Coronavirus - The Thread :(

[judderbar]

You don’t get sarcasm do you, we’ll add that to the list of other things you don’t understand.

Things are much simpler than you keep believing. I was apologising.


I was shocked the PM is in intensive care. Quite clearly I had earlier underestimated the impact this crisis would have on Britain and the World.

While I had thought your comments earlier about there being no workers to return to work without social distancing were excessive, and while I have seen elsewhere on this forum several occasions where you are wrong, rude and arrogant, it is clear I was wrong about the severity of this crisis.

 

[jimboy]

Emotions are high at the moment for obvious reasons, captive audience thrown in to the mix & it's too easy to get carried away, I would guess most on here are affected one way or another . I had to contact my Doctor & get a telephone consultation, had to secure another sick note for work. The Doctor who phoned me back was a favourite of mine, a really lovely man. When I heard his voice I became all emotional, he supported me last year when I had a cancer scare regarding the prostrate. My mood came from nowhere, tad embarrassing, I kept saying how lovely to hear his voice. He was in a similar situation the year before & practically held my hand in my hour of need.

Not the best time of my life, anyone else on here that is a certain age should get themselves checked out at the next opportunity, it just may save your life, I was lucky. Aye! emotions are high right enough.

 

[AndyRKett]

I was apologising.

While I had thought your comments earlier about there being no workers to return to work without social distancing were excessive, and while I have seen elsewhere on this forum several occasions where you are wrong, rude and arrogant, it is clear I was wrong about the severity of this crisis.

Not very good at this apologising thing

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I would guess most on here are affected one way or another

Not the best time of my life, anyone else on here that is a certain age should get themselves checked out at the next opportunity, it just may save your life, I was lucky. Aye! emotions are high right enough.

Yes Jim, I'm sure we're all being affected. I'm especially concerned for Mrs J after her hospitalization and in intensive care for nearly 10 days with pneumonia after we both had flue type A just after Christmas. I got over it (but it was not at all a pleasant experience - Flue does not compare in any way to even the worst cold you've ever had) and I feel that if I get this new virus I'm as likely as anyone of my age to survive eventually. However I'm desperately worried for Mrs J whose only real hope lies in not getting it until they develop a vaccine which can immunize her.

On your second point, which I assume concerns prostate cancer, I can't endorse your recommendation that people should get checked out strongly enough!!! It's not something we ever really talked about in our extended family but, around 10 years ago, when my brother mentioned that they'd found Prostate cancer in Dad when he'd died of a stroke in his early 60's (I never knew that) I decided to get checked up. I actually found my doc (like yours, a lovely man) quite reluctant to do it. He counselled me for some time in particular as to how I would feel if something was found. Anyway, to cut a long story short, he did the "standard" examination in his surgery, found a "small hard lump" and took blood for a PSA. It showed somewhat raised levels so he repeated it and it came back the same. I then had biopsies taken and I've now been on a "watch and wait" regime ever since. I'm on meds to control it and my quality of life is very good, causing very few restrictions on me beyond the need to always know where the nearest loo is! My Doc cheerfully says "don't worry about it, something else will probably get you first" - He knows I find this approach amusing. I don't think he was factoring Covid into the equation when he said that.

So look guys, If you're around 50 or over, (I think that's the present age recommendation? although the nurses in the hospital recon even "over 40's" could benefit) and especially if there's any past prostate cancer in the family, see your doc and get checked. That initial examination is not as scary as you might think - probably more unpleasant for your Doctor than it is for you!

And just in case you need convinced? My brother did nothing, now has the full blown cancer and is having some much more invasive and uncomfortable interventions performed on him. Hopefully they are going to sort him out but I very much doubt if he'll have the quality of life I'm now enjoying.

So folks, go on, get tested - you know it makes sense!

And to you Jim, all my very best wishes and lets just hope we all come through this latest worry safely.
Regards Jock

 

[judderbar]

Not very good at this apologising thing

I did apologise and you have continued with that thing you do.

And your wifes a Doctor and treatment is available.

.

 

[turining]

At the very least INSIST on a PSA test every year.
In itself it doesn't necessarily mean too much, so don't get anxious about it, but if it starts to rise y/y then get yourself checked.
It may save your life one day.

