INR by Handheld Monitor
I had my first experience of this tonight and it worked well and took just a couple of minutes.
Some health professionals have said to me before that they don’t like the system, but as a patient it’s certainly less stressful than giving a blood sample. Or it certainly was for me.
My INR had hardly changed but the software used with the monitor, gave me a much more complicated schedule of Warfarin doses, than I used to get in Suffolk. Could it be that in Suffolk, the anti-coagulant team simplified the schedule, so that less patients got confused?
I won’t comment on all this from a medical point of view, but given a choice I would take the monitor route, as I got my result there and then and I suffered little or no discomfort.
But speaking as a trained control engineer and a competent software engineer, the software that works with the monitor, may be something that could be improved to make Warfarin regimes less complicated or prone to error.
Laptops in Hospital
In a previous post, some of the comments were about smart phones in hospitals.
I’m all for allowing patients to have laptops in hospital. I had my stroke in Hong Kong and I was allowed one there. It allowed me to do things like listen to Radio 5, talk on Skype, do the Sudokus in The Times and send e-mails, that I wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.
I could also have done things like watch videos, which I never do anyway.
In Addenbrooke’s laptops were effectively banned and I don’t think it helped me.
The reason they are banned is that if they were allowed, it would mean they’d lose all that money they get from that crap Patientline system. The bandwidth wouldn’t be a problem, as they can now get enough Megabits easily.
The laptops could also be integrated into patient care and support. For instance, a physio in Hong Kong told me that typing would help my hands work properly again. She was right!
So let’s have some 21st century, healthcare thinking!
Remember too, that happy patients are less trouble for staff and might even leave earlier.
To me allowing laptops in hospital is a no-brainer. But then what do I know about healthcare? But I have seen good healthcare at work and know what works.
I am also in contact with universities, where they are developing computer games to help stroke patients. Let’s make those free and downloadable!
How About An iPhone Tax?
I hate smart phones and I did try one once and found that it gave me no advantages, but many disadvatages over my Nokia 6310i. To be fair for someone like me, who’s had a stroke, smart phones are just not robust enough.
One of the major troubles with iPhones and their cousins is that people spend so much time playing with them, that they don’t do their jobs properly.
So perhaps, if they had a higher rate of VAT, then the extra revenue raised could be used to fix the problems that smart phone addicts don’t solve.
Do I Have a Claim under the Disability Rights Act?
Ipswich Town are playing at home on Boxing Day, but unfortunately there are no trains between London and Ipswich, so I will be unable to go.
If I could drive, it would not be a problem, but because of the stroke, I now no longer have a driving licence, or a car available for that matter. So am I being discrimanated against, especially as I’ve paid for the match with my season ticket?
I can’t even listen to the match on local radio, as I would have done in Suffolk!
I’ve also checked the Supporters Club web site and no-one runs a coach from London.
The Day I Met the Queen
Turning out and weeding the files is mainly a depressing occupation. But then occasionally, you come across a little gem. I thought I’d lost this card, which was the invitation from the Palace to attend a Queen’s Award Reception.
Invitation to a Reception
Let’s say it was one of the best parties, I’ve ever been to!
The setting was msgnificent, the staff were attentive and welcoming and all in all you couldn’t have wanted for anything.
Three of us went, myself, Richard and John.
We met the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and actually talked for quite a time with the Duke of Kent. It was also one of the first receptions, that Diana Spencer attended and most of the guests seemed to spend their time trying to talk to her. It wasn’t the most edifying of spectacles and we just enjoyed the setting, the food and the wine. But not too much, as would you believe some captains of industry, did over indulge on the hospitality.
Metier won two Queen’s Awards, but you won’t find them on the Internet. If I have one secret ambition it would be to win one for technology, but I’m a bit long in the tooth and too much of a wreck now!
But then everybody who has had a stroke should look to Louis Pasteur, who did some of his best work many years after he had had several.
What Makes One Day Better than Another?
Today I had a good day and this evening I was able to miss out on the Amitriptyline. Not that I take much, but the doctor had said that the Keppra would do the same work. He also had replioed that when I’d said my eyesight wasn’t good enough for me to drive or play table tennis, that you could get round the first, but he’d miss the second.
Today though, I did a lot of chatting, whereas some days I never see anyone. So perhaps that makes a difference too!
