What is Tragedy? ...

[rubato]

Alex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cInGyxCY9k

We have the same 'favorite animal', the Musk Ox. Proof that Alex is a right thinker.




yrs,
rubato

[BoSoxGal]

I admire him and hope he beats the terrible odds because I’m still planning to try out someday and would love him to be the host still when I’m on.

But if I got a stage 4 pancreatic diagnosis at 78 with the kind of financial resources he has, I wouldn’t be working a schedule like that required for Jeopardy - I would be spending time with my family and traveling and doing all the bucket list stuff I have left.

[Long Run]

Sad news. He found his place, which is not that common.

[Lord Jim]

I was also very sorry to see this, but I really admire the spirit with which he is confronting it...

As for continuing his work schedule, I assume he feels that for him that is an important part of keeping up his morale for the battle ahead...

[Big RR]

Jim--I think the same thing; this is a man working full time at 78--I think his work is part of what keeps him going. The odds aren't with him, but I wish him the best.

And, FWIW, I respect him for keeping Jeopardy grounded in the same way that the original show (with Art Fleming) was. He saw big changes in the electronics and the question boards, but never deviated from the format while keeping it entertaining (except for the recent all star diversion, but that's another thread); I'll bet the show changes to include more and more one line quips and jokes, and more celebrity appearances (as in all other game shows), when he is replaced as the emcee. Jeopardy is somewhat of an anachronism, a show where the questions are the undisputed star, not the host or the contestants --somehow I don't see that continuing.


BSG--if you do try out, let us know how it works out. I was on the list of contestants for two years but was never called (except by the producers to get a chance to come in and take the test a second time qualifying me for a second year). It was explained to me that they usually had a list of 500 contestants each year and that they called around 250 or so to appear on the show. But it was a fun audition which involved a written test (50 questions as I recalled followed by having those passing play a few mock games (while being taped). I was also on the list for the original game in the early 70s (that was only a written test and a personal interview), but it went off the air that year before I was called.

[Long Run]

Some BigRR trivia!

[Big RR]

Indeed, a good example of the trivial--pointless but interesting (at least to some).

[Long Run]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek says his doctors say he's in "near remission" of advanced pancreatic cancer and his response to the treatment is "kind of mind-boggling."

The 78-year-old TV personality tells People magazine he's responding very well to chemotherapy and the doctors have told him "they hadn't seen this kind of positive results in their memory." Trebek says some of the tumors have shrunk by more than 50%.

[BoSoxGal]

By Frank Lovece
Special to Newsday
Updated May 29, 2019 12:20 PM
Longtime "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek says doctors have told him that his stage 4 pancreatic cancer is, incredibly, "near remission."
"It's kind of mind-boggling," Trebek, 78, says in the new issue of People magazine. "The doctors said they hadn't seen this kind of positive result in their memory … Some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent" following his prescribed chemotherapy.

The promising news, he says, brought "tears of joy."
While overall five-year survival rates for pancreatic cancer is 9 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute database, that figure is heavily weighted toward cancer that has remained localized in the pancreas. The survival rate for stage 4, in which the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body such as the lungs, liver or bones, is 3 percent

While several rounds of chemotherapy remain, Trebek attributes its success to "a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me and their prayers." He adds, "I told the doctors this has to be more than just the chemo, and they agreed it could very well be an important part of this. … I've got a lot of love out there headed in my direction and a lot of prayer, and I will never, ever minimize the value of that."

He had made the cancer diagnosis public on March 6, telling fans in an online video that "like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Now, normally the prognosis for this is not very encouraging. But I'm going to fight this and I'm going to keep working, and with the love and support of my family and friends, and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival-rate statistics for this disease."

Trebek, who has won a slew of Daytime Emmy Awards since launching the syndicated version of the previously network gameshow in 1984, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on May 1 that, "My oncologist tells me I'm doing well, even though I don't always feel it. … But I'm fighting through it. My platelets are steady, my blood counts are steady, my weight is steady. The numbers that indicate the cancer, the cancer indicators, those are coming down. So I've got another chemo next week and then we'll do a review to find out where things stand."

While chemotherapy makes him weak, he said, he otherwise downplayed it. "It's no big deal," he told "GMA." "I go in and I sit down, I joke with the nurses and I'm there for an hour-and-a-half while they inject all this stuff into me, and then I go home. And I have a good day," he said, while conceding that, "The next day, for no reason that I can fathom, it turns south on me. But that's OK. You have to deal with it. … And hopefully everything is going to turn out well and I'll be back on the air with original programming come this September."

