You may remember us saying that Angela's parents (aged 85 and 86) emigrated from UK to New Zealand in September last year. They have settled very well into a retirement village and follow all the recommendations put to the residents. I thought one of these recommendations was such a good idea that I'd share it with you all and that is to keep health details readily available in … [Read more...]
“Best Anticoagulant Control in the World” – from Paul’s book chapter
Point-of care testing book This week a new book, entitled "A Practical Guide to Global Point-of-Care testing", was published in Australia. I am very excited about this as I am one of the contributors. Point-of-care testing, or POC testing for short, is where a laboratory test is carried out at the bedside or immediately after a blood sample is taken. Those of you who use … [Read more...]
5 reasons why it was a good hospital appointment
Our youngest two boys have kept us very busy with hospital appointments; Isaac has two sets of very fat medical notes, Noah has three and has had 81 hospital appointments in his time! So I guess you'd say we're quite experienced! Today's paediatric clinic with Isaac was one of the most straightforward and enjoyable. So, afterwards, I thought of five reasons for this, most of … [Read more...]
Book Review – Next Breath – PE memoir
The Next Breath – New Life after Near Death Joseph Fisher – writer (4 books, 3 book chapters, 20 scientific papers) and medical researcher his website- www.the-next-breath.org contains information about the book and sample pages from it Bottom Line A brutally honest memoir about having a PE and resultant complications (of which there were … [Read more...]
Pulmonary Embolism recovery looks like this.
"I used to go running. Will I ever be able to again?" and "Will I ever get back to normal?" are just two of the questions Paul's been asked by people who've had a pulmonary embolism. Recovery can be very variable and may take a long time, but for inspiration, look to Serena Williams! This #1 ranked female tennis player had a pulmonary embolism back in March 2011. She had … [Read more...]
Exercise during flights – airline’s advice
In Paul's post about Dos and Don'ts of travel after clots, he recommended exercise during flights. As we traveled on lots of different airlines over the past three weeks, I thought I'd see what advice each of them gave about exercise. I couldn't find any advice given by three of the airlines we used, Jetstar, Air New Zealand and Easyjet. This is the advice I found from the … [Read more...]
Dos and Don’ts of travel – What Paul did
Just before we left for Copenhagen for the European Haematology congress, Paul wrote about the dos and don’ts of travel after clots. Paul has had multiple pulmonary emboli, including one that occurred on a flight, so flying is a particular concern of mine. Now we’re safely back in New Zealand, fighting jetlag, I thought you might be interested to discover which of his own … [Read more...]
Travel Insurance – Should it be so hard?
Our story - trying to get travel insurance when you’ve had a pulmonary embolus. Paul is attending the European Haematology Association conference in Copenhagen this June and I’m lucky enough to be going with him. I’ve spent quite a while looking up and comparing flights and accommodation and have settled on flying with Qatar airlines and staying at some nice … [Read more...]