MEDICAL MATTERS

[Tizer]

Keep it up Maz, we need dissenters and sceptics to keep stirring the pot!

[Tripps]

It's not just on the puzzle thread where we see extreme examples of lateral thinking. I try very hard to avoid controversy and personal remarks on here, but this seems very reasonable to me. Pity about the word 'dissing' though.

I wasn't dissing the NHS. I was dissing the statement that their hard work and planning was putting them in a better position this year, when in fact, up to this point, they had experienced fewer presentations of the seasonal health issues that tend to stretch their services. It could just be the worst is yet to come in regard to the winter illnesses this season.
( I fail to see how you interpreted that I was dissing the NHS).

[plaques]

No problem with the statement, what's was missing from the NHS's review was how they achieved the improvement. Was it proactive measures, Flu vaccine take up, reduced smoking schemes, diabetes care.etc: Of course if you had one year where you let the vulnerable die then probably the next year could be an improvement. I suppose deaths are seasonally adjusted to show the underlying trend but without the data who knows.

[Stanley]

What is missing here is acknowledgement that the NHS delivers high quality service to the vast majority of patents at a lower cost than any other major system in the world. The debate is fuelled by our predilection to home in on the cases where it fails or goes badly wrong. These would still happen in any other system as big as this. There is also the overwhelming fact that no patient is ever barred from treatment because they can't pay!
I've bumped my mate Martha's lecture on health care in America, well worth reading again.

[PanBiker]

The level of preventative care as you get older has increased enormously. BP monitoring, blood tests, Flu jabs, bowel cancer screening, aorta screening. All preventative procedures that were not available to my parents. All these initiatives introduced despite reduced funding and falling staff numbers. We loose this at our peril.

[Tizer]

Mentioned on Today this morning was the fact that Germany and France both put more funding into their health services than the UK does. This chart shows that Germany, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Austria all had healthcare expenditure in % of GDP greater than the UK in 2015. LINK

[Marilyn]

Well...for al my sins...(karma)?...guess who is banged up in hospital, giving our private health insurance a run for the money?
I don't know how I did it, but it started of with two days of bilateral leg pain which I can only describe as having run a marathon and suffering the aches and pains associated with such a feat. On the third day, I bent slightly forward to put something in the kitchen bin and experienced mild lower back pain. I could walk without pain, I could lean to either side and to the back without pain, but it hurt to bend forward. That evening, trying to rise from a lounge chair, BANG!, I was in agony as the most enormous bolt of pain shot down my right leg. I was in trouble! Hubby wanted to take me to A&E, but I insisted on going to bed and seeing how it was in the morning. After the most ghastly night, punctuated by slow, excruciating crab walking trips to the loo, ( and thinking that if we didn't go to A&E right now I would require an ambulance),he somehow got me in the car.
After copious administrations of IV pain relief, an ultrasound and CT scan revealed 4 bulging discs and two protruding discs. The two protruding discs have entered the spinal cord and released fluid into the spinal cord which has impacted the spinal nerve.
I am dosed up to the eyeballs with hourly Fentanyl ( which I can't say is pleasant at all). I await an MRI scan in the morning to determine my fate...either they remove that herniated fluid from the spine under X-ray guidance, or they do a full spinal op. I am hoping for the first one, I think. Actually, I'm not. I am hoping for a miracle and that it will all just go away!
I had to be transferred to a city hospital by ambulance.
It has all been a bit much...overwhelming in fact.
Poor hubby doesn't know where to put himself either.
( and I am having problems with my bladde as a direct result of nerve pressure. They assure me it could be a lot worse though, so I am grateful it is just problems fully emptying the bladder. They tell me I could have lost all control of both bowel and bladder. What a horrid thought.)

[Wendyf]

Oh dear Maz, that sounds awful. I was wondering where you were. I hope you get sorted as quickly as possible.

[plaques]

Terrible news. The most intense pain I had ever endured was two prolapsed discs. It took a long time but I finally made a passable recovery.
As with all things there were some funny moments. Admission to the ward was a big heave by the orderlies from the wheel chair to the bed. Then 10 days on a Boris Karloff traction machine with extra weights added every two days. Finally I was asked to try and stand up which I only did by grabbing at the overhead curtain rail and was really suspended rather than standing. My 'named nurse' who had been looking after me all this time was only about 4 ft 9 tall looked up at me and said " good god I didn't know you were this tall". Me being over 6 ft. "I wasn't, I was only 5 ft 6 when I came in". Howls of laughter from the rest of the ward.

[PanBiker]

That sounds nasty Maz, I hope that they can get on top of it. Just shows how life can smack you in the face without warning which unfortunately seems to happen more often as we get older. I wish you a speedy recovery.

[Stanley]

Sorry to hear that Maz and you have my total sympathy, I have had my share of nerves being affected by spinal damage but only once as acute as yours. (They wanted to operate and then put me in a steel and leather corset for the rest of my life. I refused and discharged myself!)
If it is any consolation, Arthur Morrison once told me that as I got older God would cure it for me, he'd fuse the vertebrae. He was right. Keep your pecker up and I hope you get home quickly. After that, you'll have to learn what the triggers are and avoid them.

