Update on oggbashan's health

[KeithD]

Good news. My latest medical check shows I'm in better overall condition now than before the pandemic, as well. That said, I understand that any medical emergency would be far worse to handle now than before.

 

[oggbashan]

Today my wife and I went for our annual flu jab. Unlike last year, done at the doctor's surgery, this was at our community hospital. All the disabled spaces in the car park were full but the rest was three-quarters empty.

The was a constant procession of wrinklies - the jabs today were for the over-65s - and I was shocked at how frail and fragile so many looked even though most were younger than me.

I had left my walking frame in the car because it wasn't far from the non-disabled space to the unit. After leaving I walked, with my stick, across a rough patch of grass because all those in front of me on the surfaced path were moving at a snail's pace. One of my elderly neighbours, actually one of the few slightly older than me, was surprised at my speed on rough ground.

With my four-wheeled walker on an even surface, I can go at seven miles an hour. With a stick I am slower than that and the distance possible is only a couple of hundred yards compared with two miles with the walker.

 

[KeithD]

Thanks for the update. For what it's worth for others, my doctor advised that it would be best not to get the flu shot until October.

 

[Handley_Page]

Fingers crossed, Ogg.

 

[fifty5]

Super speed

Today my wife and I went for our annual flu jab. Unlike last year, done at the doctor's surgery, this was at our community hospital. All the disabled spaces in the car park were full but the rest was three-quarters empty.

The was a constant procession of wrinklies - the jabs today were for the over-65s - and I was shocked at how frail and fragile so many looked even though most were younger than me.

I had left my walking frame in the car because it wasn't far from the non-disabled space to the unit. After leaving I walked, with my stick, across a rough patch of grass because all those in front of me on the surfaced path were moving at a snail's pace. One of my elderly neighbours, actually one of the few slightly older than me, was surprised at my speed on rough ground.

With my four-wheeled walker on an even surface, I can go at seven miles an hour. With a stick I am slower than that and the distance possible is only a couple of hundred yards compared with two miles with the walker.

For what little it is worth, when I was in management services (time & motion study) walking at 3 mph was classed as unmotivated (75%) and at 4 mph was classed as being worth full bonuses (100%).

By that standard your 7 mph scores 175%, an exceptionally high rate!!!!

All the bes, Ogg,

 

[oggbashan]

For what little it is worth, when I was in management services (time & motion study) walking at 3 mph was classed as unmotivated (75%) and at 4 mph was classed as being worth full bonuses (100%).

By that standard your 7 mph scores 175%, an exceptionally high rate!!!!

All the bes, Ogg,

Thanks fifty5.

I had to walk at that speed to keep up with my father who would go at 7.5 miles per hour for twenty miles or so.

When he was ninety we moved him into an old people's home on our seafront. We warned the staff that he liked a lot of walking. They didn't believe us since most of their residents could only totter around the building.

On his first morning, he set off after breakfast. They sent a young female carer after him to ensure he was OK. She was left behind after the first hundred yards. He returned for lunch having walked fifteen miles and was off again after the meal for another ten miles.

In his late eighties he used to do conducted tours of the City of London for which he was an officially registered guide. His 'short' walk started by climbing The Monument and followed by fourteen miles zigzagging around the City including a climb to the top of St Pauls - not to the whispering gallery but inside the dome to the cross on top.

Do not click on link if you don't like heights:

https://youtu.be/J1fozYVHBJE

My wife arranged with her women's group to go on one of my father's tours. They arrived by coach. At the end, shattered, they crawled back on the coach to watch him striding off to walk a few miles to the railway station.

But his long walk started in Ladywell recreation ground, did Greenwich, the Royal Observatory and the Cutty Sark, before crossing the river to do docklands and on to the Monument to start the fourteen miles.

His most frequent followers were Japanese bankers on a short tour of working in London. They regarded his 'short' walk as the equivalent of climbing Mount Fugi, and his long one was climbing Mount Fugi twice.

 

[fifty5]

No probs!

Thanks fifty5.

I had to walk at that speed to keep up with my father who would go at 7.5 miles per hour for twenty miles or so.

When he was ninety we moved him into an old people's home on our seafront. We warned the staff that he liked a lot of walking. They didn't believe us since most of their residents could only totter around the building.

On his first morning, he set off after breakfast. They sent a young female carer after him to ensure he was OK. She was left behind after the first hundred yards. He returned for lunch having walked fifteen miles and was off again after the meal for another ten miles.

In his late eighties he used to do conducted tours of the City of London for which he was an officially registered guide. His 'short' walk started by climbing The Monument and followed by fourteen miles zigzagging around the City including a climb to the top of St Pauls - not to the whispering gallery but inside the dome to the cross on top.

Do not click on link if you don't like heights:

https://youtu.be/J1fozYVHBJE

My wife arranged with her women's group to go on one of my father's tours. They arrived by coach. At the end, shattered, they crawled back on the coach to watch him striding off to walk a few miles to the railway station.

But his long walk started in Ladywell recreation ground, did Greenwich, the Royal Observatory and the Cutty Sark, before crossing the river to do docklands and on to the Monument to start the fourteen miles.

