[AMA] I'm a Top Poster on OzBargain, Store Rep for a number of Chinese Stores & recently beat cancer

Clear on 18/01/2023 - 21:20

AMA's are always a lot of fun and I thought it's about time I do one. For those who don't know I'm one of the top posters here on OzBargain with a total of 2562 deals posted since late 2014 and a whopping 749 deals posted in 2022 alone.

In the 8 years that I've been here I've been a rep for GeekBuying, Romoss, Tronsmart and a number of other stores. Over the years I've also worked as an editor at Gizchina.com and a number of other Chinese related tech websites.

On a more personal note (as many OzBargainers know) I recently fought and survived a very rare type of gastrointestinal neuroendocrine cancer that had metastasised elsewhere in my body. My original diagnosis 2 years ago was completely by surprise and while it was initially considered to be low grade, it was later found to be highly aggressive, bumped up to stage 4 and likelyhood of survival was very low.

Fortunately after a long 10 hours of surgery and a month in hospital I was "cured".

So ask away! I'll be try to be as transparent and clear as possible :)

Introduce Yourself

closed Comments

  • mbck on 18/01/2023 - 21:28
    +105

    God dang. I didn't know. All the best and take care.

  • CurlCurl on 18/01/2023 - 21:32
    +7

    Good on you for beating it.

    BTW. I bet you can't pronounce gastrointestinal neuroendocrine cancer that had metastasised after a few beers.

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 21:55
      +11

      Fortunately my liver was untouched. I'll have to try saying that after a few VB's.

      • HardQuiz on 19/01/2023 - 02:48
        +9

        VB? I blame the surgery, it must’ve done something to you!

        Well done mate on your recovery, wishing you a healthy happy life, and keep up the good work.

  • spackbace on 18/01/2023 - 21:40
    +35

    Which is worse, these forums or cancer? 😛

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 21:55
      +42

      Ooooo that's such a tough question. With these forums seeing a SlavOz-like post from one of our secret healthcare professionals is certainly more painful than cancer.

  • YeemaiI on 18/01/2023 - 21:44
    +1

    As a store rep, do you get paid for posting the deals here? Like a commission of some kind?

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:01
      +33

      Yes and no. If I use GeekBuying and Romoss as an example then it's $X amount per post. Contrary to what offers earn around here I'd say it's really low. At GeekBuying's peak I was doing 2 posts a week and what I earned in a month from them was nearly half of what a single Romoss post earned.

      Then there's other associations like a recent brief stint with Kogan's external marketing agency where I received nothing in return for my Associated posts.

      For me it's never been about the $$$ and why I'm so transparent with my store associations. It's just the satisfaction of sharing a deal.

      • spaceflight on 19/01/2023 - 10:18
        +4

        Could you post deals and earn enough to survive on, or is it just some extra pocket money?

        Then there's other associations like a recent brief stint with Kogan's external marketing agency where I received nothing in return for my Associated posts.

        I know you said it's not about the money, but then what was in it for you to give Kogan free publicity?

        • Clear on 19/01/2023 - 14:33
          +16

          Could you post deals and earn enough to survive on, or is it just some extra pocket money?

          Extra pocket money. Unless you were getting commission per purchase and heaps sold then you really don't make much money. A single Romoss post and a month of Geekbuying posts is less than what I earn in a day.

          I know you said it's not about the money, but then what was in it for you to give Kogan free publicity?

          Ok there is a backstory behind this. Kogan's external marketing agency wanted someone to post deals long term and approached a number of people. I entered a short term of deal posting with them to see how it went. Unfortunately I had no say in what they wanted to share, so if the product is shit…. tough.

          The other issue is that it interfered my with other rep posts. Reps are limited to 2 posts a week and if you have multiple associations, e.g. Kogan and GeekBuying then my 2 posts per week is shared between them. Naturally I'd have more loyalty to GB than Kogan.

