Can Toddlers Get Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease?
I am asking this question, as I do wonder, if I’ve had the disease for many years, as I don’t feel any different now, to how I felt at 18, 30 or 50.
In my first couple of years of life, I was also a bad bed-wetter.
My mother cured me of this, by putting me in a small bed next to her’s and then getting me out of bed every time I woke. In the end her persistence paid off.
Since I’ve been diagnosed with uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease, I am certainly drinking a lot of fluids and gooing to the toilet a lot.
Although thankfully, I am not wetting the bed.
But, I do always sleep close to a toilet.
So I asked Google AI the question in the title of this post and received this answer in the form of this peer-reviewed paper, which was entitled Congenital Cecal Diverticulitis In A Pediatric Patient.
This is the abstract.
Diverticulitis in the pediatric population is a very rare cause of abdominal pain. When present in the cecum or ascending colon, it is often incorrectly diagnosed preoperatively as acute appendicitis. This is especially true in Western countries where right-sided diverticulitis is less common. Here we detail a case of a pediatric patient with complicated congenital cecal diverticulitis and review the literature on pertinent management. An extensive work up with imaging and endoscopy was completed and definitive surgical treatment with diverticulectomy an appendectomy was performed. As the incidence of diverticular disease in younger individuals increases, right sided diverticulitis is worthy of consideration on the differential diagnosis.
Note.
- I don’t remember being in any pain, but I was less than three, as this happened before my sister was born, when I was only 21 months old.
- I remember picking my sister up from hospital in my father’s Y-Type MG.
- My eldest son had appendicitis diagnosed at ten, but they didn’t operate. So was it diverticulitis?
- He wasn’t X-rayed or scanned.
- Doctors always believed I had a disease, they couldn’t identify.
- When I was identified as a coeliac at 50, I thought that was the problem.
But then as my now-retired GP said. “Whatever, I’ve got, doesn’t seem serious!”
Do Coeliacs Have More Varicose Viens?
I asked Google AI, the question in the title of this post and I received this answer.
Yes, studies suggest that people with celiac disease (CD) may have an increased risk of developing certain vein-related conditions, including a potential predisposition to varicose veins.
My mother had the worst varicose viens I’ve ever seen.
She was operated on in the 1950s, by an Indian lady surgeon, who performed her ward rounds in a sari, who my father told me, she was one of the most beautiful women, that he’d ever seen.
Although, my father was married twice, he didn’t seem to be a ladies’ man, although he had great loyalty from the ladies he employed, in his printing business. He also got on very well with my wife ; C, although they didn’t meet many times.
Can Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Make You Feel Listless?
I asked Google AI the question in the title of this post and received this answer.
Yes, while uncomplicated diverticular disease often causes no symptoms, some people can experience listlessness (fatigue or general unwellness) from either the inflammation of diverticulitis or chronic symptoms like bloating and pain. Fatigue can stem from infection, inflammation, disrupted sleep, nutritional deficiencies, or the impact of chronic pain. If you’re experiencing persistent listlessness, it’s important to speak with a healthcare provider, especially if it’s accompanied by other symptoms like fever, severe abdominal pain, or changes in bowel habits.
I have certainly suffered from listlessness over the years, but until recently, I have always had a good woman ; my mother or C, to perk me up.
The Story Of An O-Ring
I have a very unusual skin, as is partly shown by these pictures.
Note.
- There is a scar on the back of my left hand, where I cut it on the glass bathroom door in my bedroom.
- But with skillful gluing at the Royal London hospital and TLC and stern words from the practice nurse at my GP’s it healed perfectly.
- If I give blood samples or have an injection, I don’t need a plaster.
- My left foot is a deeper shade of red to the right. No-one has given me a reason for this.
- My previous now-retired GP, always took his own blood samples, when he needed them and had smiles all over his face. Perhaps, he was proving to himself, that it was happening?
- I wrote about my skin before in My Strange Skin, in 2020.
- One therapist said unusually for someone, who had a left-sided stroke, that my left leg is the stronger.
As my ancestry is part-Jewish and part-Huguenot could it just be that only the strongest genes survived from their poor living conditions my ancestors endured in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?