[Marilyn]

Feeling slightly better today. Had an MRI scan that showed basically the same thing as the CT, but I guess it gave them more detail. Only one of the herniated discs is pressing on the spinal cord and directly on the spinal nerves. So they have suggested the X-ray/dye/cortisone injection with a view to operating if it doesn't resolve in 6 weeks.
So I am hoping to go home tomorrow and have that done at a radiologist down our way. I refuse to drive all the way back here for it when they could do it before I leave.

[plaques]

Here's a tip for you when in the car, Forget about driving probably the worst position for your back there is. Let someone else drive and lie down in the back. Not very ladylike but why take the risk and the pain.

[chinatyke]

Get well soon Marilyn. All the very best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.

[Moh]

Poor Maz -take care let hubby do everything.

[Tizer]

Oh Maz, it must have been an awful shock and terrible worry. I had enough of a fright the first time I had sacroiliac trouble and the pain spams were so agonising that I thought my spine had given up, but that's nothing compared with what you must have suffered. Thank goodness they're now suggesting the lesser of the treatments. I hope you have a speedy recovery. And tell Febby we're sorry for him too, he must have been upset and very worried too.

[Marilyn]

Aw...thanks guys.
I'm not having the best time. My blood pressure is through the roof 205/95 and though I've never had an elevated blood glucose I am throwing up readings between 17 - 22. They have put me on Insulin, but believe both problems to be a response to severe pain. Mind you, I can't complain about pain management because they are extremely prompt and attentive whenever I press the buzzer. I've just had my 2 am blood sugar reading done and it is still 14.1. ( I haven't eaten a thing for 9 hours and I was hoping for a better reading!)
I'm also having a lot of trouble peeing. My right foot is just about all numb.
I'm going to try and press for them to do this Cortisone injection ASAP. I really want to off these drugs and get home. I have that sinking feeling I won't be home tomorrow though....
Hubby is coping. I think he is eating a lot of Baked Beans.

[Tizer]

Hubby is coping. I think he is eating a lot of Baked Beans.

Then you're probably better off staying in hospital!

As SCG would say, onwards and upwards! And seriously, we hope you get home soon.

[Tripps]

As I hear of members' health difficulties - I'm getting more upset about it than I would have thought. I can't even choose the right words to comment - so I don't comment. That upsets me too.

I wish you all well - I'm thinking of you.

[Stanley]

I think you are right about the side effects being down to pain and the trapped nerve Maz. Quite amazing what the effects can be... If you get pins and needles in one of your feet tell them immediately, but you knew that didn't you. Thinking about you....... XXX

[Marilyn]

Oh I have the pins and needles...and numbness, Stanley.
And I am officially a newly diagnosed Diabetic. My glycated haemaglobin was 9, so I commenced on Metformin about a half an hour ago. Blood sugars currently between 18 - 22. So the official word today is that I am a Diabetic in the moderate range, but my pain state has sent the blood sugars into orbit. I'm still on Insulin at present, but that will cease tomorrow when I go home on Metformin. They are quite confident that I can reverse the whole Diabetic state in time, with the usual weight loss measures and careful diet ( though they aren't concerned at all about my weight. They say my weight is fine. I recently lost 7 kilos,)
I expect to be discharged with a rather large bag of pills tomorrow. They have been filling me full of stuff every few hours. Pain is easing though, so that's a good thing. I still have bad moments, but appreciate very much that things are easing overall.
Might have to buy a walking stick tomorrow. The hospital lent me one this morning and I seem to be getting on with it rather well. The other option was a walking frame ( please!). I'm not ready for a walking frame. A stick is so much more sophisticated.
Mind you, I keep forgetting about it and have left it in the loo three times. I struggle to get half way back to bed and suddenly realise it is very hard work. Then I have to struggle back and get it!

[plaques]

Two little tip for using walking sticks.
Hold the stick in the opposite hand to your bad leg, ie: in your case, your left hand. This takes the weight off your bad leg.
Don't tuck it under your arm in a shop. A quick turn round sweeps everything off the shelves.
This is an expert talking.

[PanBiker]

I would agree with P about using the stick at the opposite side. I was told that by my physios's when I progressed from frame to sticks, two at first then down to one. Take advice but consider a walking pole as opposed to a stick. You can set them higher which helps to maintain correct framing which I would imagine is just as important for spinal conditions. I take it you will have seen physio's or are scheduled for the same? For shorter walks I have now progressed to no poles as my strength returns. I will still use them when I get back out into the fields and on the hills as I can see the benefit for uneven terrain.

[Marilyn]

Saw a physio today. She organised the stick. Not much she could do for me at this acute stage, but I can get comfortable for a time laying on my tummy and she gave me some head raising and holding excercises. I managed to lay there long enough to do a couple of crossword puzzles too. Also told me to stretch my calves and point my toes as much as able and hold it. Then she walked me up and down the ward. I've been getting around a bit since then.

[Tizer]

Walking down a busy and crowded town street recently I was nearly tripped up by a man coming the other way using a walking stick. Instead of holding it vertically he was using it sticking out sideways at an angle, a danger to all passing him on that side.