INNOVATION: Promising experimental pig heart transplant

Saturday, November 4, 2023

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/20/health/pig-heart-transplant-maryland-update/index.html?utm_source=tldrnewsletter

One month after experimental pig heart transplant, doctors say they see no signs of rejection or infection (4 minute read)

The patient who received a pig heart in an experimental heart transplant last month appears to have excellent heart function with no signs of infection or rejection. The pig heart had been genetically modified to make it more compatible with humans. Doctors have withdrawn all drugs that were initially supporting the heart, so it is performing well on its own. The patient was the second ever to undergo the treatment – the first patient died from a complex array of factors two months following their transplant. 

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Fantastic news.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Socialized medicine scores another blunder

Friday, November 3, 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12670473/Hamza-Ibrahim-brain-cancer-loses-eye-sight.html

Heartbreaking three words Hamza Ibrahim, 8, told his mum after learning he will soon go blind because of a medical blunder

  •     Hamza Ibrahim, 8, lost his vision  
  •     Doctors missed early symptoms
  •     Told his mum ‘no point living’

By Max Aitchison For Daily Mail Australia
Published: 08:17 EDT, 25 October 2023 | Updated: 08:18 EDT, 25 October 2023

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An eight-year-old boy told his mother there is ‘no point living’ after doctors delivered the devastating news he would never see again. 

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So how did Gooferment-run socialized medical care work out for this young boy?

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HEALTH: Laughter Is the BEST Medicine

Thursday, November 2, 2023

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/10/23/laughter-therapy.aspx?ui=f9839516412491bb1e06c9e47058c6fb81b9b9b6acedf03e65e93dfdb263c1b9&sd=20210317&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art3ReadMore&cid=20231023&foDate=false&mid=DM1481285&rid=1945657433

Laughter Is Good Medicine
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola
October 23, 2023

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Story at-a-glance

  •     Anthropological research suggests laughter and humor are genetically built-in, and that humor, historically, has functioned as “a social glue.” The critical laughter trigger for most people is not necessarily a joke or funny movie, but rather another person
  •     Laughter is contagious. The sound of laughter triggers regions in the premotor cortical region of your brain, which is involved in moving your facial muscles to correspond with sound
  •     While children laugh on average 300 times a day, adults laugh only 17 times a day on average. Suggestions for how to get more laughter in your life are included
  •     In one study, even after adjusting for confounding factors, the prevalence of heart diseases among those who rarely or never laughed was 21% higher, and the ratio of stroke 60% higher, than among those who laughed every day
  •     Benefits of laughter have been reported in geriatrics, critical and general patient care, rehabilitation, home care, hospice care, oncology, psychiatry, rheumatology, palliative care and terminal care

*** and ***

  • Observe young children and follow their lead — Find delight and amusement in the ordinary (for an example, see the laughing baby video above; the simple act of ripping paper is a source of seemingly endless delight)
  • Watch comedies, go to comedy clubs and read funny books
  • Spend more time with friends who make you laugh
  • Remind yourself to play and have more fun
  • Spend more time with optimistic, happy people
  • Avoid sources of distress, be it difficult relationships, horror movies or the daily news

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I resolve to watch laughing babies at least once a day.

https://rumble.com/vc2be0-laughing-lockdown-baby.html

Laugh!

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EVLYNN: An application caringbridge.org that helps communicte health information with a minimum of “fuss”

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

https://www.caringbridge.org/

Here’s something I used for years to keep family informed while minimizing the effort required.  Here’s how I explained CARINGBRIDGE to our families.

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Let me explain. I use CARING BRIDGE to keep my and wife’s family informed about her condition. 

She hates to tell them: feeling she’s always got more bad news to relate, a litany of ailments that is just a never ending kvetch, and it makes her focus on the fact that she’s not going to get better. Ever. The docs are not optimistic about this long term. Everyone refuses to give us a five year estimate. 

So, it is our unspoken secret that: I let them know, they pretend not to know, and she can tell them “happy stories” about how she’s feeling better. :-) She knows I do it, but pretends I don’t. Women are SO complicated. 

I think you might find what I write “cavalier and sometimes upsetting”.  Especially since I write it for a select audience that know how “crotchety” I can be. (When I’m old, I’m going to make some nursing home aide’s life miserable.) 

To a certain extent, I agree with Frau Reinke. The Universe does supply what you focus on.  So it is important for her to stay optimistic and positive. I can be the pragmatic realistic fat old white guy injineer! 

As her PiA (I call it “patient advocate”; she calls it PIA.), I keep all the notes, do the RXes, and generally fuss over her like a mother hen. (I have a lot invested in training her.) Hope you find it helpful, amusing, and distracting from your own more serious load. We’re at the end of the story; your girl is at the beginning.

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This was a handy “ruse” to prevent the repetition to every one who is concerned.  For those interested, they control their subscription to the news.  It can come in email or text.  Or you can visit the website and read it when your up to it.

Now I know you may or may not on the same path as her.  Eventually you’ll get it all sorted out.  Medicine is much better than it was for her in the 1980’s.  

I have tried to convince others to do CARINGBRIDGE for their loved one, but no one seems to be interested.

You might want someone to do this for you to prevent the “repetition” from getting you down.

You may want to read what I did to get a feel for how to do it.  When my time comes, as it does for all of us, I’ll do my own site.  Laugh!  I am sure that there will be at least one reader  — me.

FWIW YMMV

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