Dean: What have your results been with TRA?
Nurse: We don't know yet, we've been doing it for too short a time and the results haven't been tabulated.
Dean: How long have you been doing it?
Nurse: A year.
Dean: Is that too short a time to get a feel for whether it's working or not? These tumors progress pretty quickly. I would think a year would be enough to see if you had any results or not.
Nurse: Well, like I told you, the results haven't been tabulated yet, so we don't know if it represents an improvement or not.
Dean: There haven't been any spectacular results?
Nurse (defensively): No, no spectacular results, but it hasn't worked any worse than anything else.
[Dean adds: That's easy to believe, since everything else is essentially useless. ]
Dean: Have you heard of a guy by the name of Burzynski who apparently practices in Houston?
Nurse: Hah! He's a quack.
Dean: Why do you say that?
Nurse (slightly stunned and offended that he questioned her blanket statement): Well, I told you he's from Houston, and everybody around here pretty much accepts that he's a quack. He derives his treatment from urine.
Dean adds: I couldn't help shaking my head again at this very interesting mentality. Even if Burzynski never cured anyone, why is he any more of a quack than they are? After all, they themselves have never been able to help anyone with a glioblastoma multiforme. And yet they're so self-important with their little projects, spending years and who knows how much money seeing if new drug XYZ prolongs survival from 4.3 to 4.7 months."
###