General Medical issues thread

[Flying mermaid]

More sad news. Wife of MrLtL’s cousin in UK has been diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer - in lymph and liver as well. Chemo has been problematic as she had a mystery infection after the first dose so it was stopped for a time. About to start again but having just lost our friend to the same disease, it’s not positive.
What is it about our age? Or life now?

sorry to hear that. Unfortunately it is our age - I can remember Mr FM’s mum saying they reached a certain age and all they seemed to do was go to funerals. I think it is a case of live to the full, as you don’t know what you have left.

 

[JohnK]

I am not a doctor but my guess is that it's because the body doesn't know what to do when all of a sudden you slam on the brakes and therefore "panics" as such.

My body coped quite well when I had 2 stints of 8 months out of work around 10 years ago.

It would be just what the doctor ordered if I do the same thing now.

 

[drron]

As we age we started having one drop off the perch each year. Now it has moved up to two and sometimes three a year. Bank the good times.
It could get pretty lonely if you live to 100.

And here is an example from Perth-
Academic David Goodall turns 104 and his birthday wish is to die in peace

 

[JohnK]

As we age we started having one drop off the perch each year. Now it has moved up to two and sometimes three a year. Bank the good times.
It could get pretty lonely if you live to 100.

I'll let you know if I ever live to 100.

 

[JohnM]

And here is an example from Perth-
Academic David Goodall turns 104 and his birthday wish is to die in peace

I feel for him. I know of him from indirect contact in long-ago work times and I have seen him once catch the bus (just after the ECU 'eviction' kerfuffle) that I occasionally take the fairly short distance into the city, so he lives not far from me.

Impressive as he is, I - like him - do not want to live that long.

Maybe if I keep travelling to off-the-grid places I'll get bumped off (hopefully suddenly) and go out enjoying myself. All I'll really miss is the F flight home as one of the likes of you lot take my place in 1A while the remnants of me reside amongst the cargo....

 

[Milboo]

My Poppa was very active in the local regiment association (ex president etc) and by his 80s it was almost a funeral a week, either of people they knew or he’d attend as a regiment representative.

He ended up with depression which was rooted in those feelings of your cohort passing away and how he managing ageing (he had early Alzheimer’s/ dementia).

 

[drron]

And another study that brings me hope-
The 90+ Study - UCI MIND

• 
  

  [*]People who drank moderate amounts of alcohol or coffee lived longer than those who abstained.
  [*]People who were overweight in their 70s lived longer than normal or underweight people did.
  [*]Over 40% of people aged 90 and older suffer from dementia while almost 80% are disabled. Both are more common in women than men.
  [*]About half of people with dementia over age 90 do not have sufficient neuropathology in their brain to explain their cognitive loss.
  [*]People aged 90 and older with an APOE2 gene are less likely to have clinical Alzheimer’s dementia, but are much more likely to have Alzheimer’s neuropathology in their brains.

• 
  So as an obese 70+ male who drinks wine and coffee I think no reason to change now.

 

[Pushka]

My 80+ year old mum would watch daytime tv. She got weird ideas. My SIL stopped her from buying Spanx Then she decided she had to give up sugar and salt. Her BP and sugar levels were fine. Not obese by any stretch. We told her that at her age she should do as she wanted.

 

[coriander]

Has anyone here tried / purchased the Resmed AirMini travel CPAP machine? Looks an interesting unit account its (lack of) size .

 

[Flying mermaid]

Who would have thought it would be so hard to buy compression stockings, I wanted Jobst and didn’t seem to be anyone selling them in Canberra, Found a bunch in WA (bodyment) and ordered through them. Free delivery in 3 to 10 days. 8 days and order not yet dispatched. Emailed them - no reply. Used chat bot - no reply. Used 1800 number 5 times - cut out every time, Used their 08 ordinary number - finally got to speak to someone. Oh I sent you an email (no). Must have gone to your spam (no). We don’t have the Jobst you ordered - would you like xyz instead. Do you have it in my size - oh no. Thank you but I would prefer to cancel my order.

Have now tried someone else (who are a lot cheaper). They don’t have my size either - apparently small and mediums don’t wear level 2 compression stockings - only big people. Anyway they have ordered in, promised to have them to me in under 2 weeks. We will see. In the mean time I am walking around in hospital stockings left over from various hospital stays and hanging out for my real ones,

 

[VPS]

Has anyone here tried / purchased the Resmed AirMini travel CPAP machine? Looks an interesting unit account its (lack of) size .

I have the Transcend which is good for travelling but a bit noisier. Was thinking about opening a new thread on CPAP as I'm due for a new machine

 

[QF WP]

Biopsy shows a BCC. Six week treatment starting Monday.

I'm guessing cream, Aldara or the like, there has been discussion on here previously, hope it all goes well however they decide to treat it.

Yep Aldara. She's warned that I may not feel that crash hot. Can't be excised due to location on the tip of my shoulder.

One more day of cream treatment to go this week. Not much seems to be happening so far, though the skin appears a bit whiter outside of the pink cancer spot. This weeks been a bit of a doozy, feeling pretty stressed and not getting much sleep. Keep getting that panic feeling in my chest like a rush of adrenalin.

It was about week 2-3 on Aldara that it really kicked into gear for me.

I had Aldara on a BCC via a trial 2 years ago - burning and itching but nothing that couldn't be handled. looks like it did the trick but due for my annual follow up now.

 

[Major]

I just get them cut out. Stitches for 7-10 days and it's all over.

Until the next lot

 

[blackcat20]

I just get them cut out. Stitches for 7-10 days and it's all over.

Until the next lot

Can’t due to its location.

Half way tomorrow.

 

[love_the_life]

Can’t due to its location.

Half way tomorrow.

I think you said it was on the shoulder - no spare tissue there. So cream seems the best treatment in the first instance.

 

[Pushka]

I think you said it was on the shoulder - no spare tissue there. So cream seems the best treatment in the first instance.

Another tricky spot is anywhere near joints. As you say, no spare skin. In my case it was the back of the ankle. Luckily their thoughts were wrong.

 

[rogerkambah]

Yes recently looked after a 103 year old.All her generation of family and friends had died as well as her only child.Admission precipitated by accidental death of her 1 grandson.Nobody left at all.

That's incredibly sad. Hope she still has a will to live.

 

[JohnM]

My son told me today that the father of the mechanic that services all his business vehicles died after falling off a ladder. I had met him. At a guess he was mid-70s and in appeared to be in reasonable health, so still potentially with some good time ahead of him.

GOLDEN RULE WHEN OVER ABOUT 50: DO NOT CLIMB LADDERS!

I avoid them like the plague. A few dollars to get someone young to clean gutters or prune trees is money well spent IMO.

 

[suze2000]

We had our roof repaired recently by someone who was clearly of retirement age. He appears to have done a good job, but the whole reason I hire other people to climb on the roof is because I don't want my (47yo) husband climbing ladders! He was not the guy who came to quote, rather the owner of the business.

Flying mermaid, I order my compression socks from wallcann.com.au (I am not affiliated). They can take some time to arrive but very reasonable prices, genuine Jobst. I didn't like the Jinni brand ones when I decided to give them a go though. Size chart appears to be wrong, and you can't return them. (as an aside, I also like the el cheapo ones from Chemist Warehouse, but I only need 15-20 mmHg ones so they may not be suitable for your needs)

 

[blackcat20]

I think you said it was on the shoulder - no spare tissue there. So cream seems the best treatment in the first instance.

Yep right on the tip of my shoulder and absolutely no spare tissue. The doc also said that area scars badly (not that I was worried about that). Finishing up week 3 of 6 tonight.