Due To Popular Demand Moron Monday Has Been Extended

This is a warning for sensitive types – this is one of my rants.

So I am sitting here in day oncology at my local hospital and I have been busy typing away and generally ignoring people which is the best way to pass the time. However, due to the nature of such places you cannot help but overhear the various snippets of conversations. When a new patient parks their arse on the chair the nurse generates a checklist of questions. These are routine and relate to any changes in heath or medication since the last treatment cycle. One of the routine questions relates to smoking and never in my years of doing this have I ever heard anyone receiving treatment answer yes….until this afternoon.

Look away now kiddies- what the fuck are you thinking?. Seriously, what the fuck goes through peoples heads, clearly not a logical thought.

It is hard to understate how stupid this is and in really does hark back to the old parable that it doesn’t matter how idiot proof you make something there will always be a new improved idiot. Im my time of doing this I have heard some pretty stupid things such as people not turning up because they didn’t feel like or that their spirit guide had told them they didnt need treatment (true story) all of which do demonstrate the often unfathomable stupidity of people. But there is a kicker to this – this moron was receiving Keytruda – for those who are fortunately unfamiliar with such things Keytruda is one of the newer immunotherapies that aim to spark the immune system into life and let it do its thing on the rogue cancer cells. Keytruda is used for a small number of cancers including non small cell lung cancer. So we have a dickhead with lung cancer being treated with a new therapy but still clinging to the habit that most likely caused their cancer. I should also mention that this person fell into the category of what I would call professional patients – their disease is their identity and they milk it for all they can.

It is a good thing hospital staff are more tolerant than me. Once I had heard that response I would have booted them from the session – these drugs are expensive and such people are a drain on already overstretched resources.  You may think that we have reached the nadir of human stupidity but there is always someone who will prove you wrong.