MEDICAL MATTERS

[PanBiker]

No I haven't Maz. Where we are in Barlick the software that our surgery uses is not the same as even Airedale Hospital which in itself is not in the same Hospital Trust as Leeds General Infirmary. Quite often it can take weeks for my doctor to get updates of patients hospital records or results. First hurdle would be getting an appointment with him by which time I could well have the records directly from the Trust that treated me. Straight from the horses mouth so to say.

I could ask for enhanced patient access at our surgery which is another option rather than the bother of an admin appointment with the doc.

[plaques]

One of the fundamental problems of having tests done, You have them to put your mind at rest then worry yourself to death until they come through. Looking on the bright side if there had been anything amiss there would have been bells and whistles long before now. On the basis that No news is good news, its just damned irritating that they haven't passed on your records in a timely fashion.

[Stanley]

I have to agree with P Ian. No news is good news and bad news travels fast! I often get the feeling there are too many tests these days, some doctors think the same.
I am bracing myself for my next BCG. I'd forgotten the miserable 12 hours after it! (Memo to HQ: Drink lots of water afterwards Stanley!)

[Cathy]

Sending good thoughts Stanley, I hope you are feeling better very soon.

[Stanley]

Thanks Cathy! Either this batch of BCG was more active or I am more sensitive but it's a bit rough. Looking on the bright side, if it affects me so severely it's working on the cancer cells! Don't worry, things are improving now, warmth and sleep will work wonders as usual. I was in bed at 20:00 last night and up at 04:00 so a good rest. I am warm dry and clean and the washer is on!

[Cathy]

[Wendyf]

Hope you are soon back on track Stanley.

[Stanley]

Thanks Wendy. I am doing all the right things and the effects are slowly retreating.... As soon as I have got the washing out, walked Jack for a second time and had a light breakfast I shall be back in bed asleep. The best medicine.... (Nowhere near as savage as last night....)

[Marilyn]

Just remember Stanley, if you have trouble peeing...get in that shower with warm water flowing down your back and pee in there. D had to do it a few times, and it reduces stress quickly! He says it was very comforting.

[Tizer]

Onwards and upwards, Stanley. I hope you get back to normal quickly.

[Stanley]

Just had another 4 hours sound sleep.... I shall be in bed early again tonight and look forward to a better day tomorrow!

[chinatyke]

I don't envy you but keep being positive, you're one day further down the road to being back to normal. Best wishes.

[PanBiker]

You seem to be doing the right thing Stanley. Plenty of rest, cannot be underestimated for recovery. Is the next zapping your last all being well?

I have to agree with P Ian. No news is good news and bad news travels fast! I often get the feeling there are too many tests these days, some doctors think the same.

Indeed but my post op regime will last 10 years and 15 weeks for results even if good is too long to wait. The drop foot I still have and only part mobility in my toes on the right are the purely physical things that may not improve very much more than where I am now. I am still working on building up more stamina. If there is any worry attached to my present condition it would be the latent numbness that I still get down my right arm and shoulder from time to time. A timely report which is what my post op regime is designed for is a big part that the status quo is being maintained after brain trauma.

I have posted my request for my records today, it may take up to 30 days according to the trusts website, I should receive them via email, radiography test results may be on CD.

[Marilyn]

Panbiker, I was chatting with a neighbour yesterday ( he is a full on, Lycra clad, cyclist...think he has 4 bikes and does early morning rides up and down the coast). He “humours” me and my bike riding.
I was explaining the route that hubby and I rode on Sunday morning. He said it is one of his short runs...only 18kms.
18kms! Really?! ( there you go! We did 18 kms...it didn’t feel that far...)

[Stanley]

Maz. fanatics in any field of life can be intensely boring.
Thanks China. My strategy yesterday of masses of sleep, plenty of water and very little food worked, felling much better this morning.
Yes Ian, next Monday is the last of three and then cystoscopy in March. Then a holiday for a while.....
On a general note, despite the diagnosis I am fine. No symptoms of the cancer at all, it's just the treatment that buggers me up!

[Tizer]

This will create opportunities for tackling the coronavirus...
`Coronavirus: Australian scientists first to recreate virus outside China' LINK
`..Doctors said the copy could be used as "control material" for testing and "will be a game changer for diagnosis". That could involve an early-diagnosis test which could detect the virus in people who have not displayed symptoms..'.

[Stanley]

As long as I don't get it! Selfish I know but that is what is at the back of everyone's minds.... Survival of the fittest!

[Tizer]

More good news on coronavirus. I've added some of the text from the BBC story here because Chinatyke can't get the BBC web site.

`Coronavirus: Scientists race to develop a vaccine' BBC
`At Inovio's lab in San Diego, scientists are using a relatively new type of DNA technology to develop a potential vaccine. "INO-4800 " - as it's currently called - with plans for it to enter human trials by the early summer. Kate Broderick, senior vice-president of research and development at Inovio, said: "Once China had provided the DNA sequence of this virus, we were able to put it through our lab's computer technology and design a vaccine within three hours. "Our DNA medicine vaccines are novel in that they use DNA sequences from the virus to target specific parts of the pathogen which we believe the body will mount the strongest response to. "We then use the patient's own cells to become a factory for the vaccine, strengthening the body's own natural response mechanisms." Inovio says if the initial human trials are a success, larger trials would follow, ideally in an outbreak setting in China "by the end of the year". It is impossible to predict whether this outbreak is likely to have ended by then. But if Inovio's timeline goes to plan, the company says it will be the quickest a new vaccine has ever been developed and tested in an outbreak situation. It was created in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to provide funding to accelerate the development of vaccines for new diseases.

