This is my first diary. I have been thinking about posting this for a while, but today seemed like the best time. I am going to say things that are unpopular in the general Kos community, but I think it is important for everyone to see different perspectives on issues. Understanding both sides makes our own opinions stronger.
Today they are going to bury my aunt Carol. She has been slowly dying of ALS for almost two years. I have watched her go from a vibrant, colorful, big-haired Texan character to a bedridden invalid in that time. The last time I saw her, she could barely speak. But her mind remained tack-sharp throughout. That is the real tragedy of ALS - the perfect clarity of the victim's mind. ALS is a genetic condition. One of my great aunts was similarly afflicted. We also have a history of various cancers. Dad is currently fighting colon cancer. My sister and I have a grim joke about being the "nutty genetic mutation family".
Both my aunt and my father have a medicine cabinet full of wildly expensive drugs that, in all likelihood, will not (and did not) do much beyond prolonging their lives by a few months. But they are the only things currently available so we pay up. I have worked in the Pharmaceutical Industry for almost 10 years now and I always hear the same comments about the industry. Specifically, that the high cost of drugs are related directly to the greed of the industry. I am posting a few of my thoughts.
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