My Cardiologist And His Wife, Have Suggested I Use An Emollient In My Bath
I am now adding Oilatum Emollient to my bath water, which I get delivered by Ocado.
It is not cheap, but my feet are now more made for walking.
I put three cap-fulls in a bath and lie in it for about 10-20 minutes.
An O-Ring Failure On Bad Friday
A rubber O-ring sitting in a groove on the plug, should keep the water in the bath, but as this picture shows the O-ring had seen better days.
The picture of the new O-ring shows how it should look on the plug.
On Bad Friday, the O-ring finally gave up and any water put in the bath, went straight down the drain.
A Fruitless Bad Friday
Internet searches proved fruitless in my search for a shop that was open on Bad Friday.
So I vowed to try again today.
Searching For cp Hart At Waterloo
cp Hart, from whom I bought the original bath, appeared to be open at Waterloo, so after breakfast on Moorgate, I made my way to look for the branch of cp Hart at Waterloo.
Note.
- Why does South London and its trains have to be covered in graffiti?
- Most of it, is not even good graffiti.
- In my view, the Bakerloo Line should not get new trains, until the graffiti has stopped.
- I wandered round Waterloo for about ninety minutes before I found cp Hart, with the help of two police constables.
- And when I finally found cp Hart, they didn’t do spares.
- I tripped over the uneven pavement in the last picture. But as I usually do, I retained my balance and didn’t fall. Is that all the B12 I take for coeliac disease?
My mother always used to say, that you shouldn’t go to South London without a posse.
Eventually, I had a coffee in Costa and took the 76 bus home.
Success At Last!
To get home on a 76 bus, I have to change in De Beauvoir Town and whilst I waited for the 141 bus to take me home, I checked out the local builders merchants.
The owner was his usual self and fitted my plug with a free new O-ring.
I was now able to have a bath.
And watch the snooker.
I can certainly recommend a television in your bathroom.
Note the vertical handrail, that allows me to step easily in and out of the bath.
A Step-Free Adventure Under The Thames Between Moorgate and Grove Park
I am assembling this post, as a number of sub-posts, so it will not make sense until it is finished.
From Moorgate Station To East India Station
I started this adventure from Moorgate, but I could have started it from any Central London location that is well-connected to Bank station.
As I had had a full English breakfast in a pot, at Leon on Moorgate, it seemed to be a good place to start.
My route started simple, in that I took the Northern Line to Bank station and then took the Docklands Light Railway to East India station.
This first gallery of pictures shows my journey until I caught the SL4 bus at East India station.
Note.
- The first few pictures show getting to East India station on the Docklands Light Railway.
- Moorgate station has a high step into the Northern Line train.
- All the others are more or less level.
- East India station is then shown in detail.
East India station is fully step-free with lifts.
Southbound Through The Silvertown Tunnel
This second gallery of pictures shows my Southbound journey approaching and through the Silvertown Tunnel.
Note.
- The dual-carriageway leading to the tunnel wasn’t busy.
- The bus was in the inside lane all the way through.
- I don’t think anybody passed the bus.
- There appeared to be more traffic coming out of the Blackwall Tunnel.
The traffic from the two tunnels seemed to merging well.
Blackheath Station
This third gallery of pictures shows Blackheath station.
Note.
- Blackheath station has a good number of useful shops for a worthwhile pit-stop.
- There was even a fish and chip shop.
- Blackheath station has a lift to one platform and a ramp to the other.
- The bus stop I used was only a small step into the bus.
The transfer between bus and train would not be as easy as East India station, but I don’t think it would be difficult for say someone in a wheel-chair.
Lee Station
This fourth gallery of pictures shows Lee station.
Note.
- The station was a stiff uphill walk from the bus stop.
- Both platforms had their own uphill walk.
If I was in a wheel-chair, I’d give this Lee station a miss.
Grove Park
The route ends at Grove Park bus station.
This fifth gallery of pictures shows, where the bus terminated.
Note.
- It wasn’t the most interesting of places.
- I couldn’t even find a decent cafe for a coffee.
- In the fifteen minutes I was at Grove Park, I must have seen five SL4 buses.
- I’d hoped it would be near to Grove Park station, but I couldn’t see any signs to it and the two people I asked didn’t know where it was.
