February 6th, 2017

Another cycle of chemo began last week, and I’ll go in for chemo the next two Wednesdays before my upcoming scan on the 23^rd. It seems pretty likely this scan won’t be great, since my last one showed minor tumor growth. If nothing else we should get a good idea if this current chemo regimen is keeping my disease stable enough or if we need to switch things up and try something new. I suspect the latter, but that’s just my guess. I don’t know what the scans will show. I do know that whatever turns up I will be glad to at least know about it. The sophistication of today’s medical imaging technology staggers me, and I feel truly grateful to be alive at a time when we can clearly see and understand the facts about where and how much my cancer may be growing. I may not like the facts, but at least having them allows me and my doctors to form a meaningful plan to best deal with my cancer as it is, not as we want it to be. Facts, with regards to cancer or any issue, are immensely important.

Sadly it seems many of us can no longer agree on the facts, or even agree to try to find the facts. Disagreement is one of the keys to a healthy society. We need respectful dialogue to guard against extremes, to ensure our own beliefs are coherent and logical, and to see whatever wisdom those who disagree with us may offer. My post from December 5^th examines this closer, so I won’t waste a lot of time here explaining the idea, but we need to argue with one another sometimes. Constructive disagreements are only possible though when they deal with the same established facts.

We can debate who might be the greatest NFL quarterback of all time by citing statistics and making arguments based on facts. You could argue that Tom Brady is the best quarterback ever, as evidenced by his record-breaking five Super Bowl victories, and I could counter that Peyton Manning is the best, with several records of his own like 539 career touchdown passes. One of us might win the argument, or more likely we could both become more deeply entrenched in our views, but at least our arguments used facts. What will never work is attempting to debate using our own made-up “facts” that suit our arguments. We cannot hold a meaningful conversation if you claim Tom Brady has won nine Super Bowls and I argue that Peyton Manning holds the record for most touchdowns thrown at 782. It should go without saying that such tactics would be ridiculous and make meaningful conversation impossible, but right now I’m not sure.

Every day it seems some piece of fake news spreads, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes deceitfully. Fake news is a real and pervasive problem right now, and it seems most people agree it poses a real threat and must be stopped. We just can’t seem to agree what is fake or real news anymore. Too often I see real news outlets and articles decried as fake simply because what they report is inconvenient or contradicts someone’s biases and opinions. It seems that a great many people view news as nothing more than collections of opinions, based on whatever facts or alternatives to the facts one wants to believe. This just simply does not work. It doesn’t work with sports statistics. It doesn’t work with cancer treatment. It definitely doesn’t work with serious issues affecting the entire country and the rest of the world. It is time we all commit to searching and standing up for the truth, for the real facts, whether we like them or not.