h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

All of us in one huge bed with ?

Sounds like fun!

zdt

Mal, are there any nice river-y lake-y things near you? Not the frog pond - good ones for throwing stones in or fishing.

The lough is about six miles away...

That is good news. Very encouraging.

Lough Neagh? I meant a clean one.

Picky, picky.

Come over here. You can join everybody in catching catfish in the Mississippi....by hand...

http://z.about.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/U/8/catfish1.jpg

Meh. Look how it bulges suspiciously where that guy's hand is holding it. It's obvious they just used a sardine and a bicycle pump.

Actually, channel cats get to be about 150 pounds. A catfish steak is a cross-section slice that fills a large plate.

Let's change the subject D.

Aw. Elektra liked the remark about the sardine and the pump.

You've heard ot tickling trout? Maybe you even do it. Here, the bubbas use their fingers as bait.........

Yes, you're quite a few lines of latitude more southern than I am. That must make for a significantly-less-numb arm if you try to tickle trout.

Bob almighty. Our maintenance man, who I've known since I was 14, finished work with us a few weeks ago because he has cancer in five places. He's what you'd call a 'proper' man - and he's ed, and weak, and scared. And the first thread I open on h2g2 since then is...

Sometimes I don't even know what to think, let alone say.

Ok, the first thing to do is to realise that there's no connection between those events. That way lies superstitiousness.

And yeah, he probably is weak, ed, and scared.

Hi, KB. I'm glad to hear that the prognosis is good. I hope you won't be feeling crappy, even if only occasionally, for too long.

My mother was recently diagnosed with cancer, and I hear you about suddenly having places to be and at certain times. So many different people to see. I hope it won't be too tedious and that treatment isn't too uncomfortable.

Cheers PC. Sorry to hear about your mother! When you look at it, there's never been a better time in history to have cancer from a technological point of view.

(And the fact that it happened before the upcoming massacre on public services in this country feels a bit like buying a house just before property prices sky-rocket. <chuckle&gt

Better for it not to have happened at all, of course, but yes, at least it wasn't after cuts to medical coverage. That's nearly always the way it works out, isn't it?

True, but what can you do. To be honest the main irritation is a lot of thumb-twiddling and waiting for the next thing. Song for the day, then - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz64hWng2vM .

Quite, my mother's doing quite a bit of twiddling. When she was diagnosed last month, she was told that without treatment, the prognosis was not good- likely three or four months and she'd be dead. Here it is, a month later, and she's still waiting for a referral from Medicare for chemo. Of course, she already had one referral, but decided that place is too far away (60 miles) and she wants a referral to someplace closer- apparently she thinks she's going to be able to drive herself to and from chemo treatment. If it were me, I'd rather waste the two hours driving rather than risk being dead soon.

When you say she's waiting for a referral from Medicare, what does that mean? The medical systems here and there are quite different (as you know yourself). I'm hoping I won't need chemo, but if I did I wouldn't want to have to drive there and back.

Medicare is the government-sponsored health care program for retirees, senior citizens, and (I think) people on disability. Some insurance providers, Medicare included, require that one's primary GP refer them to any specialists. In my mother's case, she would need the oncologist to refer her to say, a clinic with PET and CT scans, etc. And no, she definitely wouldn't be driving there or back; she's got an oxygen tank to lug around with her anyway.

Not to depress anyone or anything, but when I spoke to them yesterday, she said she'd decided to forego chemo and radiation and has opted instead for hospice, so transport is rather a moot point anyway.