          When it came to payment I was shafted by Kogan's agency. Because no contract was signed there was no payment. The other reps apparently have contracts. So shady Kogan strikes again.

          • spaceflight on 19/01/2023 - 20:42

            @Clear: Thanks for the insight :)

            It's unfortunate to hear about how Kogan treated you.
            If it makes you feel better, shady Kogan got me with their First membership years ago. Not that I wanted to keep supporting them but if I wanted something and they had it at a reasonable price I'd use them. But I'd only ever buy one thing at a time (even if I wanted multiple) to maximise my free delivery

            • Clear on 19/01/2023 - 20:52

              @spaceflight: I'd be more inclined to blame their marketing agency than Kogan themselves. They're essentially subcontracting the work out to OzBargainers instead of posting themselves.

              I think lately Kogan First has been a whole better value than previous years. All these $5 deals around Boxing Day were grounds for me to get the trial. At least now you can keep cancelling and applying again an unlimited amount of times.

              • knk on 20/01/2023 - 15:10

                @Clear: They could've at least given you a free kogan first membership lol

                • Clear on 20/01/2023 - 15:13

                  @knk: That was one of the promised rewards.

                  • knk on 20/01/2023 - 15:16

                    @Clear: I guess they get their shady reputation for a reason hey

            • Clear on 23/01/2023 - 09:18

              @spaceflight: Plot twist… Kogan are now giving what's owed. I guess they saw this.

        • Clear on 19/01/2023 - 14:20
          +8

          OzBargain store reps can't be a shill if they're declared as a rep silly.

          Rep post - says Associated and non rep post - doesn't say Associated

          I could name many OzBargainers who are genuinely shilling by not declaring association.

            • whiskeyjack89 on 19/01/2023 - 19:00
              +11

              @Willy Beamish: I think you need to read up on what a shill is friendo

            • CrushJelly on 19/01/2023 - 19:06
              +11

              @Willy Beamish:

              "A shill, also called a plant or a stooge, is a person who publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with said person or organization."

              So…

              "I verified I'm a shill so I couldn't possibly be a shill"

              This is entirely correct, based on the definition of a shill.

              Or perhaps you weren't aware?

              • jinkerjinx on 20/01/2023 - 21:23
                +2

                @CrushJelly: i think the river of slime from ghostbusters 2 runs directly under willy's house.

  • tightarse on 18/01/2023 - 21:45
    +15

    Great to see you back on your feet buddy. All the very best for the next 75 years :)

    As for the AMA, what’s the inspiration/story behind your username?

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 21:57
      +24

      You know it was meant to say Clearsky which is a username I've used elsewhere on the internet (for ya'll stalkers) but somehow in the sign up process I forgot the other half.

  • theoaus on 18/01/2023 - 21:46
    +3

    Wishing you ALL THE BEST, take care :)

  • MagicMushroom on 18/01/2023 - 21:51
    +6

    10 hours of surgery

    How long afterwards did you check ozbargain? Did you miss any good deals?

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 21:59
      +40

      It was about 4 days. Following release from the ICU into the ward I was finally handed a phone by my family and it was the first thing I checked. Between October and November there's quite the gap in where I didn't post or comment much at all. I was too scared to see what I missed as it'd probably put me into cardiac arrest lol

      • May4th on 19/01/2023 - 12:07
        +5

        what hurt the most? the post-op period of the fact you missed the black friday sales?

        • Clear on 19/01/2023 - 12:20
          +10

          Post op period. Pancreatitis is the worst pain imaginable. By Black Friday I was well enough and pumped out heaps of deals.

          • May4th on 19/01/2023 - 12:28

            @Clear: glad to hear that's all behind you and we appreciate the deals!

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 18/01/2023 - 21:52
    +48

    Hi mate I just want to take a quick break from my regular shitposting to actually sincerely thank you publicly for what you do. Ozbargain would not be what it is today without contributors like yourself. That is a insane amount of deals and although I do try to find worthy deals I feel I’ll never quite get there…

    Congrats for beating cancer and I sincerely hope that’s the last you have to deal with it. Hate cancer, lost some really good people to it over the last 5 years.

