General Medical issues thread

[Flying mermaid]

So had a text from dad (who lives in CHC) saying that he had a small stroke this morning and is in hospital. Contemplating flying over on Sunday for a couple days but he's pretty resistant to the idea. Apparently I shouldn't be wasting my money

i would absolutely go. Even if all is fine at the moment, what if he had another - you would never forgive yourself if you hadn't seen him. People are more important than money .....

 

[Princess Fiona]

i would absolutely go. Even if all is fine at the moment, what if he had another - you would never forgive yourself if you hadn't seen him. People are more important than money .....

I couldn't agree more with this.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for him TV

 

[Quickstatus]

If the silly things weren't so expensive and time consuming. GP doesn't do much in 5 minute consults.
.

just an insurance policy which lasts for >10 years

 

[TomVexille]

Sorry to hear that TV.
If you can go, I would. He may say he is fine but there is always the risk of another one (don't want to sound pessimistic).
My Dad had a small stroke after heart surgery about this time of year in 1994. As a teacher I was busy with reports, formals, assemblies etc and work was not forthcoming on leave outside school holidays so did not manage to get down to Melbourne until school finished. He had been going well but the night before I went down he had a massive bleed and was in Intensive Care. The first day I saw him he could speak a little and recognised me, the second day he was worse. He hovered like that for another week or so and passed away on Boxing Day. I always regret that I didn't push work and go down before I did.
When MrL_t_L had a small stroke when he was based in Adelaide, I was much more assertive and simply rang work and told them I was on the way to Adelaide and I would send lesson plans when I could!

Best wishes there Tom. Sounds like it is under control which is good. If you are the least bit tempted to go then do it. Ask permission later.

i would absolutely go. Even if all is fine at the moment, what if he had another - you would never forgive yourself if you hadn't seen him. People are more important than money .....

I couldn't agree more with this.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for him TV

Thanks all, pretty much sums up my thoughts. I'm just struggling through flight options at the moment that fit around some existing obligations. In the meantime I guess all I can do is wait for him to report back in the morning after he gets an update from the doctors.

 

[JohnK]

just an insurance policy which lasts for >10 years

Don't disagree. Wish it was easier or at least a clone.

 

[whatmeworry]

So had a text from dad (who lives in CHC) saying that he had a small stroke this morning and is in hospital. Contemplating flying over on Sunday for a couple days but he's pretty resistant to the idea. Apparently I shouldn't be wasting my money

Just go. Money can always be replaced yet time can never be recovered.

 

[sinophile888]

So had a text from dad (who lives in CHC) saying that he had a small stroke this morning and is in hospital. Contemplating flying over on Sunday for a couple days but he's pretty resistant to the idea. Apparently I shouldn't be wasting my money

Quite a long time ago before mobile phones, when I only had one child, I had a call from my mother in Denmark WA to say that Dad had had a heart attack. The next morning, I bundled up my 1yo, flew from CBR to SYD to PER where I had a ticket to connect with a flight to Albany on the South Coast, about 30 minutes’ drive from Denmark. I trudged across to the tin shed terminal only to be told that even though my ticket showed today for the Albany flight, there was no flight today.
I thought that it was better not to swear but I did say “I don’t believe it” a few times. I suggested that they arrange a hire car quick smart with a child restraint fitted. Which they duly did. As I left the terminal, I asked “Which way is Denmark?”
I arrived in Denmark about 5pm WA time worried sick about Dad and found him sitting up in bed not looking too bad. He said to me “You’re late.”
My latest visit to see him was last weekend in much happier circumstances as we now live in Perth and he has made it to 94 so far.

 

[Pushka]

TomV - maybe ask the Hospital for a convenient time that you can call the Doctors in NZ to get the full picture of what has happened. Maybe they could call you on your Dad's phone?

Strokes aren't always as serious as we think they are - (and of course sometimes they are much more serious.)

 

[moa999]

Thanks all, pretty much sums up my thoughts. .

Agree with the above and go. (And best with the update).

That said my grandfather had a massive stroke, in I think 1987, and was one of the first triple bypasses in Oz.
Sold business and retired and walked at least 5km every day until he slashed his leg in 2005 under the house and never quite recovered.

 

[cove]

TV when you are older you can have regrets about what you didn't do over your lifetime.
You should go and visit if you can.
Most of us will be orphans later in life.

 

[Abdul_A350]

Most of us will be orphans later in life.

