Hospitals (2) USA

Hazards of Hospitals

I received an email this morning which contained an ‘infographic’ on the hazards of hospitals. 

I have no way of checking its veracity but thought it might prove interesting.

Created by: Medical Billing and Coding

Hospitals (1) UK

Deep Vein Thrombosis

We associate DVT with long-haul flights but the risk is minimal compared to that of being in an NHS hospital.

Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) was identified 60 years ago and 30 years later a cure was found for it. It is the biggest preventable death risk yet despite this, 25,000 people in UK die each year from DVT which has been acquired while in hospital. DVT means that blood clotting has occurred in the legs with the risk that a clot may break off and travel to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism, a blockage in the lungs. This can result in death. At their peak, deaths from hospital-acquired infections caused 10,000 deaths.

The NHS Medical Director claims that the prevention of DVT is the main clinical priority. . In January 2010 guidelines were introduced requiring inpatients, surgical and non-surgical, to be screened for DVT. NHS Trust hospitals are charged with screening 90% of hospital patients but fewer than half meet this target.

Every hospital inpatient is asked a series of questions about personal and family health history. To add questions about potential clotting problems – there are about five questions, including, for example, is there active cancer or cancer treatment, are they over 60 ?– would take perhaps 15 seconds to ask and answer.

25,000 people dying each year from something preventable is the same number that die from less easily prevented conditions, like stroke. The picture is improving, but very slowly.

Magpie Tales #82 The Revenant

Thanks go to Tess Kincaid who organises and hosts this meme J To read more Magpies please click here.

 The Revenant by Andrew Wyeth, 1949

He looked at himself critically in the full-length mirror.  Not many men his age could boast a physique like his. He patted his stomach proudly. He still had all his hair, too, notwithstanding it was turning white and receding slightly. That made his forehead appear more prominent and gave him an intellectual air so he wasn’t displeased with that. There were a few lines around his eyes and mouth but they added character to his face and drew attention away from his pointed ears – his ears had always been a cause of vexation to him, but wearing his hair slightly longer helped to disguise them, he thought. There was a little too much chest hair for his liking but he disapproved of waxing – that was something for the younger generation.

He had been slightly surprised and not a little gratified when his agent had contacted him recently about some work. It was a few years since he had been active but he was pleased that he had not been completely forgotten. He had made his name – and his fortune – in a series of coffee advertisements. He wondered if they were to be updated. He liked the idea of recreating his persona as a mature man. Perhaps he would be expected to introduce a subtly mellow coffee for the connoisseur, like Monsoon Malabar or Old Brown Java. He breathed in, imagining the aroma, and smiled slightly.

His agent had been quite evasive but enthused that he was definitely well qualified for the work. He accepted that – she had always treated him well. At the studio he was greeted with courtesy and offered refreshment while the story line of the advert was summarised. When they reached the part about the wheelchair and the nurse he had been startled. He was perfectly able to walk, he said, and he really didn’t think he was old enough to be advertising a retirement home. They told him he looked the part, frail but alert, intelligent and engaging, and there would be a series and a sizeable fee.

Reluctantly he agreed and was soon enjoying a whole new career as the face of care homes throughout the country, wearing a white ensemble that became his trademark. Eventually he became known as the Man in White, fêted as the representative of the elderly. He became a minor celebrity once more and was booked to open summer fayres and new supermarkets. He was invited to take part in quiz shows and light-hearted debates.

He knew what his fellow thespians thought of him. Less fortunate than him and envious, they called him the Comeback Kid or, more unkindly, the Revenant, a reference to his spectral appearance in the advertisements. Little matter – he was happy enough. 

Let them call him what they pleased – he was being paid for being old. 

Succinctly Yours Week 25

Grandma's Goulash at Succinctly Yours hosts this microfiction meme. 

Each week she posts a photographic prompt for inspiration and the challenge is to write a story using no more than 140 characters or words. Below is this week's photo followed by my offerings. 

As an extra challenge, a word is offered for inclusion and this week’s word is methodical.

Image from Grandma's Goulash

She had been taught at kindergarten to be methodical. The lesson deeply ingrained, even thirty years later, she had to find a fence to park.

(140 characters)

Two cars, a horse box and a trike – were they encouraging their four-year-old daughter to be materialistic?

(107 characters)

Allegro

The challenge at 'imaginary garden with real toads' was set by Laurie Kolp. Her word, 'allegro' was to be incorporated in an eight-line stanza that had to be written in one minute. 

As she said, 'To sum it up: One word (allegro), one octave, one minute.'

I said, ‘Allegro’ to my pup -

‘Twas meant to make him hurry up,

But he just rushed straight back indoors

With lightning haste and muddy paws

And jumped into the litter tray

To piddle quickly. Now each day

He turns his nose up when it’s wet

And pees inside, the little pe(s)t!

Rugby World Cup 2011 New Zealand

The Rugby World Cup 2011 begins today in NewZealand. The first match is between Tonga and New Zealand and audiences were treated to two heart-stirring hakas, the first from Tonga, followed by New Zealand. One Tongan player was seen to say, 'That was good!'


The first clip is of the All Blacks in 2006 with accompanying explanation. Turn up the volume and feel the vibrations!

The second clip is also from 2006 and shows the All Blacks and the Tongans performing their hakas before the start of the game.

Planks and Planking

Calling someone ‘a plank’ is not complimentary. I suppose it’s a contraction of ‘as thick as two short planks’, the derivation of which can be found here.

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable states, “As thick as two short planks. Very obtuse. Two short planks laid together are twice as thick as one long one.”

Siblings are wont to call each other planks in a jocular way. Some of my grandchildren have taken to imitating planks and enjoy planking all over the place. The images are rather blurred, I'm afraid. Perhaps the person taking the photos was laughing too hard!! 