    My Question:

    Would you prefer to fight 100 duck sized horses, or 1 horse sized duck?

    • 87percent on 18/01/2023 - 22:00
      +1

      Horse sized duck

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 18/01/2023 - 22:01
        +3

        I usually end up at the same conclusion… it’s one thing to go toe to toe 1:1 … another thing to get swarmed by a small army * ___ *

        • original15 on 19/01/2023 - 07:15

          Horse sized duck? No way

          • Archi on 19/01/2023 - 11:08
            +5

            @original15: imagine all the Peking duck rolls you can get out of that

      • banana365 on 19/01/2023 - 14:21
        +1

        Anyone saying that has never had to deal with a cranky, normal-sized Muscovy duck.

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:07
      +10

      Thanks for the kind words. I have to admit I do enjoy the shitposting :P

      Congrats for beating cancer and I sincerely hope that’s the last you have to deal with it. Hate cancer, lost some really good people to it over the last 5 years.

      Indeed. The type I had is the kind that no one (particularly healthcare professionals) have heard about and yet it's rapidly on the rise. Given it's normally slow growing and can take decades to be a problem people often die of it and the true cause is never known.

      Would you prefer to fight 100 duck sized horses, or 1 horse sized duck?

      I outsourced your question to ChatGPT:

      "The horse-sized duck would likely have more mass and strength, making it more formidable in a fight. On the other hand 100 duck-sized horses may be more agile and difficult to target"

      I believe ChatGPT is subtly hinting that we could have another Emu War if there were to be 100 duck-sized horses.

      • Muzeeb on 18/01/2023 - 22:10
        +2

        I first heard about the emu war while listening to an American based podcast. 🫤

        • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:12
          +4

          Same here. Anything Australian outside of /r/Australia on reddit will have an emu war reference.

    • Munki on 19/01/2023 - 13:24
      +4

      I read that as dick sized horses and horse sized dick. Equally scary situation.

  • freefall101 on 18/01/2023 - 22:00
    +5

    Echoing others, so glad you're doing well. You're one of the few people who's name I always recognise on OzBargain for good reasons. Appreciate the deals over the years!

    Since this is an AMA, how much of the stuff do you actually buy that you post? Or do you get a whole bunch of free stuff from the relationships? You seem to always know your stuff.

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:17
      +12

      Since this is an AMA, how much of the stuff do you actually buy that you post?

      99% of it I don't buy. Infact I rarely even take the time to do those Boost or gift card bonus deals to save some cash. I'm lazy af.

      Or do you get a whole bunch of free stuff from the relationships?

      Over the years I've certainly scored some freebies from the stores I'm associated with. Some notable products worth mentioning is that when I first became Romoss associated they sent me their entire Amazon catalogue of power banks. That way I had an accurate understanding of the products I was going to share deals on. Many friends and family got power banks that year.

      My recent association with Kugoo is purely because I received a Kugoo M2 Scooter for teaching them about the local market, agreeing to help share deals etc. I'm a very avid escooter and EUC rider.

      You seem to always know your stuff.

      I can credit a lot of this back to my rep work with GeekBuying and the work I did with Gizchina and others. A lot of people (particularly store reps) blindly post deals without any knowledge of what they're sharing. I always try to research what I'm sharing so I can answer questions. A recent example is budget Chinese Android tablets - I share a lot of them and try to know the ins and outs of all of them.

  • brendanm on 18/01/2023 - 22:02
    +2

    What made you get tested?

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:11
      +27

      I have to give credit to another relatively quiet OzBargainer who I met for the first time in person years ago. I mentioned severe heartburn and difficulty swallowing all the time and they told me about H. Pylori. I had never heard of it and asked my GP about it. He requested an endoscope and the gastroenterologist in the endo found an unusually large mass in my small intestine. Biopsy later I have cancer.