- In the end I had to walk about five hundred metres to get the SL4 back to Central London.
My mother always advised you take a posse with you, when you venture into South London. She was right!
When I got home, I looked up, where I’d been on Google Maps.
Note.
- Baring Road running North-South down the Eastern side of the map.
- The Esso filling station and the bus station are at the top of the map.
- Grove Park station is at the bottom of the map.
My mother would have said, this is why you need a posse.
Return To East India Station
This sixth gallery of pictures shows the run up the dual-carriageway approach and the run through the tunnel.
Note.
Eyes Full Of Sleep
I can remember my mother telling my wife a; C, about myself, when I was a baby. She said that my eyes got terribly bunged up with muck, what she called sleep. She also said she’d spend time cleaning out my eyes and ears.
Last night, I was finding, that my eyes were so full of muck, that I couldn’t type, with one in about five letters wrong.
I thought it just could be be my eyes full of sleep, so I ran a deep bath and gave my eyes a thorough flush.
After that I could see and type properly.
I slept well.
In fact I slept so well, that I overslept until nine. Which is very unlike me.
I also wasn’t sure of the day, when I woke up. But at least, I got my drugs right.
An Incident As A Child
In one incident as a child, when I was about five, I can remember my mother picking me up, taking me upstairs, running a bath and then undressing me quickly and putting me in it. I also remember that I was very red.
Any ideas about what she was doing?
My Mother And Her Brother Shared a Birthday
My mother was born on the 22nd December 1911 and her eldest brother; Leslie had been born on the same day about eight years earlier.
These two pictures were drawn by Leslie of my mother as a child and his wife Gladys in later life.
Cousins Reunited
Gladys was a first cousin to my mother and her brother.
My mother and her brother were close and always phoned each other on their birthday and had a long chat.
Last Sunday, which would have been their birthday., I was thinking about my mother and her brother and wondered, if any other siblings shared a birthday. Other than twins of course.
It’s explained in the Wikipedia entry for the Birthday Problem, where this is the first paragraph.
In probability theory, the birthday problem asks for the probability that, in a set of n randomly chosen people, at least two will share the same birthday. The birthday paradox refers to the counterintuitive fact that only 23 people are needed for that probability to exceed 50%.
It would appear that to be certain in siblings to have a fifty percent chance of having two birthdays the same, you would need twenty-three siblings. My mother and her bother were only one of nine, so they got good odds.
A Passing Loop At Ponders End
I can’t write Ponders End without smiling, as my mother was born in that district of Enfield and used to refer to herself in light-hearted moments as a Ponders Plonker.
The West Anglia Main Line, through Ponders End station is a busy line and Enfield Council want to have four trains per hour (tph) serving their new development at Meridian Water.
This page on the CPMS Group web site is entitled The Changing Face Of Rail Investment and it describes the solution to the capacity problem at Ponders End/Meridian Water stations.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Peter George, Meridian Water Programme Director, London Borough of Enfield, and Damien Gent, Managing Director, CPMS Infrastructure, talk about the ground-breaking work undertaken by the London Borough of Enfield to deliver the rail infrastructure needed to increase passenger capacity at the newly built Meridian Water rail station and regenerate brownfield land to make space for up to 13,000 new homes and create over 6,000 new jobs in North-East London.
The Meridian Water project has been split into three phases.
- Phase 1 of the project was the construction of the new Meridian Water rail station.
- Phase 2 was building the rail infrastructure which would support the increased rail traffic.
- Phase 3 was the regeneration of the area, the procurement of new homes and creation of new jobs.
Only Phase 1 has so far been completed with Meridian Water station opening in June 2019.
This paragraph describes the complexity and solution to Phase 2.
The complexity of Phase 2 of the project was very high. The West Anglia mainline is one of the most congested routes into London. Consequently, the team had to find a way to reconcile increased capacity and trains stopping at Meridian Water station with ensuring high speed trains could still pass through the station seamlessly. This was a very challenging task. The solution which received the most support and proved the most viable was to install a new passing loop, approximately 1700 metres of new track at Ponders end, and to create a bi-directional section on the mainline heading towards London, as well as to implement broad changes to the signalling, telecoms and Overhead Line power systems to align with the new track position. This infrastructure solution provides the capacity within the rail network to then consider the timetable changes required to increase the frequency of services calling at Meridian Water.
