Humble servant of the Nation

Men’s health need not be an oxymoron

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Back in August, I announced my cancer diagnosis. Last week an examination by cystoscope showed no ghastly tumour had returned to my bladder.

It’s not remission. It’s a little early for that. I’ll get the histology and cell counts in January and then we’ll know more. I suspect there’ll be more treatment, perhaps even more sessions with the dreaded catheter and a squirt or two of bovine tuberculosis just to keep me on my toes.

The post-surgery treatment entailed six of these immunotherapy sessions in all. Every Monday morning I’d be catheterised and have my bladder pumped full with attenuated bovine tuberculosis. It’s not the sort of thing you’d do for extracurricular fun voluntarily but all things being equal, it wasn’t exactly waterboarding at Guantanamo.

Full column here.

203 Comments

  • Jean Baptiste says:

    Dwight 2:24PM

    Yeah righto. Rather more succinct and to the point advice for your students. Modified to suit, from Professor Emeritus Egon Dershovttz’s “Sucking Up For Better Grades 101.”

    “You should be aware of old Dwighty’s political bias within a few days and should thus formulate arguments based on premises that will affirm his views. Always choose references which you are sure he will approve. You may not agree with the material you submit for his appraisal but remember, he is the one marking the papers. This is not a contest, it is a selection process for inclusion.
    There is an adage popular in the town of my humble beginnings, Elmer’s Crossing, Arkansas which goes “Y’all get a lot more from lickin’ than from kickin’.”

    Best wishes. Give ’em heaps.

    • Dwight says:

      I tell them they’re wasting their time trying to figure out what I’d write because I’m partial to questions that are still open, that is, I have no opinion. I say that to get a good grade write the best paper you’ve ever written. Helps to set the bar high.

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    Chrissy Pyne, Mr Insider, god help us as we go into 2017 having to listen to this wombat. We shudder! On a brighter side looking forward t hearing more from Barnaby Joyce, George Christensen and Jacqui Lambie, just to name three off the cuff.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc9NRwp6fiI

  • Razor says:

    There is a consensus on global warming except for this mob…….

    http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/the-sun-has-gone-blank-twice-this-month-this-is-what-it-means/news-story/d775ecf894ab68415ed0108ced31a4e2

    So where do the Dalton and Maunder minimums fit in to AGW theory?

  • Razor says:

    Hey Dismasted have you done any research on who reneweconomy is financed by?

  • BASSMAN says:

    “We will not do any deals with the Greens or minor parties””. Can this mob lie anymore? This is a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad government.

  • darren says:

    I saw a video of Dylan Voller giving evidence and I have to say he seems quite an impressive young bloke. Its difficult to reconcile the young fellow I saw with the record he apparently has. I sincerely hope he gets some breaks and he gets his life on track.

    • Razor says:

      Too much history of a particular type and far too late I’m afraid Darren. The wheels will just keep on turning. Being rehearsed in your evidence and wearing a suit do not make the the man.

    • Lou oTOD says:

      fascinating how a prepped up appearance before an inquiry without cross examination can give you such an impression Darren.

      As for the record he “apparently has”, that is a classic devaluation of reality. If you don’t believe it, Google the Aus where it was documented well before this RC got going.

      • darren says:

        Lou o Tod. Who has sat in more court rooms and assessed people; me or you? Oh yeah – me!

        Voller was not “prepped up”. That was quite obvious from the way he spoke. He was surprisingly articulate and well spoken. That is highly unusual for a young bloke with his record. It is also not something that you can “prep”. People speak the way they always speak when they give evidence. Your experience of that probably doesnt extend past watching Ally McBeal reruns. Note to Lou O Tod: lawyer stuff on the tele is not anything like lawyer stuff in real life. Write that down 1000 times.

        Also, regarding your point on my use of the word “apparently, I wasnt questioning his record. I was just marvelling at the fact that such a well spoken young bloke can have a record like that. Your comment on this though is highly instructive of your paranoid and defensive style of reading other people’s comments. It looks to me like your mind is set in its own little world view and youre prowling around ready to pounce on what you perceive as incursions on your version of the world. You should take more drugs and try to relax a bit,

        On your point about cross examination, Middlebrook’s lawyers are due to put questions to Voller in the new year, if at all (their choice).

        Razor, I agree he’s probably too far gone in “the system” but I do not agree that he was rehearsed. Those replies were too spontaneous and he is clearly just a young fellow. As I also said to Lou O Tod, the impressive bit is not what he said, it was that he is extremely articulate and obviously intelligent. Given the experiences he has come through, in the circumstances, that is highly unusual. I wish him the best for his future.

        • Lou oTOD says:

          That is just drivel Darren. Check out the facts, he is currently incarcerated in an NT jail for dims commit in that State. On release he will be extradited to SA on a number of outstanding warrants.

          His previous offences include attempted murder of a police officer.

          Seems like your experience in assessing people in a court room aint that great.

          As for the rest of your offensive comments directed at me, says more about you than me mate. You know f all about my background and I’d be happy to put you in your place.

          Do you wonder why people struggle with the role of detention officers?

        • Lou oTOD says:

          BTW Darren, check out Voller’s Facebook page for a good character reference. Sex, drugs and violence in any order.

          Oh and add he was guilty of 100 offences of spitting at detention centre staff including females. Have you ever encountered Hep C ?