Five year survival of stage 4 pancreatic is 3%. After 3 months of chemo, ‘some of’ his tumors have shrunk more than 50%. I’m a little confused; I’ve only done the cancer thing with half a dozen family members and dear friends so far, but that doesn’t sound a whole lot like what remission was described to those folks as looking like.

I spent a lot of long hours on the cancer ward at a hospital (used to be called EMMC) in Bangor, Maine where I interned in college during my pre-med days. I spent many more long hours accompanying dear friends and beloved family members to chemo and radiation treatments, and scans and doctors appointments. I overheard hundreds of conversations between patients and loved ones and medical personnel in the waiting rooms and wide open chemo wards, and I observed a wide expression of human nature in the face of terminal illness.

It’s an agonizing path he’s on; whatever helps him survive it. I do hope he’s having the conversations and spending the time with family and other loved ones as much as possible while maintaining his certainty that he still has time.

The older I get the more I realize how much people lose to the mistaken belief that they still have time.

[rubato]

a diminution of the seriousness or intensity of disease or pain; a temporary recovery.
"ten out of twenty patients remained in remission"
synonyms: respite, abeyance;

[BoSoxGal]

If you're in partial remission, it may mean you can take a break from treatment as long as the cancer doesn't begin to grow again. Complete remission means that tests, physical exams, and scans show that all signs of your cancer are gone. Some doctors also refer to complete remission as “no evidence of disease (NED).”

Maybe he’s closing in on partial remission? Perhaps he’s even confused in using the terms?

[RayThom]

Pancreatic cancer is relentless -- with the worst possible outcome.

Remission is great, but keep in mind, even if he makes it to "cancer free" it's does not mean "cured."

Recurrence is inevitable -- under current cancer technologies -- but these ever groundbreaking treatments will allow him an extra three to five years, maybe.

Without hope, all is lost. I wish Alex wellness and peace.

[Big RR]

Pancreatic cancer is relentless -- with the worst possible outcome.

I don't know; compared with an extended period of increasing debilitation and agony, a quicker death seems like a far better outcome.

[BoSoxGal]

Pancreatic cancer is relentless -- with the worst possible outcome.

I don't know; compared with an extended period of increasing debilitation and agony, a quicker death seems like a far better outcome.

I have watched close up several times now people I loved being devoured by cancer; I much rather hope to die from a massive cardiac or cerebrovascular event, or from traumatic injury in an accident (I prefer the latter as I have decent accidental death insurance and would love to leave my cousin a few dollars).

I have my own plan for any advanced cancer diagnosis, involving a trip to finally see the Scottish Isles, then ultimately a helium tank, tubing and a plastic bag.

[Econoline]

...ultimately a helium tank, tubing and a plastic bag.

A few years ago I might not have been so sympathetic, but I'm with you 100% on this, and have similar plans myself.

My mother had a stroke in May '17 (at the age of 94) which left the left side of her body immobile from the neck down, and I had to watch her staying more-or-less alive for 18 months through rehab, hospital, rehab, hospital, and finally 15 months in a nursing home before she finally died, last November. She definitely hoped and expected to die from a massive cardiac or cerebrovascular event, but didn't, and was unprepared for what happened. The slow deterioration (which actually alternated with periods of noticeable improvement) was so agonizing to watch...I can only imagine what it would be like to go through it.

Yes, a final exit plan is definitely a good thing to have.

[BoSoxGal]

I wrote a few words on that subject then didn’t want to upset anyone so deleted them - but thank you for raising the topic.

Working with elderly clients the past few years, I’ve seen a lot of them enduring a lot of pain and sometimes humiliation and seemingly endless medical interventions to maintain what seems like for many just a ‘waiting to die’ quality of life. I suppose I might find myself thinking very differently about this if I’m ever at that age/condition, but I doubt it.

[Guinevere]

You never know, you never know, you never know. There is a reason hope was left in the bottom of the box Pandora opened.

My mother was not supposed to make it out of the cardiac ICU five years ago, but she fought and fought (and we were right there with her) and she did. I would not trade those last five years for anything -- especially now that she's gone (she passed relatively suddenly, two months ago).

[RayThom]

The EXIT BAG:

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Suicide/S ... ion/Helium

The earth is running out of helium -- the price for a tank could be prohibitive.

On the upside, you'll go out sounding like a silly cartoon character.

[Long Run]

My mother was not supposed to make it out of the cardiac ICU five years ago, but she fought and fought (and we were right there with her) and she did. I would not trade those last five years for anything -- especially now that she's gone (she passed relatively suddenly, two months ago).

Sorry for your loss, Guin.

[BoSoxGal]

Sorry for your loss, Guin.