It does seem that the web page is getting a bit ahead of reality.
But there is also this article on the Enfield Dispatch, which is entitled Boost For Rail Services At Meridian Water.
This is said.
Plans to boost rail services at Enfield Council’s £6billion Meridian Water regeneration scheme have taken a step forward.
The council has agreed a construction deal to create a passing loop at Ponders End Station, which will allow four trains per hour to serve Meridian Water Station, which was opened in June 2019.
The loop will enable fast trains on the West Anglia Main Line to overtake stopping services at Ponders End Station, allowing more trains to stop at Meridian Water, which is presently only served by two trains per hour towards Stratford.
To secure funding the works need to be completed by the end of March 2024.
A Visit To Ponders End Station
I went to Ponders End station this morning.
This Google Map shows the station.
Note.
- The Brimsdown Ditch on the East side of the station.
- The footbridge spanning both the railway and the road.
- The footbridge has ramps for step-free access.
- I suspect that the platforms will take a 240 metre train.
These pictures show the station
Note.
- The station serves the Lee Valley Regional Park and the Lea Valley Athletics Centre, so it probably needs lifts in an ideal world.
- The bridge seems to be built high enough for a track or even two to pass underneath.
- There seems to be plenty of space between the railway tracks and the A1055 road.
I wonder if a very simple solution is going to be built.
Consider that the distance between the two stations either side of Ponders End station is 3.2 miles or 5150 metres. So if the loop is placed symmetrically around Ponders End station to the East of the station, that would mean that the loop started and finished around 1700 metres from Brimsdown and Meridian Water stations. The Brimsdown Ditch could be put in a culvert, if more space were needed.
A Southbound express after passing through Brimsdown station would then take the loop between the platform and the road at Ponders End station and then cross over to the main line after the station.
I could envisage the Southbound express path through the three stations, being as straight as possible for several hundred metres through Ponders End station, with very gentle curves to connect to the current Southbound track at each end.
To access the Southbound platform at Ponders End, there would be two crossovers from the loop to the track through the station at each end of the station. As the train would be stopping or accelerating away, when it crossed between the passing loop and the station track, it could be done at a much slower speed.
There will be no problem for Southbound represses overtaking a stopping train sitting in Ponders End station. The loop would be very simple and I suspect Network Rail have enough expertise to design it for perhaps 100 mph. The sharpest changes of direction would only be performed by the stopping train at a much slower speed.
But surely, a Northbound train will need to overtake a stopping one.
Could this be done at Meridian Water station by stopping the Northbound stopping train in Platform 3 at the station and allowing the Northbound expresses to overtake through Platform 4?
It would need a couple of crossovers either side of Meridian Water station and bi-directional running through Platform 3 at the station.
Conclusion
How many small rail schemes like this, that unlock housing and job opportunities could be accelerated by better design, management, planning and cooperation between stakeholders.
A Reason To Be Cheerful
I have a good reason to be cheerful.
When my wife died in 2007, I had the problem of what to do, with the money from the sale of her Porsche.
Peer-to-peer lending was just starting, so as a trained control engineer and mathematical modeller, I gave them a good check out!
I then put the money into an automatic peer-to-peer lender, where you deposit the money, forget it and the computer lends it out. Some of my family and friends, including my accountant were horrified.
Then came 2008 and the banking crisis. Like a Flower-Class corvette in the teeth of an Atlantic gale, it bounced safely through the crisis.
Since, then it has earned more than the stock market and grown.
And it repeated a similar safe passage through the Covid-19 crisis.
It does seem that there are always people with a good credit ratings that want to borrow money.
How much of the money borrowed in 2020 was for home improvements to cater for a home office or home schooling?
Conclusion
I blame my mother! I got my skill with and feel for numbers, from her genes and the tutoring she gave me,
She had won a scholarship to Dame Alice Owen’s School, but was unable to go to University, due to lack of funds, so she became a comptometer operator in the Account’s Department at Reeves, who used to make artist’s materials and were based just round the corner from where I now live.
That was probably, the only sort of job a mathematically bright young lady could do in the 1920s.
The Anonymous Widower 