MEDICAL MATTERS

[PanBiker]

I can't see any advantage in doing a CAT which after all is enhanced X-rays unless they want greater coverage. I would be happier with a MRI for more soft tissue detail.

I was thinking the same, more likely to be a contrasted MRI for the detail.

The first thing hat showed up my problem was a CAT scan which only showed a mass with no detail. I think they do those first as they are quicker. I had a follow up MRI the following morning which nailed the tumour diagnosis.

The X-Ray has only shown a shadow which could still be infection or because it's at the same side as she had radiotherapy it could be scar tissue. Apparently scar tissue can become an issue some years after the actual treatment. She had six sessions at Cookridge which has now been turned into flats, the radiology service was transferred to St James Hospital.

[Wendyf]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all is well with Sally, I miss my walking pal! Took my Dad to Cookridge for his chemo back in 2002/3

[Tripps]

I'm staggered that junior doctors are on strike. Especially as they have thoughtfully and cruelly started on the day after a Bank Holiday weekend and will stop on the day before another weekend. That leaves patients with ten days without full treatment.

Surely they could have made their point with just a day or two striking. The fact that they are professional people with the responsibility for the care of the sick should have had impact enough for their purpose.

This is an interesting article on the situation.

Junior Doctors

[Stanley]

I don't know enough to comment on these matters. I just want Sally to get better soon. As for the Covid booster, I shall do what I have always done and have it!

[plaques]

I'm staggered that junior doctors are on strike. Especially as they have thoughtfully and cruelly started on the day after a Bank Holiday weekend and will stop on the day before another weekend. That leaves patients with ten days without full treatment.

Not quite sure how it adds up to ten days without full treatment. As far as junior doctors go the weekends are normal work days often standing in for the more senior doctors. The lack of full treatment is therefore more down to the overall shortages of doctors being spread too thinly to give full weekend cover. The cruelty is the responsibility of the Tory government not the doctors. On Bank Holliday working the BMC set the rules where if a doctor is rostered to work on a bank holiday they should get the days holiday at some other time. Again as far as junior doctors are concerned this rarely happens. On strike action the government has been playing chicken with them for years but this time they have lost out. Think of the poor patients is the cry ignoring the fact that they have been driving the NHS into the ground for years.

As a counter balance to Stanley's Covid booster, the same vaccination by another name, I probably have enough antibodies to kill covid at 50 paces.
I refuse to be part of some 'unknown' outcome experiment that nobody is prepared to explain the risk/ benefits in any detail.

[Sue]

I don't know enough to comment on these matters. I just want Sally to get better soon. As for the Covid booster, I shall do what I have always done and have it!

Agreed on all accounts Stanley. I really hope Sally is Ok .

I had an MRI scan on my gut a few years back and it picked up something on my lung. After being diagnosed with query cancer I had an appointment at the hospital cancer clinic. As it would happen it was the day of a Junior Doctors strike. My appointment wasn’t cancelled, instead the head consultant ran the clinic. Talk about efficient. I was seen early, sent for an xray, seen again to review the result and a positive diagnosis given. It was scar tissue from possibly having been in contact with TB. I was asked if I had known anybody with TB. The answer was YES, our neighbour when I was a child. In fact when I had my BCG vaccination when I was 11 the preliminary 5 needle test was a bit odd and they could not decide if it was positive or negative so I was given the vaccination. That will be it the consultant said. I left happy within an hour and a half. I have never seen clinic nurses move so fast. We were all weighed, and BP taken ready for the consultant way ahead of the appointment time.

Hopefully Sally will be like me, a harmless reason for the problem

[PanBiker]

Thanks for your comments Sue. Sally is also hoping for a similar result, having already got the T shirt for breast cancer and the treatment regime that went with that. Waiting is always the trial.

[Tripps]

I won't respond to the above posts, though I could refute them, as it would make me disclose more of my personal medical information than I am comfortable with. I'm not sure that a public chat site is appropriate for such discussion.

[Sue]

I won't respond to the above posts, though I could refute them, as it would make me disclose more of my personal medical information than I am comfortable with. I'm not sure that a public chat site is appropriate for such discussion.

