Will It Be Engineers And Scientists Who Cure Back Pain?
BBC Radio 5 had a discussion this lunchtime about back pain. The most amazing part was a statement by Brian Saunders of the School of Materials at Manchester University. He talked of how they were developing a jelly-like polymer, which could be injected into the body. Things are apparently going well!
Couple this with work, I know of at Liverpool University, where engineers have been analysing the gait of humans, dogs and horses, to get greater insight into problems and I get the feeling that over the next decades engineers and physical scientists will make great process in helping us to live longer and better. These two examples are probably just two of many similar ones.
My INR For August 2013
As August is now finished, I can show a graph of my daily INR tests for August 2013.
My INR For August 2013
The average INR for the month was 2.5 with a standard deviation of 0.3. This is well within the range of 2 to 3 and the average was spot-on the target of 2.5.
Having once been told by an eminent cardiologist, that if I got the Warfarin level right, I probably wouldn’t have another stroke, I try to make sure I get it right.
What is interesting is that my average Warfarin dose for month is exactly 4 mg. a day.
The more I look at these results, the more I believe that daily self-testing is the best way to control INR.
It’s All Dropping Into Place
If I look at my father, he had breathing problems and I suspect so did his father as he suffered from asthma and died of pneumonia and other complications in his forties. Both were pretty heavy smokers and my grandfather was a heavy drinker too. My father used to tell stories of picking his father up late at night from various clubs in a very bad state and that’s probably why my father was a sensible drinker and why he brought me up to be the same. I never for instance ever saw my father drunk. My father’s only addiction other than his pipe, was industrial strength menthol catarrh tablets, which he consumed virtually all day, to try to get his throat clear.
As a child, I suffered similarly with my breathing and throat at times, but then we lived in a cold house, heated by electric fires, which must have made the air exceptionally dry. From about the age of eight, I had a south-facing room with big picture windows, which was very warm at times. I regularly, lost a term, usually the spring one, in my schooling. My doctor had no idea, about what was the problem, so they took my tonsils out, which was an all-purpose remedy in those days.
Things improved when I got to about twelve or so, and my parents just felt, I’d grown out of it. It could be that we were spending increasing time at Felixstowe, where my parents had bought a house to retire to, or it could be that I spent more and more time at my father’s print works in Wood Green. Who knows why? I don’t even have any medical records from that period, as my medical records restarted some time about 1969. So you can see why I’m all in favour of computerised medical records, which the patient can access when and where they want through the Internet!
I can remember my late teens very well and can’t ever remember going to the doctor or feeling unwell, especially at University in Liverpool, whilst working at Enfield Rolling Mills or in The Merryhills, or generally riding about on my bicycle.
I certainly didn’t feel ill, either in the early years of my marriage to C, either in Liverpool or in Melbourn near Cambridge. The first entry on my medical record, is a visit to the doctor in Melbourn about excessive diarrhoea, which looks like a classic glutening.
However things got a lot worse, when we moved to Shannon Place in St. John’s Wood. The flat was damp and cold and I can remember going to the doctor with lots of knee and arm pains. He recommended knee surgery, which I didn’t accept.
But then when we moved to the eleventh floor in Cromwell Tower, everything got better and in the three or four years we lived there, I never saw the doctor on my own behalf. But the flat was comfortably warm and the air was very fresh.
We then lived in Suffolk for forty years and only at odd occasions did my breathing problems come back.
That is until Celia died and I think in certain ways I reverted to my childhood habits; like wrapping myself in the bedclothes, keeping the house as warm as I could and avoiding going out. I started getting what looked like hay fever soon after C died in 2007.
Since my stroke and also since moving to London it has got a lot worse, but I’m now in a particularly airless house with little ventilation.
It might need to have heat recovery ventilation. Wikipedia says these are the benefits.
As building efficiency is improved with insulation and weather stripping, buildings are intentionally made more airtight, and consequently less well ventilated. Since all buildings require a source of fresh air, the need for HRVs has become obvious. While opening a window does provide ventilation, the building’s heat and humidity will then be lost in the winter and gained in the summer, both of which are undesirable for the indoor climate and for energy efficiency, since the building’s HVAC systems must compensate. HRV introduces fresh air to a building and improves climate control, whilst promoting efficient energy use.
Certainly, a proper system will be better than I’ve got now.
I’m Finally Feeling Better
The rain yesterday seemed to get into my body and for the first time since probably last September, I’m starting to feel better and my nose has almost stopped running with its chronic rhinitis. My gut, which hasn’t been of the best since my stroke, has now returned to good health and any gastro-enterologist would hate all his patients to have such a healthy one.
