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MARCH 20, 2020
AIKEN-AUGUSTA’S MOST SALUBRIOUS NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED IN 2006
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MEDICINE IN THE FIRST PERSON
The stick
Being a cancer patient isn’t so bad in a number of ways. As many will tell you, there can be surprising beauty in the experience. Having cancer is a prescription for self-examination and personal growth. I have not met anyone who didn’t say they were better, somehow, for having gone through cancer. Then there are the multiple expressions of love from friends and family, the surprising level of support from people you didn’t realize knew or cared about you - and the knowledge that you’re not alone - and the awareness that many are much worse off than you. Having cancer — as with any serious illness really — puts life in perspective. Of course, this is not to minimize the difficulties that come while experiencing cancer symptoms and navigating cancer treatment. I have stage IV ovarian cancer, which has now metastasized and is at this point, incurable. In the twenty months since being diagnosed I have been hospitalized three
times. For a while I needed 24-hour oxygen. I have had fluid drained from my belly and from around the lungs (painful). I currently undergo regular CT scans, and am on a physically difficult chemotherapy regimen which leaves me fatigued and ill much of the time. Two weeks out of every three my husband and I drive a bit over an hour from our home in McCormick, SC, to Augusta Oncology. Carrying my bag with a nice warm blanket, snacks, and a book, I check in with the competent and friendly staff, receive my patient wristband, and mentally prepare for five hours in the chair, receiving my anti-nausea meds, infusion of fluids, steroids, and life-extending chemotherapy drugs. But first, I must endure a brief but anxious visit to the lab where I receive – the stick. I want you to know I am getting much better at having blood drawn. But I am still fighting my needle fear, and I know I’m not the only one. God bless the phlebotomist who makes the stick. They are kind, professional, and usually very expert. And I am blessed with good veins. I have nothing to complain about. But somePlease see THE STICK page 15
Let’s spend a few calm, quiet and rational minutes talking about everyone’s favorite subject, the coronavirus. (This might be a recurring feature for a few issues.)
Do you think coverage of the coronavirus is a media circus? Have the various news organizations blown it all way out of proportion? Is there some kind of conspiracy afoot here? On the other hand, do you think it’s actually far worse than officials are letting on? When the truth comes out, will it be discovered that the government or the media was part of the cover-up? Let’s spend the promised few calm and rational minutes looking at the facts. Right off the bat, there is no denying that news coverage of this outbreak has exceeded any other disease-related anything in the history of news. The organization Information is Beautiful (informationisbeautiful.net) specializes in creative data visualization. When they make a pie chart, it’s a pie chart that looks good enough to eat. They’re all about presentation, but data is always their key ingredient. They have been tracking a lot of WHO and CDC COVID-19 data worldwide, including the number of cases, the fatality rate, average deaths per day globally, and how much news coverage this virus is getting, then comparing all of this information against other leading causes of death, both chronic diseases and past seasonal outbreaks. Seasonal flu, for example, currently kills an average of more than 1,000 people per day around the world. Information is Beautiful reports 202,000 total news mentions of seasonal flu, or 197 news mentions for each death. For the more than 3,000 people who die every day from tuberculosis, the 2.9 million news mentions average out to 986 news mentions per TB death. But the more than 1.1 billion news mentions about coronavirus average out to nearly 18 million news mentions per death. Given those facts, it would be challenging to mount a successful argument that news coverage of COVID-19 hasn’t been way over the top. The numbers certainly make a powerful argument against any cover-up. But since the level of publicity given to this virus is unprecedented, could a reasonable argument be made that it’s all part of a conspiracy of some kind? If it isn’t, why Please see REALITY CHECK page 3