Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

Yorkie1

Quick catch up - not been able to be online much recently.

Sorry to hear about your heart attack Spirit but so pleased that it wasn't so much worse, and good news about the retirement too. I guess it must be one weight off your mind to have that resolved as you wanted.

Hope you're doing OK, PN.

Commiserations on the job / supplier, LJ & silvercar.

Had a really worrying phone call from Mum earlier. She and Dad just got back from a week in France. Dad is certainly unwell at the moment - something happened while they were away; possibly early onset dementia but who knows as he won't be proactive about going to the GP. He's blanking her out, sleeping a lot, slow thought processes, and then one evening he went rigid and couldn't move in the holiday kitchen - she eventually got him able to sit down, but then she got him into the bedroom and she found he'd soiled himself then vomited. He didn't seem unduly distressed by it - he was rather out of it still.

It's all so sudden. He's had a few fainting / blanking episodes over the last year or two, but this is completely uncharacteristic.

They're down south and I'm not. I could go home for a few days as I've got this week off, but Mum said not to do so, and it would probably just make me very distressed. Ain't life [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL] sometimes.

Generali

michaels wrote: »

A reason piece recently on the BBC website said the NHS was bottom half internationally compared to similar countries but that was OK because it was fairly cheap. I suspect with health their are diminishing returns beyond a fairly early point (for example vaccinations probably provide massive bang per buck, then good anti-natal care etc right down to extensive screening programs that only pick up very few problems at vast expense so I am not convinced that the NHS does as well as it might given it should have inherent advantages over less centralised systems in terms of resource allocation decisions - but I know what Mr G will have to say on the putative advantages of central management vs the free market...

The Australian system seems to combine the best of private care with a safety net for those on very low incomes or with high medical bills.

It is expected that you will take out private health insurance which covers most of the things that the state won't provide unless you are very sick (for example, I get some subsidised physio sessions to help me get well again after the cancer and that will mean my health insurance can then cover more). If your medical bills are over $1,500 for the year then the price of each prescription is capped at $6 and other services are more heavily subsidised.

Generally speaking, it is expected that you will pay something for most medical procedures although my cancer care could have been free (I elected to have surgery privately as I was seen faster).

Nikkster

Sorry to hear that Yorke
I hope that they manage to get some advice/ assistance soon. Certainly doesn't sound like a situation to be struggling on with alone. Must be scary and upsetting for all of you.

Yorkie1

TBH, it's Mum who's fearing it might be dementia. I don't know enough about the symptoms to make that conclusion. I know that some physical diseases can produce neurological symptoms, but over the last few months she's been reporting a number of mental changes.

PasturesNew

Yorkie1 wrote: »

TBH, it's Mum who's fearing it might be dementia. I don't know enough about the symptoms to make that conclusion. I know that some physical diseases can produce neurological symptoms, but over the last few months she's been reporting a number of mental changes.

It can be difficult getting somebody to allow a Dr to look at them. For one thing, fear of what they might be told. "If you don't know, then it's not real/not happening"

ivyleaf

Thank you Viva

Yorkie So sorry about your Dad. What a worry! I hope your mum can persuade him to see the GP, though I can understand his reluctance if he's quite unaware anything's wrong.

Sue Glad you had such a lovely weekend and that youngest enjoyed it too I hope you feel better soon x

ukmaggie45

Oh Yorkie, you must be worried. And your poor Mum, what a horrible thing to happen on holiday. Hope that your Dad can be persuaded to see doctor. Hugs from Liverpool.

CKhalvashi

PasturesNew wrote: »

Childless couple, living in same house for 25+ years, with a spare bedroom that's always been "the office" means everything's already organised. I was just informed that a file exists and its colour

I have kids, a business to run (I am partly where I am for work, I promise) and OH works full-time through choice. We don't have time to run our lives to that degree of organisation.

I have an office at home (we have 4 bedrooms, so have one spare), but don't ask me where anything is/what colour folder it's in, because I honestly don't know

ivyleaf wrote: »

Hope all goes well CK, and that Wheezy has a happy holiday

Everything is fine thanks. Little detective work, common sense and good luck meant I found who I was looking for in about 2 hours, turned up at the door and they were really surprised, but happy to see me.

Have a good holiday Wheezy!

Went to hospital today to have an iffy mole removed. I'm very impressed with their fast-track clinic. Saw GP eight days ago, Hospital rang me on Monday offering an appointment for Thursday, specialist suggested having mole removed to be on the safe side, procedure done this morning! :T

Good to see it's being taken seriously. My father had numerous problems with GP's with a cancerous mole.

michaels wrote: »

A reason piece recently on the BBC website said the NHS was bottom half internationally compared to similar countries but that was OK because it was fairly cheap. I suspect with health their are diminishing returns beyond a fairly early point (for example vaccinations probably provide massive bang per buck, then good anti-natal care etc right down to extensive screening programs that only pick up very few problems at vast expense so I am not convinced that the NHS does as well as it might given it should have inherent advantages over less centralised systems in terms of resource allocation decisions - but I know what Mr G will have to say on the putative advantages of central management vs the free market...

Is the NHS really that cheap in reality compared to other counties, though?

It's a significant part of government spending, and my tax bill most years is more than the average wage, so maybe it is for some, but not others.

The fact the pensions have been cut again for the NHS, plus contributions have gone up has actually left my mother believing she may get less out than she'll have put in, in the 30ish years she'll have worked for the NHS when she retires. Good VFM for the taxpayer, but not so much the staff.

silvercar

Back from a lovely day at DS2's graduation. It rained, but nothing could spoil the day.

Met the girlfriend's parents - nothing like we imagined them to be - took a couple of photos of DS2 with GF and loads of DS2 on his own and with us.

Nikkster

silvercar wrote: »

Back from a lovely day at DS2's graduation. It rained, but nothing could spoil the day.

Met the girlfriend's parents - nothing like we imagined them to be - took a couple of photos of DS2 with GF and loads of DS2 on his own and with us.

Sounds great. How was dinner? (and is that GF in the present or past tense?)