Pushing a 61 year old to attain a 180 is sheer madness. If it had been in the UK I would have urged that some action be taken.
180, is what I recall astronauts reaching - while they're strapped to the biggest rocket in the world.
I think we all have to be a bit careful about some of the people we trust. I've been shocked at some of the 'treatment' that I and some of my family and friends have received in the name of medicine.
Having said this, I also have reason to be very grateful for British medicine. It's just the few that seem to let a mass of good professionals down.
I went to an Essex hospital to see a specialist about carpal tunnel syndrome, and he wired me to an antiquated machine, then proceeded to jolt my arm with ever increasing pulses of D.C. It didn't just bloody hurt...it
ing hurt. He watched me for some time - seemed like an hour - then just made the comment that people like me, that worked with electrical stuff, were always more worried about 'getting a belt'. [Sic]
I have long thought that since I was displaying classic symptoms, the tests were quite without merit. Even had they had any validity in the first place. My (professor) son sort of concurred, though as usual he didn't say much - despite being an expert on picking up voltages from the skin. But what he did say substantiated my thoughts.
The bloke was either an idiot with a pre-war toy that he was proud of, or a sadist. Most horrible thought of all was that he will one day publish on pain thresholds, having used unwitting people like me. Preposterous? Doing it in the first place was preposterous.
On a lighter note, I gathered a crowd at Praed St when it was the Aviation medical centre. I nearly blew the needle off the table of the old cast-iron puffer machine, and they egged me on to try - time and time again - to see if I could do it. To give the machine its due, it was almost exactly the same every time. It was for their amusement/curiosity, but at least it was fun.
Another gaggle of medics surrounded my bed after eye surgery. They'd never seen an 80 over 40. Got a new machine and tried again. Then a barometric one. They told me not to even try to walk to the loo, but I assured them that I could have run home, if me eye hadn't been likely to fall out. I don't think I've ever had a medical without some comment about low BP and Pulse rate. I'd never considered
it being a problem.
Going to Spain gave me a source of Cuban cigars. I cared more about them than food. It was one hell of a job to give up, but it had to be done.
The statistics are there, and from 50 years on, I'm seeing more and more life-loving people being taken out by smoking. Worst still, those that don't die and lead a nightmare life of emphysema, nebulizers and Oxygen. It wrecked 30 + years of my mother's life, hanging on to furniture just to cross the room...etc., etc. She died at 93, of unrelated problems.
Just to guild the lilly, I wrote this - nearer to the time of my mother's demise. I'd just been talking to a surgeon in Colchester. He told of people that had lost a limb due to smoking, and had a wire thing made to hold their cigarette with the stump. Yes, there's a certain rage, but it's against the tabbaco processors, not the victims. One of my kids had been trying to give up for most of his life. He took $1,000 to his pal a while back. He'd lost the bet...again.
Hanging onto the furniture to help you get across the room. Looking at peoples winces as your lungs crackle so much that it makes them feel sick. Knowing that they really don't want you sitting at the meal table with them...but what can they do?
Seeing you families faces as they carry in the 02 bottles...for the third time that week. Then there's the Ventolin. Just see how you feel when your nebulizer busts, looking at all those vials lined up and no way to get the stuff into your lungs.
Wave your family goodby as they go on holiday...you won't be able to miss the other in-law that is included....the one with the SCUBA gear in his car. Fcuk him you'll say.
Years and years of wasted life, why won't the damn thing take you so that you can have some peace? It will, sometime soon after you notice lung tissue issuing out as you cough. Soon you will be drowning despite being in normal air.<<<