MEDICAL MATTERS

[PanBiker]

Excellent Stanley.

[Big Kev]

Good stuff

[Tizer]

We're glad to hear you had a successful and comfortable visit to the hospital, Stanley. You sent me an email saying you were going in but we'd just got back from holiday and I wasn't quick enough to reply before you left.

[Sue]

Phew, relief

[Cathy]

Yes very good news Stanley. Gosh that was quick. Take it easy and enjoy each moment.

[chinatyke]

That must be a weight off your mind. Well done.

[Marilyn]

Now you can get back into the shed, dear boy.
I'm plodding on ok. I'm still not as comfortable as I would like to be, especially at night, but I am off all medication now and have decided to carry on in that manner. Another few days, and hopefully the discomfort will ease. When I think back to how bad the pain was, I have come a long way. I am in sight of the finish line, I think.
Numbness continues on the outside of the foot, the heel and lower calf...and it has been days since I felt any real progress with that. I wasn't given a time line for what to expect in regard to that resolving.
I can walk without a stick most of the time now, though the fear of someone walking in to me accidently and giving me a nasty bump is still high. I use my stick in crowded areas to give me a broader base of stability.
At this point I have many questions for the surgeon at my follow-up appt next month.

[chinatyke]

Considering you've been through major surgery, Maz, it's wonderful that you are able to get about. Give it time to heal. Best wishes.

[Stanley]

China is right Maz. Take it easy!
I am almost up to speed, amazing how little things like operations slow you down! I shall have another lazy day today, doing a lot of sleeping at the moment....Best healer there is.

[Tizer]

It's great to hear you are getting better, Maz, keep it up!

[plaques]

This article reminded me of Kev's knee problem Knee bones I don't suppose its anything to do with Kev's problem but interesting all the same. REf: “The average human, today, is better nourished, meaning we are taller and heavier. This came with longer shinbones and larger calf muscles – changes which both put the knee under increasing pressure. This could explain why fabellae are more common now than they once were.”.

[Stanley]

That report intrigued me, I thought our complement of bones was mandatory, I never imagined we have a choice.

[Cathy]

Gosh that was interesting Plaques, just hope we don't start re-developing tail bones.

[Stanley]

No need to Cathy, you already have one! (LINK)

[Cathy]

I meant the longer tail-bone we humans used to have back in the very distant past, not what is now left of it.

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

If we had a tail and used it like a kangaroo does then it would be less strain on our legs and our balance when standing for long periods.

[Stanley]

What a lovely thought!
My attention was caught by THIS BBC report on Canadian research which seems to be helping chronic sufferers. Star Trek medicine gets ever closer!

[PanBiker]

Well, for better or worse, I have applied for my driving licences to be re-instated. I have filled in the D1 pack and enclosed £20 for a new Photo ID Driving Licence. This bit about how much it costs is confusing enough, in the menu of charges it mentions renewal after revocation for drink driving which costs £90 a basic exchange from paper to photo is the £20 option I have chosen right or wrong, I'm sure they will tell me.

I downloaded and filled in the 6 page B1 medical form, this again is a bit confusing as it tells you to send it to the medical panel but the D1 licence application tells you to enclose it along with your application. I chose that option. I have also copied and enclosed my consultants letters to myself and some that went to the doctors surgery. I shoved all those in the bag as well for good measure. The B1 form is searching and asks for any medication that you have taken and the names and dates of start and end. I had a raft while I was in hospital but have no names so I have generalised, Steroids, IV Antibiotics, Anti-coagulants, a few more Anti's and Paracetamol all weaned off before I was discharged, best I can do, they all worked but are history as far as I am concerned. I ticked all the boxes I could find for no seizures or blackouts. I hope they pick up on that.

So £20.00 for the licence (unless they want more), £6.00 for the new shiny photo's and £6.60 to send it hopefully to the correct postcode at Swansea. We live in hope. They have my phone number, mobile number and email address, I have elected for those forms of communication rather than letter, if they want, (need or insist on) any more information. Too many hoops and not enough clear instruction on how to jump through them, we''ll see.

[Stanley]

Good luck with it Ian.

[Tizer]

I hope it goes through quickly and easily for you, Ian. The confusing forms doesn't surprise me - we find most such things these days are badly written and not well thought out. It seems that they don't teach people basic logical stuff like creating forms these days. Also the online sites often don't work properly and send you round in circles. Mrs Tiz suffered an example the other day when she had to do something on the government pensions web site. Between the 1990s and 2000s, because of my publishing background, I've noticed a decline in manuals and in book indexes. Most people now can't create such things.

That's great news about making it possible for Parkinson's sufferers to walk again. Mrs Tiz's father and her sister's first husband, Martin, both had Parkinson's, the latter dying at a young age. Martin was fit and had always gone running and it was strange how when he got Parkinson's he couldn't walk properly but he could still run.

[Stanley]

I don't know why but that reminded me of the fact that the two people I knew with very bad stutters were both good singers.....
UNICEF says that the incidence of Measles globally has trebled in the last year. Truly there are a lot of stupid people in the world. As well as distrust of the MMR vaccine, many people (including some religious minorities) refuse vaccination and rely on 'Herd Immunity', the fall in the incidence of the disease because of the people who were protected.

[Tizer]

And those herd immunity people are then responsible for the deaths caused by their failure to take up vaccination. There's more news here...
`Measles: 'My baby's eyes were swollen shut'' LINK

[Stanley]

That link should be required reading for all parents! Whilst I hesitate to join the cohort who call for access to education and other public facilities to be made dependent on vaccination I can see the logic in what they say. (and note that this problem is not confined to measles, BCG for Tuberculosis is also being neglected)
I can understand young parents being confused, perhaps the answer is to provide clinics like the ones that operated during the war when we had no resources! But then someone would start a twitter storm about the 'Nanny State'. Sometimes humans need nannying. It worked for us as children, our mothers got advice and help and we had free Cod Liver Oil and Concentrated Orange Juice as well. My generation has been described as the last healthy generation, go figure!

[Tizer]

There's now a problem with meningitis for the same reason - young people are not taking up the vaccination. But to be fair, some of those affected say they they didn't know there was a vaccine. It hasn't been sufficiently promoted.