MEDICAL MATTERS

[LizG]

My daughter has a pot of comfrey outside the stable door and the horses snatch a mouthful when they need it.

[Stanley]

You tickled me this morning Wendy. Uncharacteristically you said "and started eating it's leaves.", not often you misplace an apostrophe! That combined with the topic and 'Eats, shoots and leaves' popped into my head. Normally cattle don't eat Docks but I once had a heifer who sought them out. She must have been after something they contained.....
Tiz, 'summer colds' can be a bugger, Jewish Penicillin and patience can help..... I hope you throw it off soon.

[Wendyf]

I always have a problem with "its" but usually go back and make the change. There's no logic to it!

[Stanley]

I agree, my editing instinct doesn't always kick in! Couldn't resist pulling your leg though, you are normally word perfect!
Watching the calendar, you wouldn't believe how much I'm looking forward to window cleaning. I hope it's as good as they promise.....

[chinatyke]

Watching the calendar, you wouldn't believe how much I'm looking forward to window cleaning. I hope it's as good as they promise.....

It is just ridiculous that you have to wait so long for such a simple procedure. You should sue the NHS for the delay and having to put up with a lower quality of life all these months. A lot to be said for the efficiency of the pay and get treatment system.

[Stanley]

I agree but that's our system and I am happy to live with it. Bear in mind that if I had a medical emergency, no matter how serious, I would be in there straight away and no worries about costs. So it's swings and roundabouts....

[Tizer]

Some worrying information on asbestos in schools from a BBC programme:
"A 2013 study from the independent Committee on Carcinogenicity estimated more than 75% of schools in England had buildings containing asbestos. The NUT puts the UK-wide figure at 86%, based on a Freedom of Information request to local authorities."..."There are now strict government regulations on how to manage asbestos and monitor its condition in schools, but an NUT online survey - based on 201 responses - suggested 44% of teachers had not been told whether their school contained the substance." LINK

But what about the pupils..."There are no statistics to suggest how many people might have developed mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure as a pupil, but the Committee on Carcinogenicity suggests a child first exposed to asbestos aged five has a lifetime risk of developing the cancer about five times greater than that of an adult first exposed aged 30."

[Stanley]

I agree. Private Eye details the problems some London Boroughs are experiencing at the moment because of lack of attention to clearing asbestos out of public buildings. It's a matter close to my heart as people I worked with have succumbed to it while I seem to have survived. I hardly ever cough but when I do I always have that nagging doubt.
Another big problem is that we know that kids in city schools are exposed to lousy air quality and how do you distinguish between the affects of that and asbestos? Turner Brothers have a lot to answer for....
By the way, how's your personal cough? I hope you are getting over it....

[Tizer]

Having written yesterday about the danger to children and teachers from asbestos in schools I then heard another report of the plans to free the Houses of Parliament of asbestos. Perhaps we ought to tell the MPs they can't do Parliament until every school has been freed of asbestos!

[Stanley]

What a splendid idea.... I had seen the reports about the need to refurbish the Palace of Westminster of course but didn't make the connection. (I must be getting old....) Quite right, they should get their priorities right, Our children are far more important than the politicians.
On a sad note I heard yesterday that a dear friend of mine who has never smoked or been exposed to the sorts of hazards many of us faced has been diagnosed as having terminal inoperable lung cancer. Someone somewhere has a very warped sense of humour. Her husband I agree that there is no sense in it, both of us having been exposed to some very hazardous conditions in our working lives and both keenly aware of the ever lurking danger of late onset cancer. When I think of the number of times I swept bone dry boiler tops raising clouds of dust which definitely contained asbestos, and encountered it in other jobs like relining brakes, I simply don't understand why the ill effects are so random and I grieve for the fact that they have to face an impossible situation such as this.

[Tizer]

Unfortunately lung cancer, like many other cancers, does seem able to appear at random, presumably due to random mutations in DNA caused by our inevitable exposure to the small amount of cosmic radiation that gets through Earth's defences. Secondly, there is the possibility that the person was exposed to a chemical or physical carcinogen at some time in their life without them (or anyone else) realising it. (In that report on asbestos in schools a technician who now has mesothelioma was told that simply banging a door shut could have raised asbestos dust which could then have entered his lungs.) Thirdly, a major factor in susceptibility to all types of disease is the resistance of the individual, which varies widely and is related to many other things such as diet, exercise, lifestyle and - very important - genetics.

By the way, how's your personal cough? I hope you are getting over it....