      • Muzeeb on 18/01/2023 - 22:19
        +13

        Slavoz probably diagnosed you even earlier with his medical expertise but chose not to tell you. Classic Slavoz.

        • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:22
          +19

          SlavOz would absolutely love me saying this. Months after the AZ vaccine I had a suspected blood clot which ended up being quite minor and unrelated to the vaccine. Rather it was an early warning sign of what was about to come months later.

      • brendanm on 18/01/2023 - 22:20
        +4

        That is incredibly lucky. Glad you're all good 👍

      • ihbh on 18/01/2023 - 22:48
        -8

        You might want to look up turmeric and pepper.

        • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 23:02

          I've heard it all from "experts" when it comes to bacteria infections. This was killed off with a strong combination of antibiotics and I haven't had heartburn since. Then again I've apparently lost the part of my stomach where helicobacter resides.

          • sAmiZZle on 20/01/2023 - 00:25
            +3

            @Clear: I have had lots of issues in the stomach/gastro department over the past 10 years. Over this period I have had 2 colonoscopies which found nothing and a gastroscopy biopsy, which found chronic gastritis. I have had h. pylori twice, so after having had this a second time, those findings made sense. But even after killing it off with antibiotics nothing solved my symptoms. I'd seen various natural practitioners tried so many random supplements they prescribed and none could get to the root cause. But recently I requested a microbiome stool test via a naturopath I'm seeing (GPs don't do this), which found an inflamed colon and some infectious bacteria. Upon researching some of these opportunitistic bacteria that can overgrow, I found a likely cause can be antibiotics! You just can't win! Nevertheless, after many years, I am finally feeling better after switching to a paleo diet and taking some specific natural supplements targeting those critters and supporting my colon and it's literally only been a week.
            TLDR; make sure you get factual evidence and do research into the appropriate tests to get done. It helps to treat the root cause instead of guessing!

            • Clear on 20/01/2023 - 00:33

              @sAmiZZle: When it comes to gut bacteria and alternative medicine there's certainly a lot of truth. Gut health plays a very major role in your overall health as you cleary know. Antibiotics obviously kill good and bad bacteria which can lead to bad antibiotic resistant bacteria gaining a foothold inside your system. It seems something similar happened to you with the H Pylori treatment.

              Post OP I tried to consume a lot of yoghurt, Kombucha and other pre/probiotics given I'd lose parts of my stomach and small intestine. Essentially trying to ensure there's a huge amount of gut bacteria to balance out and help with digestion.

              Were you having bowel problems before the paleo diet? If so has it improved since then?

              • sAmiZZle on 20/01/2023 - 09:17

                @Clear: Yes, I had IBS and pretty much everything would just go straight through me. It was starting to kill my joy in life. Also, I'm not saying it's just the paleo diet that's made a change because I am on some natural remedies as well currently and it's early days so trying not get ahead of myself here. But, I've always been had a fair bit of knowledge about food, calories and macros, yet only just realised now that I am on this diet how much rubbish (additives/preservatives) are in food that we buy at convenience off the shelf that can affect someone predisposed to guy issues. Whilst I up front was not a fan of this diet, the "whole foods" ethos of paleo definitely has some merit.

        • Ghost47 on 18/01/2023 - 23:43
          +4

          Curcumin is a potent antioxidant and good for reducing inflammation but unsure how this would help OP, are you implying it would kill the bacteria?

          • ihbh on 19/01/2023 - 08:22
            +2

            @Ghost47:

            Fortunately after a long 10 hours of surgery and a month in hospital I was "cured".

            Help prevent cancer coming back/growing quickly.

            Best part of whole food vs extract.

            • fredblogs on 19/01/2023 - 14:53
              +1

              @ihbh: citation needed

                • Ghost47 on 19/01/2023 - 18:47

                  @ihbh: Going off by the info on that page only (I cbf reading the journal article right now and have other things to do), it seems that curcumin does play a role in helping with cancer therapy side effects.

