You have to watch those metaphors so that you get the treatment and
the real science you need, and not let the metaphors that are not
helpful to you get in your way: you need to be practical and pragmatic
and down to earth serious. The metaphors can get in your way, even
vulgar ones, maybe especially vulgar ones?

Initially, I was only interested in not using metaphors such as "the
malpractice of profit gouging typical of American medicine" nor
"intuitive rather than evidence based highest possible prices of drugs
and medicine" in order to ameliorate my distain for the way health
services are enriched in America at everyone's expense-at least so
that I could get the treatment I need and find people to so provide me
with it.  However, I'm finding that the metaphors are more interesting
than that simple distinction most men commonly make between hospital
greed and patient's need.

Eventually, using me as an example, a patient faced with advanced
cancer will look to a way to control and manage the disease state.
"Control and manage" is suddenly a different perspective than "search
and destroy", as if in a military battle; as if the metaphors have
shifted from being militant to referencing the working mans type of
cancer which needs to be managed; not having accomplished the cure (if
your Gleason is more than >8, you'll likely find yourself with a
rising PSA two months after either the surgery or the radiation-so
maybe like me you don't even do it?).

Of course the "exercise and diet" perspective is part of the
"proactive healthy living" metaphor: this is seemingly another
important metaphor to understand and adopt. Almost complimentary to
the American "cancer battles," the practice of medicine as about
"being fit" to strengthen the health and happiness of the holistic
person, is surely a different metaphor-people come and go talking
about Michelangelo in the wasteland of meaningless modern lives.

I've also noticed that the military metaphor of fighting or battling
shifts to one of domestic police operations with attempts to
"handcuff" monoclonal antibodies or signal receptors or "arrest"
cancer cells 'growth regulators (Dr. Scardino's terms), and so forth.
Eventually the solution might be chemical "cocktails," as is more
common with breast cancer. I sort of like these party metaphors, don't
you? "Could we meet for cocktails?" I might say rather than: "Can I
make an appointment for a "salvage" operation?" (the garbage metaphor
used after the first surgery and/or radiation fails to cure sounds
especially disgusting). In the future, prostate cancer might even use
the "tea time" metaphor to explain what the French today call "an
extended illness", as they did recently with Baudrillard's death. We
might say: "jaakko had to go to "tea time" this year and was as such
even less available than usual." And people will say: "The lucky
stiff!" (wait a minute, maybe I didn't want to use that particular
metaphor ;)..