COLD DARK ROOM

Anastasia 22

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My brother in law has just been diagnosed with emphysema, and although he was once a smoker he doesn't have any symptoms they told him he has it because he has has the gene. This was complete news to all of us. None of us knew it was genetic.
I hope all goes/went well with the tests today. I have the lung function test because I have asthma.
HER2?...
 

Lyn W

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Well, it's the "windmill" type of generators that are hard on birds, the several other designs that are not as harmful, there is the Vertical Turbine Egg Beater Type (Darrieus turbine can either be straight, curved, or helical in shape), and a similar to the Darrieus is the Savonius style VAWTs use the principle of drag to convert wind energy into mechanical rotational energy. the last two types are more bird friendly.
I've seen a design on tv that doesn't have blades but it looks like a lollipop that vibrates which is bird friendly. Unfortunately I've only seen the ones with blades here that chop up birds 😢
 

Cathie G

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Good morning/afternoon all
My car is still in the garage, so no news on what's going on with that yet.
I had a dentist appointment this morning, and I knew I'd broken a cusp off one of my back molars, so I opted to just have a filling at £60. Good news!
Then came the bad news I can't have it done until next June because I'm an NHS patient. ☹️😯 Goodness knows how much of the tooth would be left if I waited that long.
However, if I have it done as a private patient she can do it in October for £136 - same dentist.
It really annoys me that having paid contributions for all my working life I'm now a second class citizen and private patients take priority and all the appointments.
Obviously I had to go for the most expensive option to try to save the tooth. Dentists are raking it in over here, no wonder they only work 2 or 3 days a week.
I know you folks in the US don't have the NHS option so may be wondering what I'm moaning about, but when it's a system you've grown up, you can see how broken our NHS is and how it's changed for the worse.

Anyway, moan over. Hope you're all having a good day.
Here we have Medicare and it's a nightmare. At age 65 you aren't given a choice unless you have private insurance or are independently wealthy. They rake it in here too. It's pretty bad that health care everywhere is nothing but a racket anymore. I thought they were in the business of actually caring.
 

Cathie G

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Torture, YES. Last mammogram I had in 2024, the Technician for lack of a better term "Man Handled" me. SHE was NOT gentle, and had me do several views multiple times. I know it is a necessity but . . really!
And today I have a (PLFT) Pulmonary Lung Function Test. I hate this test, They are looking for the volume & efficiency of my lungs. I was diagnosed with emphysema last year. and I have never been a smoker. Blow, blow, keep blowing, keep bowing, your almost there, keep going, ok, your done! Ok, one more time.....
Sorry, I didn't have any more to blow after the first five seconds....o_O
By the time I was done with that part of mine I had spit all over their apparatus 😉 I didn't regret that.😊they deserved it after having put me through all that.hehehe
 

Cathie G

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My brother in law has just been diagnosed with emphysema, and although he was once a smoker he doesn't have any symptoms they told him he has it because he has has the gene. This was complete news to all of us. None of us knew it was genetic.
I hope all goes/went well with the tests today. I have the lung function test because I have asthma.
Yes if you smoke they have something to blame you for instead of admitting we are just human beings. I've heard COPD can be hereditary also. My aunt died of melanoma that went inward. She had quit smoking years before. They had the nerve to tell her that she was dying of it because she had smoked in the past. That's just cruel. I hope your brother in law keeps doing well. Emphysema is so hard.🙏
 

Cathie G

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Yes if you smoke they have something to blame you for instead of admitting we are just human beings. I've heard COPD can be hereditary also. My aunt died of melanoma that went inward. She had quit smoking years before. They had the nerve to tell her that she was dying of it because she had smoked in the past. That's just cruel. I hope your brother in law keeps doing well. Emphysema is so hard.🙏
Sorry I just saw the cancer diagnosis. Wow that's so sad. I'll be hoping and praying for him. Hopefully they caught it early enough to do something for him. If he had symptoms it would mean that it's really bad. It's good (I hope) that they caught it early enough to help.
 

Cathie G

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My ex GF is just now getting over shingles, She got the vaccine a year or so ago, as I have also, along with the pneumococcal vaccine. She said it started out feeling like a sunburn, even though she had not been in much sun, and then a rash developed. Apparently there is No treatment, all you can do is try to control the pain. It kinda ran it's course over a month.
So she got the vaccine and still got shingles 🤢? Well I won't be getting it then. I figure my dose of this nasty disease is probably just as good as a vaccine.. I may have some hearing loss with it because it started inside my ear. Was on both sides of my face. In other words started out with complications. It's taken me 2 ER visits and a doctor appointment to finally get it through someone's doctor head that it started inside my ear. As dumb as I am I seem to have as much if not more education on it than any of them. I had to Google it to find out I could be contagious to my pregnant doctor.
 