:worship:

Sorry off thread but it's a serious topic

 

[Bernievarian]

At the very least INSIST on a PSA test every year.
In itself it doesn't necessarily mean too much, so don't get anxious about it, but if it starts to rise y/y then get yourself checked.
It may save your life one day.

:worship:

Sorry off thread but it's a serious topic

How about colo-rectal cancer ?

Those of us aged >50 should get checked for it ! At least the poo test...

My 2nd elder sister was diagnosed with it and brothers and other sisters had to be checked since it was potentially heridtary, so they found an already apple core shaped tumor at my colon. No pain, no discomfort, no disfunction, no sign of anything, but it was nearly to pierce the wall and bring me in bad troubles.

I'd been lucky that time, so DO get checked, the best they can tell you is you have nothing...

PS: 3 years after I got another one at the small intestine, detected during the 6 month follow-up check: surgery, chemo and after 5 years I'm still on the good side of the statistics ;-)

Take care of yourselves !! and stay home for the moment...

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

How about colo-rectal cancer ?

Those of us aged >50 should get checked for it ! At least the poo test...

Yup, I do that one too. Big improvement last time I did it, only one sample needed instead of the previous three and using a much more sophisticated sampler.

 

[portland_bill]

I'm especially concerned for Mrs J after her hospitalization and in intensive care for nearly 10 days with pneumonia after we both had flue type A just after Christmas.

Makes me wonder if what was thought to be Flu A, might have been Covid, as it was the right time to be an early victim, but early enough that it might not have been diagnosed as Covid.

How about colo-rectal cancer ?

Those of us aged >50 should get checked for it ! At least the poo test...

Yup, I do that one too. Big improvement last time I did it, only one sample needed instead of the previous three and using a much more sophisticated sampler.

I got one of these a while ago, three samples over a week or so. Not a pleasant thing. Was not ready for the warmth. Did raise a smile when I posted the poo in a local postbox. Just the sort of thing one might think about as mischief when very young.
My partner got a test request through just a few weeks ago, as jock says, just the one sample, much easier.
So far, all good on that front(or is that 'back') for both of us.

 

[portland_bill]

Heard a doctor talking on the radio earlier.

(Reminded me) viruses do not like to kill their hosts, as that loses the virus the medium to distribute, so it dies itself. The source animals live with this virus. As this is a new virus to humans, our reaction is severe, but over time it will reduce its effect on us.

I wonder how long that will take. But at least hope for the future.

 

[AndyRKett]

Heard a doctor talking on the radio earlier.

(Reminded me) viruses do not like to kill their hosts, as that loses the virus the medium to distribute, so it dies itself. The source animals live with this virus. As this is a new virus to humans, our reaction is severe, but over time it will reduce its effect on us.

I wonder how long that will take. But at least hope for the future.

Completely true, it doesn’t help the reproductive life of a virus if it kills the host as eventually it would run out of hosts to help it reproduce.

That said there are still plenty of viruses that still kill their human hosts after many years of evolution, mainly because the virus survives well in another animal and the. Repeatedly jumps over to humans, Ebola is like this.

 

[Crossingkeeper]

Just to introduce a note of levity into this very important thread.....

Like other posters I'm of an age where PSA & physical examinations + poo tests are important. A few years ago my doctor assured me that I was more likely to die as a result of a nuclear conflict between North Korea and the USA than from prostrate cancer.

Then President Trump arrived and made friends with Kim Jong Un; calamity! On a more recent visit I therefore asked if he could change the diagnosis to Iran which he was happy to do but, as that dispute has now taken a very back seat, where do I go from here.....

 

[varesecrazy]

Just to introduce a note of levity into this very important thread.....

Like other posters I'm of an age where PSA & physical examinations + poo tests are important. A few years ago my doctor assured me that I was more likely to die as a result of a nuclear conflict between North Korea and the USA than from prostrate cancer.

Then President Trump arrived and made friends with Kim Jong Un; calamity! On a more recent visit I therefore asked if he could change the diagnosis to Iran which he was happy to do but, as that dispute has now taken a very back seat, where do I go from here.....

Very true..

Maybe just swap Conflict to Incident..


Along a (vaguely..) similar train of thought :

As our city centres are now 'shut'

How is the progress with the 'deeply inconvenient..can only do them over Xmas' kind of projects

Like Electric car charging points..