His most frequent followers were Japanese bankers on a short tour of working in London. They regarded his 'short' walk as the equivalent of climbing Mount Fugi, and his long one was climbing Mount Fugi twice.

I don't like heights if there is no handrail or similar, did you watch Aufwiedersehen Pet (spelling?) when Oz walked out on the girder to talk to the scaffolder? That petrified me but this climb up St Pauls gave me no trouble at all.

All the best Ogg,

 

[oggbashan]

This evening I had my third CT scan. I should get the results in about two and a half weeks' time.

If like the last two, I am still clear, I can plan for 2021. If not? Back to chemotherapy.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thank you for the continuing updates. I'm glad the news lately has been good and I send you my best wishes for continuing favorable updates and good health.

I'm amazed and awed at your story-writing productivity amid your health issues.

Above all, I really appreciate the grace and high-mindedness you bring to this forum. You set a good example for others to follow.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

This evening I had my third CT scan. I should get the results in about two and a half weeks' time.

If like the last two, I am still clear, I can plan for 2021. If not? Back to chemotherapy.

Go, Ogg! You give the rest of us something to look up to, sir.

 

[vanmyers86]

My wife arranged with her women's group to go on one of my father's tours. They arrived by coach. At the end, shattered, they crawled back on the coach to watch him striding off to walk a few miles to the railway station.

This made me laugh. What a vivid picture came to mind!

 

[sirhugs]

This evening I had my third CT scan. I should get the results in about two and a half weeks' time.

If like the last two, I am still clear, I can plan for 2021. If not? Back to chemotherapy.

not to hijack your thread, but my first CT scan in a year is scheduled Monday, so I understand how you feel.

 

[oggbashan]

not to hijack your thread, but my first CT scan in a year is scheduled Monday, so I understand how you feel.

Best of luck. I find CT scans boring but other scans can be more awkward. After one I was radioactive and told to stay away from children or pregnant women for 24 hours. But that scan had to be done fasting. It finished at 1 pm and I had been fasting since the previous midnight.

I could not go to the hospital's cafe. It was too full. My wife had to drive me to a supermarket, leave me in the car while she bought sandwiches and return. Those sandwiches tasted great.

 

[Handley_Page]

Thoughts, prayers and fingers crossed, Ogg

 

[JaxRhapsody]

And the Pizza.

We had Pizza last night followed by Victoria sponge cake. My blood sugar was even higher (just) than with Fish and Chips.

Blood sugar back to normal levels this morning and normal diet resumes this evening.

Bread. Tomato sauce.

Instead of putting pressure on our med supplies, and thus giving the Pharma companies arguments to raise prices, why not get your government to provide proper universal health care like the rest of the developed world?

Some of us are.But the medical field just another big business to make money versus existing actual concern for human life. Because we need it, at least at some point, to live, why not make an easy buck? Many might enjoy saving lives, but they aren't doing it for "free". They need lambo money.

 

[JamesMiehoff]

This evening I had my third CT scan. I should get the results in about two and a half weeks' time.

If like the last two, I am still clear, I can plan for 2021. If not? Back to chemotherapy.

Astoundingly good news. Keep it up and somebody will want to dissect you to find out your secret.

But the medical field just another big business to make money versus existing actual concern for human life. Because we need it, at least at some point, to live, why not make an easy buck? Many might enjoy saving lives, but they aren't doing it for "free". They need lambo money.

There have been at least three major watershed moments in US medical history that have started the rampant rise in medical costs.

The first occurred in the late 70s or early 80s. Four hospitals in New York split the cost on an MRI machine and put it in one of the hospitals. They kept it 100% busy by sending their patients there. Until one day, one of the hospitals sent a patient over by ambulance and he had a heart attack and died. The widow's lawyers argued that the hospital was negligent in not having an MRI on their own premises. They even admitted that he was going to die anyway, but that was no excuse for not having one of these "Miracle" machines in house. The jury bought the argument and awarded $55 million. Every hospital in America placed an order for at least one MRI the next day. Going rate for an MRI in those days was about $5 million dollars.

The second happened shortly after that. Non-profit hospitals started to be bought up by for profit conglomerates. If you have ever spent any time in an ER and gotten the itemized bill, it is astounding. I was in several times for kidney stones and on ones, they sent me the full itemized bill. On that bill, I was charged for 3 changes of bedding (at $215 each), 6 one liter IV bags (each were 4 hour drips), 3 pregnancy tests (totally unnecessary) and several other very odd items. I was there for an hour and a half and was only in one examination room, plus a trip to the bathroom for a urine sample and an x-ray. They agreed that it was a kidney stone (7mm) and that I was passing it (much to their surprise). So I got a shot of morphine, prescriptions for Flomax, antibiotic and pain killers and sent home.

The first bill arrived a couple of weeks later for $12,000. While on a panicked call to my insurance provider, I mentioned some of the odd items. She was not worried at all about the costs and in fact laughed about the pregnancy tests. She explained that it is common practice to divide all the supplies used that shift among all the patients that were seen. She said that they were going to negotiate with the hospital and not to worry. The second bill showed up three weeks later for $2,250. I decided that they were going to have to take me to collections. The third bill showed up a month and a half later. It was $22.63. I paid it instantly before they changed their minds.