MenagerieGrl

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So she got the vaccine and still got shingles 🤢? Well I won't be getting it then. I figure my dose of this nasty disease is probably just as good as a vaccine.. I may have some hearing loss with it because it started inside my ear. Was on both sides of my face. In other words started out with complications. It's taken me 2 ER visits and a doctor appointment to finally get it through someone's doctor head that it started inside my ear. As dumb as I am I seem to have as much if not more education on it than any of them. I had to Google it to find out I could be contagious to my pregnant doctor.
Honestly I can understand the sentiment, But I look at it this way . . as far as the Covid vaccine, just because you got the vaccine, didn't mean you could not get COVID, But all the noteworthy Dr's in the field said by getting the vaccine it made the symptoms less severe, I can embrace that...
 

Ray--Opo

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Torture, YES. Last mammogram I had in 2024, the Technician for lack of a better term "Man Handled" me. SHE was NOT gentle, and had me do several views multiple times. I know it is a necessity but . . really!
And today I have a (PLFT) Pulmonary Lung Function Test. I hate this test, They are looking for the volume & efficiency of my lungs. I was diagnosed with emphysema last year. and I have never been a smoker. Blow, blow, keep blowing, keep bowing, your almost there, keep going, ok, your done! Ok, one more time.....
Sorry, I didn't have any more to blow after the first five seconds....o_O
I have that test done twice a year. I almost pass out when blowing out
 

MaNaAk

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That looks wonderful!
All the different deserts you show us.
Do the deserts come from the same restaurant?
No that one's from the theatre cafe near me but others have been from Tomassi's Restaurant which is in town although the Chocolate Torte that I posted on the 3rd August was from the Rose in Oxford. Yesterday I was the only sitting outside so I guess that everyone else was hiding from the sun!

Natrah
 

MaNaAk

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Good morning everyone!

We are commemorating VJ Day here and I am remembering dad's two uncles who were captured by the Japanese and put to work on the Burmese railway. One died during construction and the other passed away a year later. Also remembering his mum who died of TB in 1945 when he was ten.

Natrah
 

MenagerieGrl

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I have that test done twice a year. I almost pass out when blowing out
Ya, I'm supposed to have it done twice a year, But Kaisers Pulmonary scheduling department lacks in the scheduling department. The tech said in 4 months call for an appointment 2 months later, just to be sure.
I had to do this test while I was working The occupation services company would come in with a trailer, and do a hearing and lung test. EVERYONE hated it.
Last time I was there they did the enclosure/Pod test where they seal you in a pod and analyze the air inside and the air you expel. This time was a lot shorter, I asked why, and he just said that all they are calling for... Ok, fine...
 

jeff kushner

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Chill MG
A diagnosis of emphysema is not a death sentence but it is a huge shock when we hear it and we have to make some adjustments in our lives but don't get all doom & gloom. Unfortunately the meds barely show much.....it takes 12% to be labeled as "substantially improves lung function". That ain't much....but in honesty if I use my inhaler twice, twice a day my % goes up 1 point. Today it's 95% pulse-ox so the meds got it to 96%...still feel pretty laggy though.
In 2000 when I was diagnosed my PFT showed 42% lung capacity. It's barely changed since then MG and I don't avoid too much of anything. I'm not running the 40yd anytime soon and I've made changes in my life to make it easier to do neato stuff...things like my water toys for the ocean and the ebikes for covering ground and of course Kerry, she can carry me piggyback....but the point is, don't stop doing the neat stuff. A couple years ago I hiked Bell Rock with Kerry, my brother & his wife in Sedona. It didn't beat me up too bad and I'm literally a wheezened old 172lb man! You got this!

I have seen Y around but I was thinking about Mark this morning too...weird...hope he's all good and stuff!
 

Lyn W

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Yes if you smoke they have something to blame you for instead of admitting we are just human beings. I've heard COPD can be hereditary also. My aunt died of melanoma that went inward. She had quit smoking years before. They had the nerve to tell her that she was dying of it because she had smoked in the past. That's just cruel. I hope your brother in law keeps doing well. Emphysema is so hard.🙏
Thanks Cathie.
To be honest he's a living medical encyclopaedia. He was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer 11 years ago, so that's always a worry, plus he has a list of other things and most recently the lung cancer which isn't secondary. In spite of it all he picks himself up and carried on. I think his positive attitude is what's keeping him going.
 
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