Of course anybody attempting any construction outside a house will raise lots of phoned complaints

And anyone seen driving a JCB will be arrested .. 'save our cashpoints'

 

[varesecrazy]

I read .. yet more .. Ventilator stories online yesterday.

Apparently most NHS facilities have 'plumbing' to cope with max. 6 Ventilated beds in a 'wing'... so patient allocation has to factor this in.

Weve got a brand new
( post Carillion..)
hospital 2/3 finished locally

It is being pushed through to open a wing..or 2.. 12 months early

Its pencilled in for 'aftercare' but by the sounds of these Oxygen supply limitations it may become 'front line'

According to reports .. One standard ventilator gets through :
80 litres a minute.... small wonder the ICU looks like a barn.. in a standard room it would be so Oxygen saturated to pose an explosive risk..!!

This vast consumption must be why the 'face masks' are getting a push
(And apparently there are thousands of 'sleep apneoa' units sitting in warehouses in the UK)

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Makes me wonder if what was thought to be Flu A, might have been Covid, as it was the right time to be an early victim, but early enough that it might not have been diagnosed as Covid.

Unfortunately (because, as she has made a good recovery, it would have been good if it had been) it wasn't. She was swab tested as soon as she got into the isolation unit in the hospital and it came back for Flue A.

 

[AndyRKett]

I read .. yet more .. Ventilator stories online yesterday.

Apparently most NHS facilities have 'plumbing' to cope with max. 6 Ventilated beds in a 'wing'... so patient allocation has to factor this in.

Weve got a brand new
( post Carillion..)
hospital 2/3 finished locally

It is being pushed through to open a wing..or 2.. 12 months early

Its pencilled in for 'aftercare' but by the sounds of these Oxygen supply limitations it may become 'front line'

According to reports .. One standard ventilator gets through :
80 litres a minute.... small wonder the ICU looks like a barn.. in a standard room it would be so Oxygen saturated to pose an explosive risk..!!

This vast consumption must be why the 'face masks' are getting a push
(And apparently there are thousands of 'sleep apneoa' units sitting in warehouses in the UK)

A lot of newer hospitals have the sufficient plumbing for more than 6, but also or where there is a new or revamped icu unit.
The flow rates of ventilators can be anything up to 120litres/min but that is dictated by the needs of the patient.

A lot of trusts are turning their operating theatres and theatre recovery areas into a make shift intensive care area, as these areas also have huge supplies of medical gasses.

Before ventilators are used they can try CPAP or NIPPV which also require huge amounts of oxygen. The name of the game is to have good pressure in the lungs to push fluid out.

 

[DaveMcT]

Quote -
**A lot of trusts are turning their operating theatres and theatre recovery areas into a make-shift intensive care area, as these areas also have huge supplies of medical gasses.**

And no doubt some pretty serious air extraction to avoid a pretty serious fire risk.

 

[AndyRKett]

Quote -
**A lot of trusts are turning their operating theatres and theatre recovery areas into a make-shift intensive care area, as these areas also have huge supplies of medical gasses.**

And no doubt some pretty serious air extraction to avoid a pretty serious fire risk.

Hospitals have robust systems for changing the air in these areas very quickly, every couple of minutes, but you have to bear in mind that
All that oxygen is not pure it is still mixed with some atmospheric air, so it’s not a sore pure oxygen environment.

 

[DaveMcT]

Hospitals have robust systems for changing the air in these areas very quickly, every couple of minutes, but you have to bear in mind that
All that oxygen is not pure it is still mixed with some atmospheric air, so it’s not a sore pure oxygen environment.

Clearly the NHS will have thought about this, because a small additional percentage of O2 can be dangerous.

 

[AndyRKett]

Let’s put this in context, 80 litres per hour probably equates to less than 0.5% of the air a normal hospital bed space.

Add loads of ventilators together in a ward area it will raise the atmospheric O2 level marginally, the worse places will be by the exhausts of the ventilators, but the overall effect on the room is minimal and the presence of 02 is only going to be an issue if you mix it with a fuel,
Like as you’d suggested a few days ago on here cleaning paper masks with alcohol gel. That mixed with oxygen is going to be very easy to ignite, which is why they don’t do things like that.

However fires won’t be breaking out all over the place.