The third reason for the high cost of medical care was illustrated above. Insurance. You and your employer pay a ton of money for insurance and every once in a while, you use it. The hospitals know most people have insurance, so they raise their rates by 3, 4, 5 times or more knowing that they will negotiate most of that away. God help the poor bastard that has to pay retail.

Sorry Ogg, I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I'l get off my soapbox and go sit quietly in the corner.......

James

 

[oggbashan]

OK, James. I understand and to annoy US people - the total cost of all my treatment, including an insurance-funded visit to a private consultant, has been nothing, nil, nada.

Except for car parking charges. About £30 so far.

 

[Emirus]

Eighteen months ago I rang the insurance company we always use for travel insurance to go anywhere not just America. It’s a company from whom we can obtain travel insurance for our regular trips to America which are usually a few weeks and the majority of companies won’t do more than a month and that doesn’t take into account all our medical conditions.

Because of the time element and medical conditions our insurance is hefty anyway but I wasn’t expecting an increase of 50% from the previous year. When I queried the big increase she said it was because of how large the costs for medical care had become for claims from the US.

As an example she quoted a case of a man who had collapsed at his hotel, taken in for overnight observation, received no treatment or medication, and the following morning he was discharged. Total bill $12,000.

If it had been in the UK the cost would have been nothing, even if they were an American tourist and hadn’t contributed anything to the NHS.

 

[jehoram]

As an example she quoted a case of a man who had collapsed at his hotel, taken in for overnight observation, received no treatment or medication, and the following morning he was discharged. Total bill $12,000.

Which highlights the dark underbelly of the US health care system. Those prices are always subject to negotiations, and American health insurers will never pay those "list" prices even though they appear on the bill. The bill may read $150 for a thermometer reading, and the bill will show that the insurance company "paid it" but in actuality the company paid next to nothing.

But if you have no health insurance, or if your provider isn't one of the powerful ones that can negotiate their own prices, you're screwed.

I don't want to say any more, lest this discussion gets kicked to the political board, but I do recommend that you watch Michael Moore's movie Sicko if you need some education on just how bad this system is.

 

[JamesMiehoff]

OK, James. I understand and to annoy US people - the total cost of all my treatment, including an insurance-funded visit to a private consultant, has been nothing, nil, nada.

Except for car parking charges. About £30 so far.

Thanks Ogg. Doesn't bother me. My parents were Canadian. I grew up with tales of free quality health. The fact that this country can be as back assword as the lowliest third world country is just part of our charm.

James

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Well, 'free' is a malleable word, to be sure. Canadian and British health care is definitely not free; the cost’s just hidden, paid through taxes. It's a major line item on government budgets here - well over a third.

Oddly enough, despite all its problems in Canada - and there are more than a few - it still costs less per capita than in the US.

 

[oggbashan]

Well, 'free' is a malleable word, to be sure. Canadian and British health care is definitely not free; the costs just hidden, paid through taxes. It's a major line item on government budgets here - well over a third.

Oddly enough, despite all it's problems in Canada - and there are more than a few - it still costs less per capita than in the US.

It does in the UK and almost all European countries that have various systems of universal health care. The cost is much less per head of population than in the US (which is NOT universal).

 

[Handley_Page]

It does in the UK and almost all European countries that have various systems of universal health care. The cost is much less per head of population than in the US (which is NOT universal).

And Long may it continue. . .

 

[fifty5]

Too true

Today my wife and I went for our annual flu jab. Unlike last year, done at the doctor's surgery, this was at our community hospital. All the disabled spaces in the car park were full but the rest was three-quarters empty.

The was a constant procession of wrinklies - the jabs today were for the over-65s - and I was shocked at how frail and fragile so many looked even though most were younger than me.

I had left my walking frame in the car because it wasn't far from the non-disabled space to the unit. After leaving I walked, with my stick, across a rough patch of grass because all those in front of me on the surfaced path were moving at a snail's pace. One of my elderly neighbours, actually one of the few slightly older than me, was surprised at my speed on rough ground.

With my four-wheeled walker on an even surface, I can go at seven miles an hour. With a stick I am slower than that and the distance possible is only a couple of hundred yards compared with two miles with the walker.

My wife and I had a very similar experience last Friday, just at a fairly local GP surgery (not ours), far fewer cars in the car park and many fewer "customers". We two had to go in for appointments 10 minutes apart and shot past others who had come early! The actual flu jab was a very minor matter, at least to someone who previously had been a regular blood (and platelet) donor. The inocculator stuck to the standard script, "Just a sharp scratch..."

My wife expressed the same sentiment, "a trivial issue!"

PS I didn't even use a stick, our distance was so short I didn't need one.

All the best to one and all

 

[oggbashan]

Good News!

Today I went to see my oncology consultant for an update on the results of my latest scan - the fourth.

To my surprise, and hers, - nothing at all. No signs of recurrence. That isn't supposed to happen with this form of lung cancer but I'll accept it. Four scans and almost a year clear.

Next scan end of December...