                  The anti-angiogenic effect is good to highlight though (most healthy foods like cruciferous vegetables, berries and dark chocolate have anti-angiogenic properties). For anyone who doesn't know, anti-angiogenic foods prevent the growth of blood vessels, and in tumour cells the blood vessels grow quickly and aren't as robust as normal blood vessels in the body, so anti-angiogenic foods help break down these blood vessels down. I think there are currently medicines in development that exploit this.

                  In saying that though, it really depends on the stage of cancer that you have. If you're stage 4 and the cancer has metastasised throughout your body I'm not sure that you can simply rely on consuming curcumin to reverse everything. Anti-angiogenic foods should certainly be consumed regularly as part of your diet though.

                  I completely forgot that curcumin/turmeric is anti-angiogenic.

            • Clear on 19/01/2023 - 15:09
              +6

              @ihbh: Turmeric and pepper prevents cancer and stops it growing quickly? Biggest crock of shit I've heard. Worked well for Steve Jobs didn't it? Someone with all his wealth would have had access to the best.

              • ihbh on 19/01/2023 - 16:38
                -1

                @Clear: No one is saying don't use traditional medicine. Your life, your choice. I don't have it so can't talk from experience.

                Try reading some research publications if you want: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32838749/

                • Clear on 19/01/2023 - 20:12
                  +3

                  @ihbh: Ok so I've checked that publication and a summary of all the trials here. Curcumin certainly has an effect on cancer cells, but it doesn't seem to translate into any meaningful incomes in the trials. Unfortunately that's the case with most trials as cancer is very complex and modelling it outside of humans just isn't accurate.

                  Ideally having a healthy diet, avoiding processed food, saturated fats and a lot of meat is really no different. A healthy lifestyle can help prevent, but not cure cancer. In my specific case the causes are unknown, besides one kind where it's caused by the MEN1 gene. Given it's most common in my state out of all of them in Australia I'd say there's certainly another gene we don't know about responsible for it.

              • Ghost47 on 19/01/2023 - 18:53
                +1

                @Clear: Steve Jobs was definitely a nutcase when it came to his cancer. He went on some sort of "fruitarian" diet to combat his cancer and I think I read that it just made things a lot worse, because cancer cells need energy to grow and he was basically fuelling his body with glucose and fructose. I'm sure the doctors told him not to do it, but Steve Jobs was a pretty stubborn person.

                Turmeric isn't exactly the same thing as fruits. The black pepper is used to increase the bioavailability of curcumin, I'm not saying it would've cured your cancer but long-term intake of anti-angiogenic foods isn't a bad idea, and foods that have anti-angiogenic properties are all foods that are recommended to be consumed as part of a healthy diet. This video is a good watch.

                6:11 and 6:58 in that video are good representation of how blood vessels look in a tumour, they are really erratic and in general just give me chills because of how gross and abnormal they are.

      • fredblogs on 19/01/2023 - 14:54

        how often did you have heartburn?
        H Pylori is very common

        • Clear on 19/01/2023 - 15:10

          I'd say daily. After almost every meal. On the inside only my stomach lining was inflamed. No ulcers or anything.

  • Muzeeb on 18/01/2023 - 22:03
    +1

    All the best with your future health clear.

    Over the years I've also worked as an editor at Gizchina.com and a number of other Chinese related tech websites.

    Do you read/write/speak Cantonese or Mandarin etc or are these sites translated from your English contribution?

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:20
      +4

      These are websites targeted towards international markets instead of the local Chinese market. You'll find that a lot of these news sites are run by people in China. They get the first scoop quickly and build relationships with brands. While the editors (normally from Poland, Russia, South America) will translate or fix poorly translated articles.

      I only speak a little Mandarin. Certainly can't read or write.