Refute, nothing to refute about mine, that is what happened


refute
/rɪˈfjuːt/
verb
prove (a statement or theory) to be wrong or false; disprove.
"these claims have not been convincingly refuted"

[Tripps]

Sorry - I should have written the above 'post' rather than 'posts', and 'it' rather than 'them' .

I know what refute means.

[Sue]

I knew you knew what refute means. I was pressing a point. I don’t like being called a liar. Apology accepted

[Stanley]

Sue. Your account of the scan and the diagnosis reminds me of the only time I have had a scan, when they were doing all the tests associated with my cancer. I thought there was something odd about the way I was treated and got the story later from my McMillan Nurse.... One of the triggers in the diagnosis was the fact I was a pipe smoker and they had assumed that this automatically meant there would be multiple suspect cells. The consternation I detected was because in a full body scan they found I was clean as a whistle, totally contrary to expectations. I think we often forget that consultants are, at the end of the day, human beings....

[Sue]

Sorry Tripps I over reacted there, written in the heat of the moment and re read this morning when reading Stanley’s post. My turn to apologise

[Stanley]

I think you are both nice people and didn't for one minute think this was the start of a serious argument.

[Sue]

I think you are both nice people and didn't for one minute think this was the start of a serious argument.

[plaques]

The funny thing was that I read Sue's post as a factual account and saw no reason to question it. With Tripps's post I saw it as a general comment on the processes that you can meet /endure. Mrs P worked in the Out Patients for years and would rant about the endless queues and delays for 'extra' checks, X-rays bloods etc. All of which may not have been predictable at an individual level but with over 400 patients per session no overall allowance had been made.

[Stanley]

I am in suspiciously good health at present. This is very worrying!

[Sue]

The funny thing was that I read Sue's post as a factual account and saw no reason to question it. With Tripps's post I saw it as a general comment on the processes that you can meet /endure. Mrs P worked in the Out Patients for years and would rant about the endless queues and delays for 'extra' checks, X-rays bloods etc. All of which may not have been predictable at an individual level but with over 400 patients per session no overall allowance had been made.

I so understand that. I used to work in path labs and the surge we had when clinics were running on top of daily ward samples was incredible. This often delayed the results that were required urgently, but obviously we could not rush and risk misdiagnosis.

I think my situation was a one off with a Consultant trying to do the clinics on top of his own daily work load. No one could keep that pace up . I have to say I felt sorry for the other staff as they were rushed off their feet, however my anxiety and only real thought of the day was ‘Did I have lung cancer’. I was relieved to find I did not.

When writing my experiences I was not criticising the nursing staff or any other staff, I was trying to give a bit of positive support to Sally

[PanBiker]

When writing my experiences I was not criticising the nursing staff or any other staff, I was trying to give a bit of positive support to Sally

Indeed, and thanks for that Sue. The possibility you were vexing about has also come into our conversation. Shadows can be very scary.

[Sue]

When writing my experiences I was not criticising the nursing staff or any other staff, I was trying to give a bit of positive support to Sally

Indeed, and thanks for that Sue. The possibility you were vexing about has also come into our conversation. Shadows can be very scary.

I so hope all is well.

[PanBiker]

Still waiting for a scanner appointment.

[Stanley]

Fingers Crossed Sally! But I would observe that with the legal eagles constantly at their backs the clinicians are almost coerced into giving the most pessimistic interpretations until scans etc. prove otherwise. I often wonder if anyone takes into account the stress this puts on patients.

[Tripps]

Anyone watching the TV coverage of the Aintree Grand National meeting should note the saturation advertising for a compnany called Randox. I have never seen so many banners and placards at any such event before. The name also features prominently on the colours and breeches of every jockey.

I doubt many of the crowd are fully aware of the nature of the company - take a look Randox

Anyone who worries about the future of the NHS as a public service has good reason to do so.

[Stanley]

I knew that David and it has troubled me also. I never miss the national and won't let it spoil it for me. Just as bad if it's a betting firm sponsoring it.

[Tripps]

Well - they must have read this board. Their presence is nothing like it was yesterday. Made a fool of me.

I don't know why - perhaps it was cheaper yesterday (Ladies Day) .

I think I preferred it when Martel was the sponsor.