So my left hand is still a bit gammy, but then it always has been since my arm was broken by the school bully. I can use it for the shift key as I type, but in most instances, I just span with my right. The only thing, I have done a lot with the left is fly an aircraft and ride a bike. Perhaps I should do both of these again?
My skin still itches and my scalp is tight from getting too dry over the winter, but a few days in the rain without a hat will help to cure that. Thinking about it, I’ve always liked being in the rain and rarely used to carry an umbrella. C used to think I was mad sometimes. I once joked to her, that I was short because I spent too much time in the rain.
But I’m getting there and I think more and more, that a lot of my troubles were caused by changes I made on the death of C, like the duvet and extra radiators I put in at the previous house, and the very dry atmosphere I have lived in since the stroke. In Hong Kong, the hospital had large picture windows, where the sun streamed through and guess what, it is the same in this house. The air has been particularly dry outside all last winter and only now is it getting more humid.
Quite a few of my eye problems have gone away too, although I still have the left lower vision loss from the stroke. My eyes are at last getting wetter more of the time. i think I could probably get my driving licence back! But why bother?
I shall make sure I don’t repeat drying myself out!
My INR Ups And Downs
If you look at my INR Results, you’ll see that over the last few days from the 12th to the 20th of August my INR has swung up and down like a yo-yo. The nine readings in order have been.
2.6, 2.5, 2.7, 2.6, 2.3, 2.6, 2.2, 2.1, 3.0
The average though over that period is almost 2.5, which is my target and I’ve taken an average of 4 mg. of Warfarin. So there’s no obvious reason for the variation between 2.1 and 3. My gammy left hand too, has been a bit variable in its ability, although, it’s probably working as well as it has since the stroke.
What worries me though, is suppose you’re having your INR tested every three weeks or more in the traditional way. From my experience, you could get any number you fancy, all of which will be in the required range and you might then end up on a dose that is not the best for you.
I feel a lot happier, that I have control of my testing and dosage.
It’s Just Not Good Enough!
On Sunday morning, I heard a guy called the Casual Hopper on BBC Radio 5. As he was raising money for a reputable cancer-related charity, I thought I might send him a donation.
So I logged in to his Just Giving page and donated, using my John Lewis Partnership card. I got an acknowledgement from Just Giving, as expected. However, a few minutes later, I got a message from them saying that the payment had been rejected. Now as I’d just paid my credit card bill, I knew that I was some thousands of pounds below my credit card limit.
I then attempted to login to my Partnership card account and found the problem. Their system was down and I couldn’t log in.
I have managed to login this morning, but there is no trace of the payment to the Casual Hopper. In fact, there is no trace of any payments made by the account and I used the card twice yesterday in Sainsburys and Waitrose.
If we can use our cards on a 24-hour basis, surely we ought to be able to see the information in a likewise manner.
After all, if I missed a payment, they’d be on me like a ton of bricks.
It’s just not good enough!
Especially, as it’s caused grief and extra work to a whole series of people like the Casual Hopper, Just Giving and of course myself.
Things I Really Want For My Birthday
Today is my birthday and a few years ago, I didn’t think I’d make the next one, let alone the fourth after my stroke.
I’m happy living here in leafy Dalston at the eastern edge of Hackney, but there are a few things, I want for my birthday.
The first is that, I’d love to get my breathing back to the level it was when I lived with C. All I’ve got is a permanently runny nose, just like I had as a child. Perhaps, it’s just London, although it really started after C died and got a lot worse when I had the stroke. If I look back on the last few years, there are times, when it goes, but why does it go. Two doctors have said it’s hay fever, but then another has said, I’ve no allergy except gluten. Certainly, the sea seems to make it better. So perhaps, I need to find an attractive widow, who lives by the coast in say Liverpool or Brighton.
I’d also like my bathroom finished, as it’s been a long time since the first builders started and then effectively gave up or went bust. The job started with the removal of the old bathroom in October last year.
I’d also like some stacking chairs for my living room to go with my table.
At least I’m getting one thing, I really really want and that is having supper in Arbutus.
But I suppose the best birthday present is outside my control. I did think about going to see the World Athletics Championships in Moscow this week. I didn’t, but I didn’t know that Mo Farah would be running in the final tonight. If I had, it might have swayed me.
But knowing my luck, he won’t win tonight! If it had been tomorrow, he’d have walked it.
Variations In Daily INR
To illustrate the changes you get in INR, I’ve made a graph of my last fourteen readings.
INR 1-14 August
As you can see the level goes up and down, but stays within the limits of 2 and 3, with an average of about 2.5.
Does Jam Count As One Of Your Five-A-Day?
Apparently, according to this article in the Daily Mail, one in five Scots do!
but then I admit, that I do like Dundee lamb chops. But then they are gluten-free!
The Anonymous Widower 