The Carluccio Soft Food Diet
My after-care instruction sheet after the tooth extraction, said I should only eat soft food for a few days.
At home it’s been soup, yoghurt and honey, but the staple has been Carluccio’s.
By choosing wisely from their menu, I’ve ate well and haven’t had any problems. I think there should be some measure of praise here to the dentists, who seemed to have got the tooth out without collateral damage. They said they might have created some, but I don’t think they did.
In general in Carluccio’s I’ve stuck to eggs and mushrooms and gluten free pasta carbonara. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
They’ve also given me warm water, so I can rinse my mouth with salted water, after eating.
Am I Lucky Or Does The Devil Look After Me?
Throughout my life, I’ve often been described as lucky and several times, positive things seem to happen to me by chance.
For instance, I met my late wife at Liverpool University, when I manipulated a scheme for students to get partners for one of the guild balls.
I ended up in Metier, after a chance meeting outside an opticians on Great Portland Street.
I’ve also been mentored well, by a lot of friends, who would never be described as conventional. Some sadly are no longer with us.
and I could give lots more examples.
Even on Monday, when I had the tooth exorcised from my body, I did the right thing, as it needed three hours and three dentists.
So is it luck or do some quickly weigh up the chances and make the right decision? I do know that my late wife would never describe me as boring and is that because I never throw any possibly useful information away from my brain. Since the stroke, I have lost some memory, like knowledge of who did this or that. But there is always Wikipedia!
As I don’t believe in any religion and believe organised religion is just another way to screw wealth out of the poor, then I can’t think that a devil exists either. Although after my last few years, it is more likely there is a devil, than a loving and peaceful god.
But then I’m a London mongrel! And they have more fight than a wagon-load of pit-bulls.
In Your Face Advertising
I saw these leaflets on every table outside a pub in Islington.
In Your Face Advertising
It will be interesting to see if it works, as unlike the Wonga ads on buses, you can’t but fail to get the message.
Interestingly, when I had my tooth out, the after-care leaflet they gave me, said I mustn’t smoke. I think the only time, I’ll ever smoke is in the crematorium! And that isn’t certain!
Taking The Plunge
I have had a bad molar tooth on the left hand side of my jaw for many years. Various dentists had attempted to fill it, but since the stroke, it had always given me a sort of dull pain. Not too serious but annoying anyway. I remember I asked my dentist in Felixstowe to have a look at it about eighteen months ago. He thought it might be a root canal job.
My new dentist in London, looked at it a couple of weeks ago and said that if it was him, he’d have the tooth out. after all, I lost the one on the other side about thirty years ago and it doesn’t cause me any problem.
So we decided to do the dirty deed on Wednesday the 14th!
Well that was the intention, but because of problems with my Warfarin and different views about how to handle it, my dentist and I decided that perhaps it might be better to use the Emergency Dentist at either the Royal London or Guys.
To me it wasn’t a choice, as the Royal London is just four stops away on the Overground from Dalston Junction. Guys is South of the river and I didn’t have a posse handy. I also have a lot of respect for the hospital, as Vanessa Wright and her team, saved the life of my granddaughter, who was born with a severe hole in her diaphragm.
I got to the Emergency Dentist department at about one and after giving my details and outlining my story, I was with a dentist by two. I was then X-rayed and by three, they were preparing to take out the errant tooth.
In the end they were very mob-handed. A female Chinese student originally from Hong Kong and a more experienced one probably from near the hospital, did most of the work.
But it got difficult and the Senior Tutor helped by effectively cutting the tooth in half, so they could dig it out bit-by-bit. It finally was removed just after 17:15.
It wasn’t too painful and they didn’t use any stitches. It was probably one of the most serious operations I’ve ever had without a full anaesthetic. Although being stitched up after my mugging in Naples was probably a lot more painful.
I suspect, I self-hypnotised myself by concentrating on the student’s eyes.
I got home OK, walking after the train from Whitechapel to Dalston Junction.
I thought I needed some cash for the morning, so I walked round the corner to the little Sainsburys. However, I then found that I didn’t need the money after all, so I came home.
As I crossed the zebra crossing, an ambulance stopped and waved towards me. I thought they were just asking me to cross, so I did.
It was only when I got home, that I realised that they might have been worried about me, as I had a rather bloody face and I was dabbing it with a bloody tissue. I did phone 101 to tell the Police, in case the ambulance had reported a mugging or assault.
After the football, I couldn’t sleep and now I’m sitting here typing, as a doctor has told that to lie down, will start the bleeding in the pocket again.
At least I had a clean tea-towel, which I’m cutting into small squares to mop up the blood.
The only thing , I’ve eaten is a couple of bananas.
The Sharing of Patient Data
David Cameron is getting a lot of criticism about his plans to anonymously share patient data with private companies.
As someone, who has lost two close relatives to difficult cancers and suffered a serious stroke, I can’t see what the problem is about, if the patients personal details are kept confidential.
I was once told by a senior research manager of a big German pharmaceutical company, that only about fifteen percent of medical databases have been analysed to any great extent. He felt that it would take an increasing part of medical research.
My son was part of a major trial being coordinated by a renowned British University. I was invited to see their work and was totally impressed at the care they were taking to make sure the data was correct and properly safeguarded. They were also looking for patterns in the data, as any clue, however small, might be invaluable in the fight against disease.
One thing that has to be said, is that if you are looking at any database for patterns, then that database must be complete, with no errors in the data. I have come across researchers, who when they are trying to prove something in a field like archaeology, first clean the data of anything that doesn’t fit their theories.
That is the biggest problem in research.
92 Clubs – Day 45 – A Day Off
I had to visit the doctor for my Warfarin check, so I took the day off.
Perhaps, I’m slacking, but I only have three more clubs to visit.
Is There A Link Between Violence in Hospital A & E Departments and Smoking?
The only Hospital A & E Department, I’ve been to in the last six or seven years or so, is Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge. Mostly, I was there because of stroke-related problem, but once because of C and once because I had a fishbone stuck in my throat.
The A & E Department at Addenbrooke’s has a great advantage over many others in the UK, in that it is some distance from the city centre, so it probably doesn’t get too many of the walk-in drunks, that litter up many other hospitals.
In all my visits, I’ve never seen any problems between patients and staff, but this would not seem to be the norm throughout the rest of the UK.
Smoking is banned in all hospitals, so could it be that the stress of an ill patient, is worsened, by not being able to light up. So they go outside for a quick fix and then when they get back in they’ve missed their place in the queue.
More research needs to be done.
The efforts of the Design Council to redesign A & E Departments may help and is to be welcomed.
92 Clubs – Day 38 – A Day Off
This was another doctor’s day, essentially to have my INR levels checked. But there was a machine failure, so I’ll have to have them checked next Monday.
I should say that my INR levels and Warfarin intake has now been the same for nearly eighteen months.
92 Clubs – Day 36 – A Day Off
The real reason was to see Ipswich play at home to Doncaster, but I also had to go to have a blood test taken before the match.
92 Clubs – Day 35 – A Day Off
I had to go to the doctor, so I took this day off. I also wanted to see a debate on the media in the evening in the local church.
We were all sitting drinking glasses of wine in the nave.
The Anonymous Widower 