MEDICAL MATTERS

[Wendyf]

Good news but it's taken ages hasn't it?

[Big Kev]

Good news but it's taken ages hasn't it?

Certainly has, that was the second MRI from May 20th so well over a month. The first one was in May last year which prompted the biopsy and other tests fairly quickly.

[PanBiker]

Excellent Kev, one less thing to worry about.

Had a call from the DVT clinic checking up in me. Got to go and get measured for a compression stocking. Very fetching

I got to be a dab hand at taking them off and putting them on again for the shower every morning.

[Stanley]

My old war wound has meant that my shoulder has been giving me trouble lately. Yesterday I rubbed it with Arnica Oil and got instant relief! I had forgotten how effective it can be. This morning I've rubbed it again but with Comfrey Oil! We tend to forget the old remedies. (Cheaper than Voltarol!)

[plaques]

Had a call from the DVT clinic checking up in me. Got to go and get measured for a compression stocking. Very fetching

I'm still on compression bandages which worked wonders for healing the wound and brought my swollen leg down to picking stick size. The stockings took about two weeks to come through from the point of order. My fitting is tomorrow at the health centre. Thank god for that bandages are a bit too uncomfortable in this hot weather. Having thin legs and big feet, a bit like a duck, I was advised to get and applicator. We'll see how it goes.

[Big Kev]

Had a call from the DVT clinic checking up in me. Got to go and get measured for a compression stocking. Very fetching

I'm still on compression bandages which worked wonders for healing the wound and brought my swollen leg down to picking stick size. The stockings took about two weeks to come through from the point of order. My fitting is tomorrow at the health centre. Thank god for that bandages are a bit too uncomfortable in this hot weather. Having thin legs and big feet, a bit like a duck, I was advised to get and applicator. We'll see how it goes.

I'm on a 6 week waiting list for the lingerie department. Good to hear you're on the mend

[PanBiker]

I was advised to get and applicator. We'll see how it goes.

Top tip from hospital nurse, dead simple and effective, use a plastic bag on your foot

[Stanley]

That sounds like good advice Ian. I remember having difficulty in the days when I was doing a lot of long distance flying and the dangers of DVT were widely advertised.

[plaques]

Opened up the kit of parts for the stockings and found a silk type piece that acts in place of the plastic bag. The applicator is like a section of open sided drain pipe which looks useful if you can't bend down far enough to reach your toes. I don't think I will need it.
A visit to YouTube will show how to put the socks on.
Kev perhaps we could start a new fashion now that shorts are in vogue.

[Big Kev]

Kev perhaps we could start a new fashion now that shorts are in vogue.

Sounds like a plan

[PanBiker]

I was the height of fashion four years ago, shorts and double stockings.

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

Is that a character form the Beverly Hillbillies?

[Cathy]

[Stanley]

I still have those shorts!
The attack on my bad shoulder with Arnica and Comfrey seems to be working, the pain eases slightly at times but it is still a pain in the arse!

[Stanley]

In view of the projected temperatures over the weekend I checked my BP this morning and it was 115/71 with a pulse rate of 76 which is a good start for facing extremely hot weather.

[PanBiker]

I got a text from the surgery last week about doing my BP readings. Average of a weeks readings AM & PM. My normal BP is higher than yours Stanley but my pulse is well laid back at 55bpm

[Stanley]

My pulse rate has always been high Ian.



Doc Pickard used to take his pulse when he visited me in the engine house where the engine was running at 78rpm and said that after ten minutes sat in the chair his pulse was 78. He reckoned it was the beat of the engine that did it.

[Stanley]

Read THIS BBC article on the dire emergency facing the NHS. This article is about waiting times but they, in turn, are a symptom of the bed blocking in the service caused by the underfunding of social care and the NHS.
Take note of the governments pathetic response.... "A Department of Health and Social Care official said: "We recognise the pressure NHS staff are under, especially those on the front line. "The NHS has allocated £150m of additional funding to address pressures on ambulance services, with the number of ambulance and support staff increasing by almost 40% since February 2010. "We have supported NHS bodies and local authorities with updated hospital-discharge guidance to ensure smooth discharges across the health and social care sectors and have been clear that they should adopt processes that best meet the needs of the local population."
£150million doesn't even touch the sides, they have sucked Billions out of the funding in the last 12 years. How bad does it have to get before we throw these incompetent buggers out!

[Tizer]

That photo showing the pics on the engine house wall reminds me of something in a book on `Men and their Sheds'. The author mentioned that one of his pals had a girlie calendar on the wall and whenever he visited the calendar never changed and was always on the month that showed Linda Lusardi!

[Stanley]

They were the pictures from the Shiloh Spinning Company's calendars Peter. Edmund Gartside, CEO of Shiloh Spinners was tickled when I told him I had them all and he said that the selection meeting of the Board was a very tense affair!

[plaques]

My first week in high fashion hosiery. Clam down its not what you think. For those readers who need bringing up to speed some months ago I was stupid enough to make a hole in my lower leg which then having a mind of its own ballooned up to nearly double its normal size. Although there is still an ongoing debate in the medical circles as to why this happened the nurses at the practical end applied pressure bandages to help the wound heal and get the swelling down. This worked at treat hence the move to a compression stocking or hosiery in more polite circles.
First the detail. The stockings were supplied by Sigvaris, probably a more suitable name would have been Python or Bulldog, their grip and tenacity is ferocious. Supplied with a silk fitting slipper to help in getting the blighters on they are unfortunately too short for those of us with normal size feet in the size 10 to 12 range. Also recommended as an extra to the stockings is an aid much like the section of a plastic drainpipe which as events unfolded became an indispensable bit of kit.
The problem was to get this narrow high tensile stocking over the heal of the foot which is about three times the diameter of the ankle where the measurements for the sock were taken. The first action was to stretch the calf of the sock over the drainpipe until the heal was at the top of the pipe. Then balancing precariously on one leg dip the toe, which is now slightly behind you into the pipe and then thrust downward until the big toe hits the ground. Obviously a second person is required to stop the pipe finishing up in the next room and to stop the sock slithering off to gather up round the instep rather than sliding past the heal. If all goes well and assuming you don't have the flexibility of a contortionist it then becomes their next job to drag it up the leg into place. A pair of Marigold gloves is recommended to grip the python.
The next piece of fun and games is getting the sock off. Unless you have arms like an Orangutan you are left resorting to rolling the sock down then searching for shoehorns and anything else which may help you lever it off. Easiest by far is to get the willing helper to take hold of the cuff and drag it off while securing yourself to a chair to avoid being dragged round the room.

Let this be a warning to those with fat legs who aspire to be catwalk models

[PanBiker]

Sounds like a job for a bigger plastic bag. Having said that I don't have particularly fat legs!

Look on the bright side, all this wrestling practice and you could develop it into a stage act for the music hall. After all, folk used to pay to see the bloke that made a living farting on stage. I bet your act could be a lot funnier.

[Cathy]

Plaques... I think you should print all that out and give it to your medical staff . They could put it up on the wall, maybe in their tea-room, and have a good laugh.

[Stanley]

Suppose the stockings were a size larger? Would they still do the job? The ones I had for long distance flights weren't that savage.....
On a brighter note, I got my appointment for my flu jab at Well Pharmacy this morning. 14:30 on Thursday 22 September and Covid booster included if they have made the decision and got their act together by then.