Category: About me

In the end I assessed that there were potentially higher benefits (even though only temporary) than costs at my age. The vaccine will supposedly bring down my risk of severe covid disease (which remains a potentially lethal but modest disease – overall – from all known data) to the level of risk faced by someone 20 years younger. On the other hand, there is a small risk of side effects, including death.

We are dealing with relatively small numbers all around, given the official UK IFR of covid of 0.1%.

I’ve taken flu shots all my life without thinking too much about them, but there was never before a vaccine for coronavirus. That is what has made things more complicated in this case.

While I might have taken the vaccine at this stage anyway given the data, this decision was not truly based on informed consent.

I’d have liked to wait longer but totalitarian governments have boxed the unvaccinated into a corner as part of their disproportionate response everywhere except in Sweden.

For instance, from 1 January 2022 I can go practically nowhere in India – proof of double vaccination will be demanded everywhere.

To get back into Australia I will need 2 vaccines else will have to pay for a 14-day quarantine. And that won’t be where the thing ends.

Even the private sector is involved in imposing high costs on the public. My Australian travel insurance doesn’t insure for covid so if I land up in ICU here in India the cost can go into the tens of thousands of dollars very quickly. The risk of such a thing was very low and is now even lower – given India achieved herd immunity by July 2021. But the fact that covid must be self-insured adds to the pressure.

Overall, the principle of genuine informed consent has been breached and the way governments have acted and continue to act remains a matter of eternal shame for each politician and bureaucrat who has participated in this breach of human rights.

ADDENDUM
India is extraordinarily incompetent in 99% of the things that governments are supposed to do, but on covid vaccine they seem to be pretty competent: everything was managed electronically and certificate issued electronically immediately.

This is an update from the previous one just a week ago – the next steps are now much clearer.

Radiation to the brain completed

A 5-day course of radiation (cyberknife) to my father’s brain was completed yesterday (26 October) to deal with six cancerous lesions that had started causing significant issues (MRI of the brain for anyone interested in technical details). The next MRI is due after 6 weeks to re-assess the cancer in the brain.

The supervising doctor advised that it will take at least a week for the brain to heal from the trauma of the radiation, so no chemo should be given before that. Chemo, planned to start from today, has therefore been pushed back a week.

Chemo from 3 November 2021
A light and carefully structured dose of chemo will be administered to my father for nine weeks (one injection per week) from 3 November 2021. The course will only be completed if my father can tolerate the drugs without excessive side effects.

Chemo won’t directly shrink the cancer in the brain due to the blood-brain barrier but will slow down the further spread of cancer across the rest of the body (it has spread to almost every organ and lymph node by now). Through that mechanism, chemo could help reduce further metastasis to the brain.

Risks: There is 20-30% chance that chemo won’t work for this cancer. There is a 10-25% chance that chemo itself could kill my father due to a wide range of side-effects. But if it works (70-80% chance), it could give my father a chance of survival into the medium term. This is a calculated risk that must be taken since there are no other options left.

Actively managing basic things

A lot of active management will continue, such as medicines and a number of supports. But the management of simple things like food, water, salt, sleep is also crucial, since the body no longer has the capacity to self-regulate. E.g. massive weight loss from cancer means there is no bodily insulation and ability to sense ambient temperature – this has already caused serious grief through three episodes of dehydration.

Each episode that leads to the hospital causes further muscle atrophy. A few weeks ago he was starting to walk a bit and even climbed two flights of stairs – after a gap of 3 months, but there have been further setbacks, so he’s now barely able to do 20 metres of walking within  the house. Rebuilding the atrophied muscles is therefore a key goal.

Then there are the structural symptoms of cancer. Two of them have already led to Emergency admission (urinary retention and brain edema and heaviness). Let’s hope these reduce in the future.

My time availability

Subject to successful ongoing active management of my father’s needs, I expect fewer medical trips to doctors/hospitals in the coming weeks than I’ve had in the past 2 1/2 months.

This means, that I can resume work on a number of other things. (Of course, once again, there is a lot of ongoing paperwork to claim reimbursements from the government insurance scheme).

If all goes well, I’ll not need to update my father’s health for another 10 weeks or more.