Family Matters

[Stanley]

Cross your fingers for daughter Margaret today. At about 10:00 our time she goes into theatre for a second attempt to install another cochlear implant. The last one failed because of an infection. This one stands a better chance as it is an improved model with a wireless connection through the skull so once the receiver is installed in her brain there is no permanent connection with the outside world.

[Marilyn]

Good Luck, Mags...all the best!

[Stanley]

[PanBiker]

All the best with that from me also.

[Stanley]

She's back home with a bald patch and a small scar on her head. She reports no pain and only slight discomfort. Now we wait to see if it was successful......

[Stanley]

I talked to Margaret this morning and she's doing all right, no alarms. Her only problem is that the operation wound is still swollen and painful and is on her usual sleeping side so it's wakening her up at night. This will subside of course and she knows she has to be patient. No signs of any infection......

[Big Kev]

I talked to Margaret this morning and she's doing all right, no alarms. Her only problem is that the operation wound is still swollen and painful and is on her usual sleeping side so it's wakening her up at night. This will subside of course and she knows she has to be patient. No signs of any infection......

Good stuff

[Stanley]

[Wendyf]

Good news.

[PanBiker]

Excellent, I hope she continues to improve.

[Stanley]

Thanks to all of you..... It bothers me when they start drilling holes in my kid's heads......

[Stanley]

Margaret has her stitches out now and the swelling is going down. She has been taken off antibiotics and is comfortable now. good!!
I can't find the report I heard this morning but found THIS older report which says roughly the same thing and highlights the variations in results that leads some to question the value of the tests. Another concern is that there is a suspicion the data from these sites is being exploited by big pharmaceutical companies.... That make sense to me.

[Stanley]

Margaret seems to be on the road to recovery. All stitches out and her consultant is pleased with the healing. She won't get the new receiver for about 3 weeks but then she'll have fully bionic hearing. A bit of a miracle really.

[Tizer]

Marvellous, I suppose we'll all be partly bionic in the future.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

I've just had mail from Susan. She has not been eaten by a lion, they are at 6,000ft above sea level with a Maasai Guide called Patrick and looks to be in good condition.

[Wendyf]

I've just had mail from Susan. She has not been eaten by a lion, they are at 6,000ft above sea level with a Maasai Guide called Patrick and looks to be in good condition.

She must have left her stick with the horse's head handle at home, otherwise she may have been tempted to poke it in a lion's ear....

[Stanley]

Not sure where they are but it looks like beautiful country. I think she has more sense that to poke a lion in the ear!

[Sue]

who would have families? I have two brothers and a sister all going through quite major life crises with or without serious illness. I sometimes feel blessed and perhaps a little guilty that life is treating me well. I won’t discuss the issues on line it would not be fair, but harking back to diet, drink and exercise too much or too little has been the root cause of a large number of the problems but not all . Life can be savage at times and I fear for at least one of them.

[Stanley]

I know the feeling but it's all part of the deal Sue and there never was a guarantee. You're right about not making comparisons with our life style. We weren't assailed by the pressures they have on them. I feel sorry for kids in many ways these days.

[Stanley]

Susan has swapped the high ground over the Rift Valley for the washing machine at Earby and a wet Bank Holiday. All good things come to an end......

[Stanley]

Susan visited and we had a look at some of her photos and videos from Kenya. They didn't see lions or elephants in the wild but their Maasai guides said this was a good thing because they can be dangerous. The only weapons they carried were spears and machetes. She said that her overall impression was of very friendly peaceable people and she loved them. I'm very impressed by the country around Lake Natron in the Rift Valley. The wedding itself was a bit frenetic. Susan said there were over 800 guests, many extremely well off but many were obviously very poor. Susan said that this was what struck her most, the two extremes. She said she realised now more than before how lucky we are. Oh, and one more thing, she said that even the poorest and in the most remote Maasai villages they often had smart phones!

[plaques]

...that even the poorest and in the most remote Maasai villages they often had smart phones!

That's about the only real connection to the outside world that they have got. The medics are using this fact by developing various smart phone apps to diagnose some of the common illnesses. Eye cataracts and other eye complaints are a big breakthrough.

[Stanley]

[chinatyke]

About 10 days ago my youngest (step) daughter, Xiaolei, rang me from California to tell me her father had died suddenly in Liuzhou. She said she would come over as soon as she got an air ticket and child care arranged. Years ago her father "ran off with a young woman" but never married her which leaves Xiaolei next-of-kin. My wife was already in Liuzhou having seen off her sister when she returned to New Mexico, so she took control of all the necessary funeral arrangements. This story gets stranger. Xiaolei booked her tickets with Air China, a flight from LA to Beijing and then Beijing to Liuzhou, arriving last Friday at 8pm with the funeral arranged for Saturday morning. So far so good. She mentioned to me that she had a small op a couple of weeks ago but hadn't even told her mum. She is a qualified nurse herself so no need to worry. My tenant of our Nanning apartment died in England 3 weeks ago and I was in Nanning taking back the apartment from his widow by mutual agreement. Next thing I get a phone call that her flight has declared a medical emergency and landed in Harbin and she has been taken off by ambulance. She had been haemorrhaging badly and was rushed to the university hospital in Harbin, I'm guessing her stitches failed. Actually Harbin is en-route so really it was just an extra stop along the way and the flight landed more or less on time in Beijing. How much does it cost to divert a Dreamliner but well done Air China. Harbin is in the far northeast of China and Guangxi is the far southwest, so just about as far from us as you can get. My wife conducted the funeral service for her ex-husband on Saturday morning in exemplary fashion and then caught a flight from Guilin to Harbin arriving at the hospital at 03:30 am on Sunday morning to klook after her daughter. Xiaolei is doing OK and could be released from hospital in a few days time but will need a few weeks, possibly 4 weeks, of rest before she can fly home. Her 2 girls, age 3 years and 7 months, are being cared for by her husband. We'll need to make further arrangements, possibly my wife will go to USA to look after her granddaughters and I'll go to Harbin to look after Xiaolei. It never rains but it pours!