Kristy Sorensen

The only hope of uniting this country is in our shared hatred of health insurance companies. We should lean into that.

Why I Like the Hospital Tony Hoagland Because it is all right to be in a bad mood there, slouching along through the underground garage, riding wordlessly on the elevator with the other customers, staring at the closed beige doors like a prison wall. I like the hospital for the way it grants permission for pathos —the mother with cancer deciding how to tell her kids, the bald girl gazing downward at the shunt installed above her missing breast,

the crone in her pajamas, walking with an IV pole. I don't like the smell of antiseptic, or the air-conditioning set on high all night, or the fresh flowers tossed into the wastebasket, but I like the way some people on their plastic chairs break out a notebook and invent a complex scoring system to tally up their days on earth, the column on the left that says, Times I Acted Like a Fool, facing the column on the right that says, Times I Acted Like a Saint. I like the long prairie of the waiting; the forced intimacy of the self with the self; each sick person standing in the middle of a field, like a tree wondering what happened to the forest.

And once I saw a man in a lime-green dressing gown, hunched over in a chair; a man who was not yelling at the doctors, or pretending to be strong, or making a murmured phone call to his wife, but one sobbing without shame, pumping it all out from the bottom of the self, the overflowing bilge of helplessness and rage, a man no longer expecting to be saved, but if you looked, you could see that he was holding his own hand in sympathy, listening to every single word, and he was telling himself everything.

Why I Like the Hospital
Tony Hoagland

Screenshot of article excerpt: The Education Department also was concerned about other words in the application, said Adrian Klenz, who works with deafblind adults in the state. He said he has talked with state officials about the discontinuation of the grant. “I was told that apparently the administration is going through past grants and two words were flagged: One was transition and one was privilege,” Klenz said. “Transition — transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Privilege came up because a parent wrote a glowing review of staff that said what a privilege it was to work with them.” ProPublica obtained a copy of the grant application and confirmed that those words were included.

The Dept. of Education has pulled funding for programs in 8 states that support students with both hearing and vision loss.

A staffer at one program says he was told the Trump admin. took issue with 2 words on the grant application: “transition" and “privilege": www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Neo Amarillo, 2137.
Breakfast is about to E X P L O D E

Calling cancer patients “brave” is dehumanising. I think this is because it puts distance between the patient and the other person. It’s not a compliment with any real meaning or recognition behind it.

“You’re so brave. I couldn’t do what you’re doing.”

But what’s the alternative?

#cansky

1/3

First real-time human embryo implantation recorded (in 2D and 3D). Time lapse video of 2 embryos (200 μm apart) implanting in the 3D platform
science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

I keep thinking about how – usually – no one knows when they *didn’t die* thanks to one preventative measure or another

Vaccines, medical advances, safety measures, environmental regulations, public health initiatives, access to care, community services, health insurance, mental health hotlines &&&

A FOOLISH CRAZE REVIVED. A NEW idiotic craze is thus described by a society paper: "Can you draw a cat?" is the latest social question, and you are immediately handed pencil and paper, and requested to give your best idea of a cat. One lady I know has what she calls "a cat basket," wherein she keeps all the wild attempts of her friends to draw a feline. It is astonishing how few people really know what a cat looks like. Ask your friends to draw a cat, and see the funny things they make,

An idea whose time has come again! CAN YOU DRAW A CAT??

Great @propublica.org article about why Revlimid @bristolmyerssquib.bsky.social costs $$$ with no changes to its efficacy, safety, toxicity over the decades. A terrible story to read when you get a different cancer treatment with essentially equally expensive biosimilars #cancersky

Daily steps and health outcomes in adults: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis Although 10 000 steps per day can still be a viable target for those who are more active, 7000 steps per day is associated with clinically meaningful improvements in health outcomes and might be a mor...

What's the optimal number of steps of physical activity this is associated with multiple (9) favorable outcomes?
The largest, systematic review of 57 studies, 35 cohorts.
7,000 steps is clinically meaningful, benefit also seen for 4,000 steps cf 2,000 steps
thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Yes. The time is now. Vaccines to treat and prevent cancer.
www.jci.org/articles/vie...

Organ clocks for post-menopausal women taking estrogen or not taking estrogen

New organ clock data support the anti-aging benefits of estrogen for postmenopausal women. Reviewed here in context with previous and other recent reports.
erictopol.substack.com/p/new-anti-a...

Yup, it happens, a lot, in the metastatic breast cancer space

A woman hooked up to an apheresis machine

Did you know you can donate blood in honor of an @mdanderson.bsky.social patient? If they don't need🩸, they get an honorarium credited to their account. I'm giving platelets today in honor of one of my pts. Talk about immediately reducing #financialToxicity in small but measurable ways!

I like the A.I. CEOs whining about not being able to do copyright infringement for their "world-fixer" tech because the implication is that the cure for cancer is in some fucking Tom Waits lyrics somewhere or something and we've all just been too stupid to realize it

NIH scientists publish declaration criticizing Trump’s deep cuts in public health research Scores of National Institutes of Health researchers and staffers have sent their leader a letter challenging policies they say undermine the NIH mission.

"In a number of cases, trials that were mostly completed were rendered useless without the money to finish and analyze the work, the letter says. 'Ending a $5 million research study when it is 80% complete does not save $1 million,' it says, 'it wastes $4 million.'”

TRUTH! #CanSky #IDSky #MedSky

Cancer experts warn of coffee enemas and juice diets amid rise in misinformation Oncologists say patients rejecting proven treatments are dying needlessly because of increase in online ‘cures’

“What we’re saying isn’t sexy or exciting –we can’t promise a cure. The drugs we give have side-effects & some people still die.” Dr @lizoriordan.bsky.social @ascocancer.bsky.social

#Misinformation promises cure w/o side effects (or evidence).

We need to be better communicators; lives are at risk.

It's no longer binary: normal or abnormal.
We've known that A.I. can predict future risk of breast cancer from a mammogram
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Today the FDA approved an A.I. to do this for 5-year risk assessment
clairity.com @connielehman.bsky.social

As I make my way home from #Chicago (finally!) here's what I come away with from #ASCO25
I had hoped to live blog from the meeting but time got the better of me! Here goes.... 1/8

We can't afford cancer care for veterans, school lunches for kids or Meals on Wheels for seniors because Trump is spending:

• $1 billion to retrofit a hand-me-down Qatari plane
• $330,000,000 to play golf
• $100,000,000 to build a new ballroom
• $92,000,000 for a birthday parade

But DOGE

Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...

"Our calculations suggest that the proposed budgetary cuts to the NIH will create a social cost that is 16 times greater than the savings that the administration is attempting to achieve."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

A framed sign on a mantle: “Record your voice. It’s fun!” To the right of the sign are two teddy bears and some sort of spherical object that is not a globe.

Tuesday plans

America’s brain drain

No words

We will never know what we don't study
There is an URGENT need for more studies on impact of cannabis use in cancer care
#ASCO25 #SuppOnc #PallOnc

a man is singing into a microphone while playing a guitar on stage . ALT: a man is singing into a microphone while playing a guitar on stage .

My husband was already metastatic when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Cancer screening is amazing & necessary, but aggressive cancers can grow (& spread) fast.

Even if you never ignore symptoms & get superlative healthcare you can still end up with Stage IV cancer. It is awful.

This should terrify EVERYONE! When you or a loved one receive a #cancer #diagnosis you want a reputable place to go for information and that's just been taken away by the current administration. This is WRONG, once again.