I did wear my bobble hat all day to keep warm and it’s still on my head, as I watch the end of the Second Test. Or hopefully!
Perhap that help too!
I also had someone who was interested in Daisy.
My Double Handle Medicine Ball
Ever since I’ve been back home, I’ve been using this medicine ball every day to build up my core strength.
Medicine Ball With Handles
Mine is a 5 Kg. model, but they come in different sizes.
I was given a set of exercises to do from a fitness expert, who puts judo players back together after serious injuries.
The exercises seem to have worked and I feel that my regained core strength has helped my balance and the ability to walk fairly long distances without feeling tired.
I bought mine on-line from Powerhouse Fitness and it doesn’t have a famous brand name, but those in John Lewis are twice the price and have names in the class of Adidas and Nike. So if you want one search on-line and don’t go for a brand you know.
It is rumoured that if ladies use one with the proper exercises, it can help put on a cup size. No-one would believe that would they!
Is it Me or My Cooking Skills?
I sometimes blame the stroke for my clumsiness, but I’m not sure it’s always to blame.
Take lunch today, when I thought I’d have some smoked salmon with scrambled egg. You’d think that the most difficult job would be cracking the eggs without getting any shell into the basin to mix them all up with a bit of milk and some salt and pepper. But no, it was separating the smoked salmon from it’s packaging. I had to pull it to open the outside packaging, which actually wasn’t too difficult, but I couldn’t get the slices apart without ending up with effectively minced salmon on the plate.
Now my mother taught me how to crack eggs and always said you should crack them into a cup first. But remember in those far off days of the 1950s, you occasionally got an egg with a chick inside it. They smelt something rotten too! So I often still crack them into a cup first, so that if I make a hash of it and get half the shell in it, I can get another cup and start again. But of the perhaps several dozen eggs I’ve cracked since the stroke, I’ve only had to go fishing for bits of shell in perhaps one or two. That would have been about the same number as before.
On the other hand, no-one has ever taught me how to disentangle smoked salmon from its tight packaging. So I’ve just learned badly on the job.
Now when it comes to cooking one of my fish pies, they seem very little different than before, except that I do have problems mashing the potatoes, which might be understandable. Or it might be that I just have very bad basic cooking skills! On the other hand I don’t have any problems peeling potatoes, but I think it was something my mother taught me when I was quite young.
So could it be that things taught to you as a small child, stay with you no matter what happens?
All comments are welcome!
Is Coeliac Disease Hindering My Recovery from the Stroke?
Over the last few days, I have been getting out to London and Cambridge and today I will try to get to Ipswich. It all depends whether the taxis are running to get me into Haverhill to catch the bus to get me there for the 10:15 coach to the home match against Swansea.
I saw the stroke doctor at Addenbrooke’s yesterday and he suggested that I stop taking the Amitriptyline, as the Keppra was obviously doing its good work. But by nine o’clock last night, I was having a lot of discomfort in my face and in a tooth, so before I went to bed, I decided to take the 20 mg. I should also say that yesterday evening, I was choking slightly on some sort of muck that was getting to the back of my throat. I also had a nose bleed, for a few minutes before I retired. But it was just one of the usual ones that have plagued me all my life, from where I had a wart removed from my nose. But I do worry because of the Warfarin I’m on! But in the end, I slept very well and had about eight and a half hours of good sleep. I was only woken by the lady who organises the Ipswich coaches just after seven calling me on the phone.
My ENT doctor on Monday had given me an all-clear on my sinuses and he had advised me to keep going.
But I can’t get it out of my mind, that something due to the coeliac disease is not helping me recovery as quickly as I should.
But then I’m an engineer and a scientist and all my life I’ve been solving problems. This is probably the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced in my life and I’m determined to beat it. I owe it to my late wife and son to win.
Or it could just be the cold? The basset has decided that she’ll sleep the weather out in the warmest place she can find, only waking for her lunch.
As I write this piece, I’m being watching by the stallion, who has his head over the fence guarding the gate. As I said in an earlier post he’s twenty eight on January the first which is a very good age for a horse. He’ll probably outlive us all!
I Can Now Shuffle a Pack of Cards!
I tried this a few months ago and couldn’t do it, but I thought I’d have a game of patience about an hour ago and I shuffled them without too much trouble.
So my left hand must be getting better!
But the patience didn’t come out!
The Anonymous Widower 