Kiri and Callum planking on the London Eye

Callum planks on a car

Kiri planks on a gangplank

Callum planking in wet weather gear - appropriate for washing machines!

Kiri planks on the furled sail

Planking is sometimes called the ‘lying down game’ and is fun when practised safely.

I think it has given rise to a new form or social interaction:-

“Do you plank here often?”

“Shall we plank?”

“I’ll plank if you will.”

“I want to plank with you forever.”

Perhaps there will be new ditties! This one, to be sung to the tune of ‘Are you lonesome tonight?’ could be a hit!

“Are you planking tonight?

Do you miss me tonight?

Are you glad that we planked so much time?

Do you sometimes recall that you once made me fall

From the wall that I planked on in slime?

Are the places we planked still attractive and fair,

Do you wish we could plank ourselves over some chairs?

Are you looking for fun, shall I be the one,

Darling, please, are you planking tonight?”

There will be variations, of course.

“Be my little chipboard and I‘ll be your nail.”

“Two by four and four by two – we’re made for each other.”

“You’re a splinter in my heart and you hurt me so.”

“He’s as false as a laminate board.”

“They’ve been floorboarded – the bank won’t make them a loan.”

“He’s fibreglass – light, smart, hasn’t got the values of the old hearts of oak.”

You can plank anywhere!

I don’t think I’ll go planking! 

Rawhide!

Move 'em on, head 'em up, 

Head 'em up, move 'em out, 
Move 'em on, head 'em out Rawhide! 
Set 'em out, ride 'em in, 
Ride 'em in, let 'em out, 
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in Rawhide. 

SkyWatch Friday - Canada Geese in flight, Beaulieu River

The Beaulieu River in Hampshire, UK, is a wild fowl reserve.


On a grey August evening, skeins of Canada Geese passed overhead, honking their heart-stirring cries.

Click here to see more skies from across the world

Bertie and the rain

Young puppies need to be taken outside at regular intervals to relieve themselves. Small bodies can’t store very much and when they have to be emptied they must be accommodated promptly.  

A few days ago, in the middle of the night, though that’s a contradiction, I took Bertie out in pouring rain, under an umbrella, and he was quick to discharge his load and hop back indoors out of the wet.

We’ve had a lot of rain recently but on Tuesday it was coming down like stair-rods. I’ve always thought that a strange expression since stair-rods are placed horizontally and rain falls vertically – usually! Anyway, it was raining extremely heavily and despite a large umbrella covering us, Bertie didn’t want to stray away from its shelter or my feet. 

He was not a happy boy! 

It was, after all, not his choice to go out at that time. We thought he *should* go out!

Humans don’t always know what’s best for puppies!

It is funny how dogs that are bred for the great outdoors dislike going out in the rain when they’re at home, yet when they’re out they can’t keep away from water. Frodo, our Dalmatian, makes a beeline for ponds when we’re walking, being beaten to them only narrowly by our Labradors. 

In Tandem #9 September song

I'm still in Bad Poetry mode . . . To see more worthy contributions powering Jinksy's tandem please click here.

Graphic copyright Jinksy

September song

Sun shines,

Leaves fall,

Love’s gone,

That’s all.

This is the song travelling through my mind this morning . . . Eva Cassidy enchants with her beautiful rendition of a haunting song.

ABC Wednesday H is for a Host of things

H is for a Host of things in my garden.


In spring there are Hyacinths . . . 

. . . and Hazel catkins . . .

Corkscrew Hazel (Corylus avellana contorta) which gives sweet Hazel nuts

Our Helleborus niger - Christmas rose - flowers in March!

Our Holly tree (Ilex'Golden King') flowers in early spring . . .

. . . attracting the Holly blue butterfly (Celastrina argiolus)

. . . here seen on Ivy (Hedera)

Holly berries are greenish-white in early summer . . .

 . . . ripening in early autumn . . .

. . . and providing winter food for blackbirds and thrushes, particularly the redwing.

Heathers, pink and white, offer nectar early in the year to provide sustenance for early bees.

Heather or Winter Heath (Erica carnea)

Before the winter, Honesty flowers and will produce transparent seed pods, attractive to flower arrangers. Honesty (Lunaria annua) is known as 'Money Plant' in South-east Asia and 'Silver Dollars' in the States.

Honesty (Lunaria annua) self-seeds freely

Honeysuckle gives fragrance to the garden and attracts many insects . . .

Late spring and summer bring Hordes of Hoverflies . . .

Hoverfly(syrphid fly or flower fly) on pyracantha . . .

. . . and occasionally a Hornet (Vespa crabro)  a large social wasp wasp that looks frightening but is much gentler than its smaller cousins.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have been scarce this summer. Normally we see dozens at a time collecting nectar . . .

 . . . like this one on Ceanothus (Californian lilac)

Day lilies (Hemerocallis) add colour and interest . . .

 . . . and so do mophead or lacecap Hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla)

My final H is for Hanging baskets, in which grow a variety of plants, from lobelia and petunias, to pansies and strawberries and tomatoes.

To see more Hs from around the world please click here.

Bad Poetry

At ‘imaginary corner with real toads’ , critique corner suggests that participants write a really bad poem - a chance at last for all to shine;-)

In September the days are short

And sometimes you get caught

When it’s raining cats and dogs

And wetting all the dry logs

You’ve chopped to put on the fire

Now you must wait until they’re much drier.

Sometimes September sun shines, too,

Sometimes September sky is true blue,

Sometimes I run like the wind to meet you

And our love will always for ever be true.

For ever and a day,

Together we will stay,

When the sun shines we will make hay

And always together we will play.

Music is the food of love,

And we thank heaven above

That we fit together like hand in glove

Just like peace and the white dove.