      • Muzeeb on 18/01/2023 - 22:21
        +3

        谢谢回复

        • DogeConomy on 19/01/2023 - 12:00
          +1

          Translation: "Thank you for replying."

  • cashless on 18/01/2023 - 22:04
    +3

    Glad to hear you got the all Clear.
    Keep on posting. Lost count of how much you’ve cost me over the years.
    Here’s a question. Have you ever been involved in a car crash when driving without insurance? Seems to be an entry qualification for the forums

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:25
      +4

      Here’s a question. Have you ever been involved in a car crash when driving without insurance? Seems to be an entry qualification for the forums

      I once drove unregistered for 2 weeks and was followed into work by the police. Crashed fully insured thankfully.

  • Vancomycin 1000mg on 18/01/2023 - 22:16
    +4

    As RN in a oncology ward this is the best feeling ever us. If you can conquer cancer you can conquer anything.

    Cancer does not discriminate, and im happy you smashed it.

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:24
      +2

      I have to give you guys a lot of credit. I work in healthcare myself and you really have to be strong to deal with cancer patients. It's something I could never do, even if I was a doctor or nurse.

      Fortunately in my case I never had chemo so I've never had to experience those horrors. Unfortunately in my case neuroendocrine cancer doesn't respond to chemo, so had it spread to the point where it wasn't fully resectable it would have been 'game over'.

      • cookie2 on 19/01/2023 - 13:40

        Really, so doesn't respond to any types of chemo? Only surgery? I'd love to ask, how have you changed after the diagnosis? Ie day to day lifestyle, what you value, your beliefs etc?

        • Clear on 19/01/2023 - 13:47
          +2

          Not all NETs are equal so some may respond better than others. In my case platinum based chemo works initially but will lose efficacy over time. There are clinical trials going on with targeted therapy that's showing a lot of promise. Unfortunately NET research is seriously underfunded so for the moment surgery is the best course of action.

          • cookie2 on 19/01/2023 - 23:21

            @Clear: Fair point where the chemo can stop working, even if has previously slowed growth. Glad you chatted about your symptoms, had a friend that mentioned and that you trusted and got checked etc.

  • HamBoi69 on 18/01/2023 - 22:21
    +4

    Good on you clear. As the top poster round here it is always good to do an AMA. My question; How many OzBargainers do you know in real life and have you met other top posters? Like TA? NoCure?

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:30
      +6

      Having been to a few official and unofficial meetups (recently hosted a party underground here) I've met my fair share of OzBargainers. TA was kind enough to visit me in hospital which is how I ended up organising this deal from my hospital bed.

      Contrary to what that other guy tells everyone I've never met nocure and we haven't messaged each other in years.

  • Drakesy on 18/01/2023 - 22:21

    The OG

    He/she lives!

    • HamBoi69 on 18/01/2023 - 22:24

      Clears a guy….

      • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:32
        +10

        I look really sexy in drag too.

      • Drakesy on 18/01/2023 - 22:55
        +8

        never know what else could've happened during surgery

  • Empharand on 18/01/2023 - 22:26
    +12

    10 hours of surgery

    I think being away from Ozbargain for 10+ hours is what really cured your cancer, the surgeons took the credit

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:31
      +4

      Bleeding eyes from the forum cringe posts and the stress of my empty wallet from all the deals :)

  • lakers1222 on 18/01/2023 - 22:30
    +5

    Dear Clear I love your posts. I am subscribed to your posts and regret it because I’ve been purchasing so many things I don’t need 😂

    Thankgod to your doctors and yours health. Happy CYN to you brother.

  • Unorthodox on 18/01/2023 - 22:43
    +1

    Good to hear you're doing okay! And hopefully it stays that way.

    My question is around the healthcare system and support you received.
    Did you go completely public, private, hybrid etc? Were there any out of pocket costs and were the wait times reasonable?

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:51
      +9

      Given I had an extremely rare kind of cancer there's only a handful of surgeons who can properly provide treatment, so I saw one of the country's leading surgeons in one of the top hospitals as a private patient.

