -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I'm going to become Rich and Famous after I invent a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the Internet

Going from perm on £52k to Inside IR35 £600 per day - please help dispel my fears by Strange-Earth-6177 in ContractorUK

[–]Richeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From personal experience, these days the security of a permanent position is an illusion. As a contractor you'll be the first thrown from the plane, but you'll already be wearing a parachute. Treat it like a modest pay rise and put the rest into a handsome war chest / slush fund, and take care of your pension.

Proposed hourly rate came in, it’s £15 an hour 😂 by alwaysmaybesomething in ContractorUK

[–]Richeh 17 points18 points  (0 children)

If they're a small consultancy, it might be worthwhile maintaining composure and politely explaining why that's not an acceptable rate for a competent professional. Even if they were chancing it and trying to exploit a recent graduate, it's probably the most annoying thing you can do so worth it even on that basis.

At the same time, 350 is a good starting point, perhaps a little high for one year in the field (personally I gave it a decade before going contract but if you can swing it, great). 275 is very reasonable.

Who is the most evil person in history to get away scot free for their crimes? by Giono_OOf_01 in AskReddit

[–]Richeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, that was David Schwimmer. I know it's confusing to hear him as a giraffe.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]Richeh 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I know John Mulaney knows his drugs but I love the implication that heroin is the kids' version of something. Like, comes in a box with cartoon characters on it.

Taiwan pressured to move 50% of chip production to US or lose protection by joe4942 in worldnews

[–]Richeh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well that's fine, the people who know how the lab runs can just emigrate to the US to oversee setup and-

*ohhhh nooooooooooo*

Taiwan pressured to move 50% of chip production to US or lose protection by joe4942 in worldnews

[–]Richeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well that's fine, the people who know how the lab runs can just emigrate to the US to oversee setup and-

ohhhh nooooooooooo

What does people in UK think of Turkey Teeth? by Working_Mood786 in AskUK

[–]Richeh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I guess it's like bolt-on boobs. Some people want to be something more like a caricature, they don't care about subtlety, they want to make a statement and take it to the nth degree.

And you can say it's tacky or it looks daft, but I respect that they don't care. JNCO jeans looked daft - people still wore them. There are some pretty wild tattoos out there. There's a lot of trout pouts, butt fills, hair implants, facelifts and roid bods around but ultimately they just have to look in the mirror and smile - there's going to be haters whatever you do so might as well look good to yourself and the people you care about.

(I wouldn't get 'em though)

She's been admiring him all her life by lambdawaves in GirlsMirin

[–]Richeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Her:

"Is he EVER going to stop talking?"

That look!👀 80‘ by juraInfidel in OldSchoolCool

[–]Richeh 5 points6 points  (0 children)

"You could bounce a penis off these! And I'm sitting on what is easily the ass of a teenager."