Day 14 and it's still in residence but I've got it on the back foot now and I'm not coughing as much. The last couple of nights I've managed to get a decent night's sleep. It's a respiratory infection that's been doing the rounds and everyone finds it difficult to shake off. My sister-in-law had it earlier in the year and her friends thought she had whooping cough. The doc gave her a course of antibiotics but they failed to kill it off and she had to have a second course, but it went on for several weeks .

[Stanley]

Those colds are common these days and further, they seem to be recurring so when you think you have fought it off still take care.... It could be lurking about still. Good luck with it!
The lady in question was a schoolteacher for many years..... There was a case at Acre mill where a lady who only worked their for a fortnight was struck down and died. Also many cases of women getting the fibres from laundering their husband's clothes while he survived.

[Stanley]

Only a month to go...... Roll on!!

[Stanley]

Ordered a bigger and more powerful magnifying glass yesterday.. things are deteriorating fast! Mind you, it may not land before the operation. Never mind, it will always come in handy, I shall never have 20/20 vision again.....

[Cathy]

That's very sad Stanley, I've only ever had good vision in one eye and about 10-20% in the other, I'm also long sighted. Have always worn glasses for close up sight and now often need a bit of (more) magnifying help.
All the best with your future sight. Xx

[Stanley]

Thanks Cathy but don't worry about me too much. I am coping and very happy with what I can do. Mind you, an improvement will be welcome even if it is not permanent! Bit like some forms of cancer, with luck you can outlive them.....

[Tizer]

Do you have an Optivisor in the shed? One of those headband fittings with two eyepieces and about 2.5x magnification as used by modellers and the like? Would it be any help perhaps?

[Stanley]

I've considered that Tiz but hate being cluttered up. I am managing OK with lots of care and swearing at the moment but if this changes I shall have a rethink. Only 24 days to go......

[Stanley]

Dire warnings yesterday about the dangers of hot weather for elderly people. I'm happy to report that I had no problems, kept hydrated, didn't go off food and slept like a log. We are lucky in Barlick, it didn't get too excessive and our stone houses take a while to soak up the heat. It was cooler indoors than out all day yesterday.

[Stanley]

Update on my left eye. It gets progressively worse and at the moment my big problem is that if I am watching TV my right eye is fighting the left and starts to hurt. The cure is to take my glasses off and abandon trying to use the left eye. This cures the pain in the right. I think the window cleaning on July 24th will be just in time! (Assuming it works.....)

[Stanley]

A good indication of where my eyes are at now is that I have stopped wearing my glasses for the walks. No benefit apart from a slight advantage in close vision.

[Tizer]

Daily Telegraph: `Warning of 'a nation of pill pushers' as figures show 55 per cent rise in prescriptions'
Typical newspaper approach - while the BBC chooses to tell us there was a 3.3% increase from 2013 to 2014 (the last year's data available) the Telegraph prefers to date it back to 2004! It's better to look at the Health and Social Care Information Centre's own web page which is where the papers got their information: LINK

Key facts from the web page:
*1,064.6 million prescription items were dispensed in 2014, a 3.3 per cent increase (34.5 million items) on the previous year and a 55.2 per cent increase (378.4 million items) since 2004.
*The total net ingredient cost of prescriptions dispensed in 2014 increased to £8.9 billion, from £8.6 billion in 2013, an increase of 2.6 per cent (£227.5 million). This is a 9.6 per cent increase (£773.0 million) on 2004, when the total cost was £8.1 billion.
*The leading BNF Section in terms of net ingredient cost, for the eighth year in succession, is BNF 6.1 `Drugs used in diabetes'.
*In terms of therapeutic area, the greatest increase in the volume of prescribing in 2014 is of BNF Section 4.3, `Antidepressant drugs', (3.8 million items).
*89.9 per cent of all prescription items were dispensed free of charge, with 60.0 per cent dispensed free to patients claiming age exemption (aged 60 and over).
(BNF is British National Formulary)

[Stanley]

Good informative post. Looking at those figures my reaction is that the NHS must be buying drugs cheaper than in 2004 and the increases in things like diabetes drugs signal that the profession is getting better at detecting a need which eventually will save the NHS money by mitigating hospital admissions.
Never let the facts get in the way of selling more papers......

[Stanley]

Window cleaning a week next Friday. It's been a long wait. I am now getting excited but at the same time apprehensive.... Suppose they were wrong and it isn't as sure fire a cure as promised? Natural I suppose, all I can do is hope for the best....

[Cathy]

We are all with you Stanley, I have a reminder on my calendar so that I don't forget to wish you all the best for your 'window cleaning'