`The work in these labs is being funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), which is made up of and funded by governments and philanthropic organisations from around the world. Dr Melanie Saville, director of vaccine research and development at Cepi, said: "The mission is to make sure that outbreaks are no longer a threat to humanity and to develop vaccines for emerging infectious diseases." Cepi is also funding two other programmes that are developing a vaccine for this new coronavirus. The University of Queensland is working on a "molecular clamp" vaccine, which it says "enables targeted and rapid vaccine production against multiple viral pathogens." Moderna Inc in Massachusetts has also joined forces with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to accelerate its research...'

[chinatyke]

More good news on coronavirus. I've added some of the text from the BBC story here because Chinatyke can't get the BBC web site.

Thanks, Tiz.

[Tripps]

And some bad news -

Well placed to 'self isolate though.


Around 7,000 passengers and crew are stuck on a giant cruise ship in an Italian port amid fears that a Chinese tourist on board may have contracted coronavirus.
Specialist doctors are conducting tests on the 54-year-old woman from Macau, who is reportedly suffering from a fever and breathing difficulties.
She has been placed in isolation, along with her husband, in the medical unit of the Costa Smeralda.

The results of tests are expected to be known later today. If the woman is found to be infected, the passengers and crew could face a two-week quarantine aboard the cruise liner.


Late PS - Just been revealed that Manchester has been twinned with Wuhan since 1986.

Seems so are quite a few others !


Wuhan is twinned with -

Ōita, Japan (Sep 7, 1979)
Pittsburgh, United States (Sep 8, 1982)
Duisburg, Germany (Oct 8, 1982)
Manchester, United Kingdom (Sep 16, 1986)[151]
Galați, Romania (Aug 12, 1987)
Kiev, Ukraine (Oct 19, 1990)
Khartoum, Sudan (Sep 27, 1995)
Győr, Hungary (Oct 19, 1995)
Bordeaux[152], France (Jun 18, 1998)
Arnhem, Netherlands (Sep 6, 1999)
Cheongju, South Korea (Oct 29, 2000)
Sankt Pölten, Austria (Dec 20, 2005)
Christchurch[153], New Zealand (Apr 4, 2006)
Markham, Canada (Sep 12, 2006)
Borlänge, Sweden (Sep 28, 2007)
Kópavogur, Iceland (Apr 25, 2008)
Ashdod[154], Israel (Nov 8, 2011)
Essonne[155], France (Dec 21, 2012)
İzmir, Turkey (Jun 6, 2013)
Tijuana[156], Mexico (Jul 12, 2013[157])
Saratov[158], Russia (Aug 7, 2015)
Concepción[159], Chile (Apr 7, 2016)
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (Nov 15, 2016)
Chalcis, Greece (May 11, 2017)
Izhevsk, Russia (Jun 16, 2017)
Swansea[160], United Kingdom (Jan 31, 2018)
Entebbe, Uganda (Apr 13, 2018)

[Stanley]

Apart from the actual virus, what has struck me since the beginning is the universal praise given to China for the way it has handled the crisis. Particularly the full DNA profile they circulated as soon as they had sequenced it. If only the same cooperation and good will existed at the political level!
On a more personal level. I shall be quizzing my lovely McMillan nurse Helen on Monday as to whether they increase the strength of the BCG as you demonstrate you can handle the treatment/ do batches vary/ do you become more sensitive as the treatment proceeds. I'm not complaining because to me it's a sign the treatment is effective but my reaction to it this time round is more pronounced. I look on the bright side and see this as a good thing.

[Tizer]

There's something worrying about the quarantine that I haven't heard or seen properly discussed yet. If we take 100 apparently healthy people from an infection danger zone such as Wuhan and isolate them in a quarantine building they might be lucky - perhaps not a single one has symptomless infection. But if one appears healthy yet is infected then he/she will infect all the others. The only way to avoid this is to put every person in a separate room sealed off from all others. Then you have the problem of how to look after each one individually while taking care to prevent the carers and the other inmates from being infected. It sounds like an almost impossible task. And what about `the 7,000 passengers and crew stuck on a giant cruise ship in an Italian port' noted by Tripps? There might be 7000 cabins to keep them in but you'll need to take them food & drink etc. If you let them out of the cabins and mix then, again, one person might infect 6,999!

[Big Kev]

They all got off the cruise ship yesterday, the Chinese passenger's test was negative BBC

[Stanley]

I applaud all the measures that are being taken by the major players and recognise the dangers but two things strike me, nobody has yet come up with a death rate. Sars was 4% and this one is less than 1.2% but with the complication that nobody knows if this depends on your health at the time you get it. In pandemics like Spanish Flu the really serious aspect was its effect on young healthy people. Until this becomes clear we will have no clear idea.
The second thing that strikes me is that this happens in a 'thin' news cycle and this is affecting coverage plus the fact that in the UK we have a government which has shut political information down and anything that can be used as a distraction is being seized on.
As usual we are in mushroom farm mode....

[chinatyke]

Latest figures show over 11800 infected and 259 deaths. I don't think the death rate is high except in vulnerable people and as was mentione d previously 'how many of these would have died anyway?'
Two new hospitals are due to be opened next week and they can accommodate around an extra 2500 people.
My friend had her flights to Texas cancelled, she was due to go this month. Another friend was due to fly from London via Wuhan to Nanning in March and his flights have also been cancelled.
This coming week will be crucial as people return to work and kids go back to school after the Spring Festival holiday. I've just checked and most trains are already full again all next week. People were stopped from boarding buses if they weren't wearing a face mask, I wonder if that will apply to all public transport?