It can cost a lot getting sick. I guess you have probably answered the question yourself. If you can't afford it, you don't get it done. Doctors can ask for services to be bulk billed. Have you asked about that? Overall, I think we are lucky to have the health system we do, though. I would hate to get sick in USA. In fact, going there might make me sick. H ... View more

I am pleased about this outcome, too. We are a nation of mostly very recent migrants and there is no reason to expect that to change. None at all. Welcome. H ... View more

I do not understand... why we think we can import skills instead of spending on training... and then change the rules because of a perceived cost later on... we have already got the cheaper option, so accept the consequences. This family should stay here. And I do not understand... why we spend billions detaining people for years and then expect them to respect our property laws. This is all wrong. H ... View more

It has been like that for four years (and counting) in my case. I have not lost friends but I have been floored by the monumental changes in my life brought about by diagnosis and treatment. Right now I am in a stage of transition to not working - I decided not to try and return to work - so all the issues of the last four years are there again. Communicate with whom, about what, when and how? And yes, why? You say us cancer patients ... 'don't know what the heck is gong on, that's the freaky bit'... and I can relate to that. But I would also say that I have come to realise that that is the human condition anyway, when confronted with mortality. So, for me it's not a matter of being disadvantaged by illness but a matter of being advantaged by being able to see more that I could before. So, I've stopped saying 'what the heck is going on' and am concentrating on making a future with what I have got here and now. It's fun. There are lots of things to work out with other people, I know. But you still have a life, even if you are an old hippy. H ... View more

I'm looking for a therapy That will increase my energy Then just like a cold or flu Cancer would be gone next week - it's true H ... View more

Well said, but I would distinguish between complementary and alternative in this discussion. Complementary can focus on aspects of wellbeing that are not being covered by mainstream science (oncology in our cases) to good effect. I have had experience of worthwhile complementary therapies in terms of my wellbeing at the time. I am comfortable with the thought that they may complement chemo, etc. Alternative implies instead of and that is where the problem lies, I think. Doing something to complement chemo and doing something instead of chemo are radically different actions and I would like to see them kept a long way apart. Complementary can stay exactly that if it achieves its purpose. If alternative achieved its purpose it would not be alternative. It would, as you say, be mainstream. Collingwood beating Essendon on Monday is a complementary therapy in my case, but it is not an alternative to life saving physics and chemistry. H ... View more

Sorry, but there are two discussions. 'Wellbeing' and 'cure' are not the same thing. I don't mind either discussion. I just don't like them being confused with each other. ... View more

Leonard 'improved wellbeing' is not the measure I would use for cancer therapy. Winning five million bucks would certainly improve my wellbeing, but it would not cure my cancer. Likewise the 'Pies going back to back this season. The measure we all want to look at is about curing cancer, not wellbeing, as important as that is for all of us on a day to day basis. There is no conspiracy to deny market share to complementary therapies, and there are no 'questions to be asked'. If health providers in other states want to set up things like in W.A. there is nothing to stop them. There is no conspiracy by big pharma and the PBS. I support the W.A. initiative, of course. It does sound like a good place to be for a while. But let's not confuse a discussion about wellbeing with a discussion about cancer treatment. There are two discussions to be had, not one. H ... View more

This site is a good place to tell that story. I have done the same and felt great knowing I have posted something that is based on how I see things, not how doctors or family see things. I come back here and write things and post them and it is the same each time. It makes a difference to how I am surviving. H ... View more

Get a small team around you who are going to be there for you. Start with a counsellor and a friend. They can listen to you as you say whatever you want to say about how it is. With everyone else you might just have to say 'No' now and again and see how they react. ... View more