      I travelled to Victoria for my treatment and was seen as a category 1 case with a date for surgery in about 28 days. There were no out of pocket costs as Medicare and private health covered it, which I must admit is surprising as I received a more experimental type of surgery than what's usually given. All travel costs were refunded by my state's health department.

      • danyool on 20/01/2023 - 01:43

        Do you think you would have had the same outcome as a public patient??

        Did they give you any odds of the surgery failing? Ie that there's x percent chance of you actually dying during the surgery? I had appendix removed at 20, which is a simple op, but it was my first surgery and I was pretty scared!

        Did you make video or anything in case? Or pre-prepared a post on Ozb "if you are reading this post after 10pm, I did not survive my surgery - and here is one last deal!"

        • Clear on 22/01/2023 - 20:21
          +1

          Do you think you would have had the same outcome as a public patient??

          If I was completely public without private health insurance I could have been significantly worse. In my state a non-urgent endoscope has a private waiting list of 9 months and a public waiting list of 2 years. Miraculously I was seen in 4 weeks due to a cancellation and who you know as I work in healthcare.

          When it comes to the surgery I would have got a date in the same amount of time being public or private due to being Category 1. Obviously as a public patient you don't get the luxuries of a private hospital and room. I only went into a public hospital privately as I didn't have full cover for a private hospital.

          I had appendix removed at 20, which is a simple op, but it was my first surgery and I was pretty scared!

          I know the feeling. My first surgery years ago was my appendix too. They really had to drug me up prior to being wheeled in just to curb the anxiety. Plus movement after keyhole is surgery I think was significantly harder than this surgery. Simply because you're out in 3 days with a bit of endone. Unlike weeks of ketamine and morphine.

          Did they give you any odds of the surgery failing? Ie that there's x percent chance of you actually dying during the surgery?

          No specific odds regarding the surgery itself as it's almost always successful and recovery is where you're more likely to pass. Mine was further complicated by having an active tumour that can cause a surge of hormones when it's being removed. In my case it released a massive amount of serotonin and that put me into cardiac arrest. Fortunately I was revived quickly apparently and I obviously don't remember a thing.

          My overall 5 year survival rate was less than 13%.

          Did you make video or anything in case? Or pre-prepared a post on Ozb "if you are reading this post after 10pm, I did not survive my surgery - and here is one last deal!"

          Nah no videos. I'm close to a number of OzBargainers IRL and they were aware of my surgery. I even met up with neil days before. If I didn't survive I had things in place with my will for some of these OzBargainers I know to be notified and obviously to break it here.

          Same goes for GeekBuying and a number of other stores. They'd need a successor.

  • mskeggs on 18/01/2023 - 22:45
    +4

    Very glad you’re doing better.
    Keep up the great work!

  • djsweet on 18/01/2023 - 22:49

    What is your favourite deal of all time? Glad to hear you survived the cancer! :)

    • Clear on 18/01/2023 - 22:55
      +4

      Tough question. I've always enjoyed the Maccas "hacks" we had years ago, like ordering a soft serve and frozen coke to save on a McFloat. I think my favourite is the DJI Mavic 2 at Bunnings. Some scored the drone, while others received $250 from Bunnings as a gesture of good will.

      Better than Kogan calling us professionals after the camera mug fiasco.

      • hashtagbargain on 18/01/2023 - 23:46
        +1

        I bought a archer steam cleaner with that gift card! Good times.

  • I Smell Pennies on 18/01/2023 - 23:26

    Good to hear you’ve destroyed cancer! Love your posts.

    My question is, what’s the reason for those specific elements in your avatar? What’s the inspiration?

    • HairyChickens on 19/01/2023 - 00:32
      +3

      Yes what was the inspiration

    • Clear on 19/01/2023 - 00:36
      +1

      I took inspiration from the Jackson 5 and the one who ◼️🦅🚁 answers to.

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