          I have a mate who is a QC working for the DPP. He’s never been able to answer my challenge about defending those hardened crims he knows are guilty. No doubt you’d relate.

  • Rodent says:

    Just reading how this idiot Islamic apologist Aly Walleed and his stupid mouth that gets him into trouble now in his dying stages, has again driven more voters coming into the Pauline Hanson camp .The reading also says that both major political parties are now losing more suporters into the One Nation , even facebook has sided in support leaving aside the radical element feral activists that hate this country being racists on our own culture of hard working tax payers now hide behind facebook.
    Where the hell is our politics heading these days when both sides can’t even deliver honesty and integrity , allowing these Hanson supporters to spring up out of the ground when once with the major parties.

  • Jean Baptiste says:

    Yvonbew 7:41PM

    The “news for idiots” will point you in any direction other than the real cause of the next great extinction because the oligarchs (and their enablers) who have made trillions selling (and manipulating the price of) fossil fuel don’t want the idiots to finally grasp the fact that the burning of fossil fuels is by far the greatest factor in the warming of the oceans and the thaw of the permafrost which will release in a very short period unimaginable amounts of methane into the atmosphere.
    Because the dumb gutless mother pleasing jellyfish dedicated to their own comfort and popularity among their peers, excuses for responsible thinking humans, might finally when confronting their extinction is no longer avoidable come after them with pitchforks.
    Ever wondered about the big push into research into biospheres is happening? So we can land on Mars, whatever?
    Bollocks, it’s about surviving on this blighted planet, if you have enough money.

    I don’t know if McPherson is correct, but I do know if every year has been hotter than the last for last fifteen years, it’s gone exponential.
    The last laugh is on Einstein who was certain human stupidity was infinite. Wrong Albert, it’s just about to run out.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqIt93dDG1M

    • Razor says:

      But every year hasn’t been hotter than the last for the previous 15yrs.

    • Razor says:

      Biospheres on Mars conspiracy theory now! Has the naughty nurse hidden your pills again?

    • Milton says:

      It’s about time you put Einstein in his place, JB. Not your fault you waited until he was dead.
      Anywho, how long have we got? What islands shouldn’t I holiday on in 2032? What will be the temperature xmas holidays 2045? What was the expected climate to be in 2022 before the humans arrived? And what is your preferred, or favourite, climate change modelling system and what is it called?
      What do you think about the small footprint method, for starters? No cars and free public transport. free solar panels and water tanks and humus toilets. mandatory recycling of beer bottles and all milk and drinks to be sold in bottles or ceramics. free contraceptives and compulsory euthanasia for labor voters and bronco supporters at 70 yrs. communal gardens mit chickens etc to be patrolled by the abbott green army and latter day hipster beatniks to be shot on site or put into work camps. I’ve a few more ideas, and maybe a manifesto in me, that a porcine shyster like you could help out with, but until then I best get some sleep.

    • Razor says:

      It would appear that the permafrost doesn’t give up its carbon JB so all is good in the world.

      http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/mass-carbon-release-from-peatlands-unlikely-study-finds/news-story/1262314c1c467663278945bdebd0b3ee

      Get the nurse to knock that aircon down a notch my man!

  • Dwight says:

    Some of you need to learn a lesson I teach my students about internet research. This is from a handout:

    Clicking on any link about a highly contested topic leads you “down the rabbit hole” to borrow from Lewis Carroll. Let’s pick something contentious: “unemployment and the minimum wage” gives you about 23 million hits. The first link I got was to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Knowing the politics of the newspaper, I know what the article will say. Upon reading it, I find the opinion writer citing the ACTU’s newsletter. How might the unions view the minimum wage?

    Further down the page is an opinion piece from Forbes. Not surprisingly, a business journal whose motto is “The Capitalist Tool”, take a different view. While I might use either of these pieces as a starting point for my discussion, I would never, ever consider using them in support of my argument. Every website you’re going to cite needs to be critically evaluated in just that way. Use your judgment—if it sounds untrue, it probably is. Do your homework and don’t think that just because you found something on the ‘net you can use it in your paper.

    • Robin says:

      Aww come on Dwight everything published on the net is the truth. Just ask dismal

    • Penny says:

      Dwight, I agree with what you are saying, but personally if I’m reading people’s opinions on this blog, I’d rather they summarise the article they have read as Yvonne (or should that be Yvonbew) did in her comment. Posting a link to an article in The Australian, or The Age to support your opinion is not going to convince me that you are right just because you’ve read it in the newspaper. I read newspapers too, but I’m not going to use a columnist whose views may be the same as mine to validate my point of view. Imagine if you are on a debating team, and yes they do still exist, and you kept rebutting the other sides arguments by expecting the audience to refer to articles written by someone else to support your arguments.
      Put your views across by all means, but this blog needs to be freewheeling and not bogged down by attaching links all over the place. One of the reasons I like this blog and it’s contributors so much is that it’s informative, amusing and diverse. Let’s keep it that way.

      • Dismayed says:

        In debating would you not use data to make your point? Surely it is easier to present the whole article for review containing data and research than cherry pick several sentences out of context as we see so often in the media?

    • Carl on the Coast says:

      Dwight – wise advice, but it’ll no doubt be water off a duck’s back to some the geese on here.

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