Very well put. And it applies in both directions of the family tree. We never know how long we have with those who matter, so any excuse will do.

 

[Pushka]

TV when you are older you can have regrets about what you didn't do over your lifetime.
You should go and visit if you can.
Most of us will be orphans later in life.

My husband was an 'orphan' by 30. I was one by 59. We have been married 13 years longer than his parents who just made it to 25 years of marriage.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Technology has come a long way. This video The Pitch (watch from 2.25 minutes) contains a pitch for funding to connect families separated by distance from sick loved ones and their clinicians via telehealth at the time of their greatest need.
It's powerful stuff and the presenter was successful in securing the funding to continue her work.

 

[puppysparkes]

Technology has come a long way. This video The Pitch (watch from 2.25 minutes) contains a pitch for funding to connect families separated by distance from sick loved ones and their clinicians via telehealth at the time of their greatest need.
It's powerful stuff and the presenter was successful in securing the funding to continue her work.

Thank you for sharing. I will share this with my colleagues.

 

[Milboo]

TV - hope all is ok. I know too well that do I/ don't I thought process for ducking back to NZ in the face of news like that.

On Yellow Fever -I lost my certificate in the last day of my trip so could not produce it on arrival. All that happens is you get a educative chat of 30 secs from border control.

I'm currently tapering off a Valium and cortisone combo from my back injury and that combined with a bit of jet lag has me feeling blah. But thankfully the lumbar disc is massively improved - just surrounding muscle spasms to settle.

 

[moa999]

It's powerful stuff and the presenter was successful in securing the funding to continue her work.

powerful presentation, but doesn't it just need hospitals to provide accessible bandwidth to utilise existing services like Skype, FaceTime, Google Duo etc

 

[Princess Fiona]

powerful presentation, but doesn't it just need hospitals to provide accessible bandwidth to utilise existing services like Skype, FaceTime, Google Duo etc

Good question. The official answer I think is that hospitals require some security and ownership over these types of consultations. Sure anyone can fire up FaceTime and send grandma in ICU live to New York. A full on discussion of Grandma's wishes with her family and incorporating info from her clinicians so that something meaningful can come out of this requires a degree of oversight and the ability to have an accurate record of the event. That's where the official Telehealth portals come in.

 

[Flashback]

I seem to remember some vaccination passport we all had to carry back in the 70's when travelling. Does this still exist for some diseases/countries?

In the words of my Dr. You don't need Yellow Fever to go but you do need it IF you want to come back into Oz.

And other countries, "apparently". I.e. all the times I've been to areas where you need YF cert, I've never been asked to show it once on arrival.

So had a text from dad (who lives in CHC) saying that he had a small stroke this morning and is in hospital. Contemplating flying over on Sunday for a couple days but he's pretty resistant to the idea. Apparently I shouldn't be wasting my money

It's a tough one. When I was on one of my work trips to Guinea, I was only 1.5 weeks or so in upon which I found out my wife had suffered from what was eventually known to be a stroke (was initially a bleed on the brain they identified, but they later also found she had suffered a stroke in addition to that). Having been my first trip in, I obviously didn't want to disappoint my colleagues and bail on what was a 4 week rotation so was conflicted. My senior had already made a call to Air France to book me on a flight home. There were 2 flights a week - fortunately the next day was one of them. I had to get on the charter from the site back to the capital, then onto the AF flight back to LHR via CDG. In hindsight looking back, I'm glad I did it and it never should have been a "should I do it" kind of moment, but when you're younger (we're similar ages I believe TV) you often think about the work implications over the real life ones which is completely out of kilter. You can only appreciate that a few years later on I think.

 

[Flashback]

A question for the medicos out there - I've worked pretty much every day for the last 4 weeks with 12+ hours most days (and a reasonable amount of domestic UK travel). Is it possible to be ill from "exhaustion"? On Thursday I pretty much looked like a ghost and was sick a few times, so I just assumed it was me eventually hitting the wall (shame it was the day that I was meant to go out for dinner with some senior Execs! Doh!). Played hockey today and ended up being sick a few times also, but had an otherwise pretty good game. I don't think it's a bug and is likely just my body's way of telling me to "slow down" - but thought I'd see what those in the know thought

 

[Hvr]

So had a text from dad (who lives in CHC) saying that he had a small stroke this morning and is in hospital. Contemplating flying over on Sunday for a couple days but he's pretty resistant to the idea. Apparently I shouldn't be wasting my money

Just go. Money spent seeing your parents is never wasted.