Ageing & a Caring Family?

I'm 70. I have various chronic conditions. I live alone. I'm one of an increasing demographic problem in the West. There will be a 50% increase of over 65's between 2010 - 2030 & a doubling of over 85's. That's 5 million more over 65's in 20 years.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/demographic-time-bomb-government-woefully-underprepared-to-deal-with-britains-ageing-population-8533508.html

How much help can I expect from my very small family, my friends, the State? How much should other people care about & for me? How will I cope with increasing physical & mental fragility? How do I prepare for the inevitability of all this?

The main problem is that no one has 20 / 20 vision into the future. If I continued as I am now & just dropped dead that would be fine. But already there are lots of things I simply can't do, so have to wait for someone to help me or pay someone to do it for me. Both require me to be extremely patient & wait for someone to be available. I'm getting better at that!

Having not been very well for months this year I realise that I could have a health problem & need help at any time of day. I'm trying to remember to carry my mobile around with me all the time, but am not very good at it. I do remember to keep it on the bedside table at night. I've just asked the council for an assessment for security alarms. Having had parents who refused to contemplate this I want to be ahead of the game. Mother in law had a fall & died. No one knew how long she had been there. We had got her an alarm, but she wouldn't use it.

I can use the computer to order order food or other necessities to be delivered. (I've probably got enough clothes to last till I pop my clogs). I pay bills by direct debit & do internet banking. I can function if I'm confined to the house & continue to have the wit to use the machine. That's the big imponderable though. Roll on intelligent computers.

At the end of the day, (pun), it's my responsibility. No one can be with me all the time. I have to admit I do think about it every day.

ISIS / ISIL / DAESH / Islamic State - Evil personified?

"All concerns of men go wrong when they wish to cure evil with evil" - Sophocles.

http://www.notable-quotes.com/e/evil_quotes.html 

We have a bit of a problem when we can't even agree on a name for the evil that is DAESH. The public can be forgiven for being confused. If we are to fight this abhorrent organisation we should be unequivocal in our language & at least all agree what to call it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant 

 

The language we use is really important because we don't want to "cure evil with evil" as Sophocles says. We need to inform, not inflame. We should raise awareness accurately. We have to counter the misinformation & radicalisation of young people with truth. Most of all we should look honestly at why so many young people in the West feel so alienated from our culture.

 

Tolerance and respect are learned behaviours. We don't have a right to either, we have to earn them. There is more than one religion & there is more than one model of democracy. The trick is to try to understand difference and accept that we don't have all the right answers.

 

Man seemingly has a great capacity for justifying his actions. Yet all religions agree on the fact that taking life is wrong & cannot be justified. Human behaviour seems to encompass everything from the completely selfless and altruistic to the totally base & cruel. 

 

We are all indoctrinated to a certain extent. It could be argued that education is indoctrination. But we have access to information on an unprecidented scale. We also have the power to think & discriminate. 

 

DAESH is a serious problem for the world. It cannot be impossible to find a solution if countries & peoples can act together to counter the terror. Ultimately we have the power to chose & need to exercise that power wisely.

2 Rheumatologists for the price of 1

I finally had my NHS Rheumatologist appointment on Monday. Being a very organised woman I took all of the reports from the blood tests & X Rays done by the private Rheumatologist as well as the letters outlining his findings, which he sent after he had received the reults. I had been told categorically by the Royal Berks Hospital that the Nuffield would be able to access the actual X Rays. I thought, erroneously it would seem, that hospitals & consultants could communicate important information about patients. Not unreasonably, I also thought it would expedite the whole transfer back to the NHS.

How wrong can you be. Seemingly the NHS doesn't do logical communication. I had to have all the blood tests & the X Rays done again. This seems a complete waste of time, money & resources to me. What can the reasoning be? Don't consultants trust eachother?

The upshot for me was completely unexpected & devastating. Having got to the point where I thought finally, after all these years, someone had a definitive diagnosis & an appropriate course of treatment would follow, significantly improving my quality of life, my world turned. Again.

The NHS Rheumatologist said that although I have the gene which indicates Ankylosing Spondilitis there are 7% of people with the gene who don't have the condition. In my case there is something apart from the fused bones in the spine that should show on the X Rays, but doesn't. It's deja vue - like being told that there are 5% of people who don't respond to the pain med's I was taking & which didn't work.

Hopefully the CT scan will clarify things so I can move forward. I asked if the Royal Berks would send the results to the Nuffield. No. Apparently I can ring a number in a weeks time & ask for a CD which I can then take to the Nuffield.

You really couldn't make it up! Why can't hospitals, consultants & GP's share patient information quickly and effectively in this technological / digital age? The wheels grind so slowly they are almost coming off. In the meantime the patient has to be assertive & pro active to make sure that information is shared. It isn't that easy when you aren't feeling well.

Patients rely on the professionals to be just that, but the system lets them down because it's groaning under it's own cumbersomeness.