I thought it might be interesting to look at some common figures of speech that include the word 'blood'. "My blood froze" is a good start as we've just returned from a holiday to Disneyland where our children Noah and Lily met the characters from the movie 'Frozen'. Lily enthusiastically went forward to meet them but Noah became totally overawed and lagged behind until Ana … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – Movie Blood
At the moment we are on holiday in Los Angeles. We visited Universal studios and Warner Brother studios during our stay. We learnt some interesting things abut how blood is portrayed in the movies. Most action movies and thrillers these days have scenes where copious amounts of blood flows freely. I am a fan of Game of Thrones and they certainly don't hold back with the blood … [Read more...]
Christmas clot look-a-likes
New Zealand enters into a special time of year from now till February, when it is basically SHUT! In the Northern hemisphere, journalists have what they call the 'silly season' where there is little news through the summer: But in New Zealand we have summer and Christmas rolled into one, so for January almost everything is very quiet and people go on holiday. We will be … [Read more...]
Coagulation Carols – WARNING – you can’t unsee them!
Paul and I have had fun all year thinking up contributions to this post. But be warned - once you've read them you can't unsee them! So, if you're brave enough here are Coagulation Conversation versions of some famous carols To the tune of O little town of Bethlehem O little vial of heparin How much you make me cry When jabbed into my tender flesh I wish that I could … [Read more...]
Six Coagulation-linked Christmas gifts
How are you getting on with your Christmas shopping? I've just bought 32 Christmas tree decorations and written "Thank you for being my friend. love from Isaac" on 32 labels so he can give one to each of the children in his class. Isaac has Down syndrome and is in inclusive education so we really value the help he gets from his class-mates. You can see Isaac holding one … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – holiday travel
The holiday season is a time when families often travel to be together. We are very lucky this year in that Angela's parents have traveled all the way from UK to NZ to be with us; in fact at the ages of 85 and 86 they have emigrated! It means they can see many more of their grandchildren over Christmas than they ever did in the UK. Here they are pictured with half (8 of 16) of … [Read more...]
earthquakes, Paua and coagulation
Almost 2 weeks ago New Zealand experienced a large Earthquake rated at 7.8 on the richter scale. This led to some significant changes in the topography of the South island with the seabed rising by as much as 4 metres in some places. This meant the sea life normally on the seabed well below the tide mark was suddenly exposed. One well known New Zealand delicacy, the Paua, … [Read more...]
Thanksgiving – 5 events in coagulation history
Even though we live in New Zealand, we like to celebrate the American tradition of Thanksgiving. We have a big family meal and give thanks for the birth parents of our three adopted children (I got this idea from Mia Farrow). Afterwards we get out our Christmas tree and lights to start the long process of decorating inside and outside. Paul is quite interested in the history … [Read more...]
Jonah Lomu Remembered
An All Black Legend One year ago, on 18th November 2015, one of the New Zealand Rugby greats passed away. Jonah Lomu was known the world over as an All Black legend and was one of the most feared wingers in the history of the game. He was only forty when he died and his death was seen as a huge loss to rugby as he was a great ambassador for the game. Although Jonah had a long … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – the death that stops you clotting
Did you know that if you are struck by lightening your blood doesn't clot? This was first described back in 1794 and became quite important in the scientific discovery of how blood clots. John Hunter wrote in 'A treatise on the blood, inflammation and gun-shot wounds' records that in 'animals killed by lightning or electricity' or in animals 'who are run very hard, and … [Read more...]