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[Guest guest]

I found this and thought # 4 was interesting, so if this stuff is

contaminated we will simply pass it on from one to another, and it could end

up in a person who's immune system is already compromised due to illness or

injury. What a wonderful way to test on the elderly and infirm without a

signed concent.

Per Fort Reg 40-38, a person should not donate blood if any of the

following apply:

1. Sick soldier (flu, etc.)

2. Dental treatment within 3 days.

3. Antibiotics within 7 days.

4. Within 4 weeks of certain vaccinations (but soldiers may donate

following an Anthrax shot).

5. Pregnant

6. Blood donor within 2 months.

7. Travel to a malaria area within the past 1 year.

8. Tattoo or acupuncture within 1 year.

9. Viral Hepatitis (permanently disqualified).

10. Household contact of someone with hepatitis within 1 year.

11. History of cancer.

12. Flight status personnel.

13. Seizure disorder, heart disease, or rheumatoid arthritis (unless cleared

to donate blood by a doctor).

N.B.: This is a partial listing Deployment to Operation Desert Shield/Storm

is no longer a dis-qualifier.

[Guest guest]

Hi Carol...

You can see a picture of the sacroiliac (S-I) joints here:

http://www.spineuniversity.com/public/spinesub.asp?id=89

I have S-I joint pain, which manifests as a fairly sharp pain in my

upper right buttock. As I recall, the way that the surgeon can tell

if the pain is in the S-I joint is by having you lie on your back and

moving the joint by manipulating your leg.

I have not had any injections, but may try it in the future.

I have found that I can control the pain somewhat by 1) not sitting at

my desk for long periods of time and 2) laying properly in bed. The

surgeon who did my original spine surgery told me that most S-I joint

pain occurs because the patient stresses that joint when they lay on

their side in bed and allow their top leg to rest on the bed in front

of them instead of keeping their top leg on top of their lower leg.

Good luck in getting some relief. It sounds like the surgeon you're

seeing plans on being your gaitkeeper. If your insurance requires

referrals, you could be out of luck.

Regards,

[Guest guest]

Carol,

Congratulations on your daughter becoming valedictorian. That is a

great honor for her and for you. Nice work Mom ( & Dad)!

I am sorry you didn't get more relief from the epidural...perhaps

after the excitment of graduation is over and you can rest and relax

you will still see some improvement...they say it takes two weeks to

get full effect...and no doubt tension, whatever the source, can make

you feel pain more. Are they suggesting another round?

Are you saying that your surgeon is suggesting he would extend your

fusion but not address the underlying flatback? Hopefully your

insurance will at least let you get a second opinion.

Keep us posted! Cam

[Guest guest]

Yes, that's exactly what he said--or didn't say. He's from the old

school--like over age 60, and that generation of doctors doesn't do

alot of explaining of things. I will of course, get another opinion,

and it will be the doctors at UCSF--Berven and/or Hu. I'm not letting

someone " chop on me " who doesn't understand that the revision would

need to accompany this, otherwise it would be a total waste of time. I

intend on clarifying that when I go back on June 20th (my 24th Wedding

Anniv.) to see him again. He said I had flatback, but I don't think he

understands the correlation between flatback and further fusion or non-

surgery---???? At least it seems that way. I'm grateful that all of you

here at this site have educated me in the past few months. It's been a

steep learning curve!!

Carol V. in California

> Carol,

>

> Congratulations on your daughter becoming valedictorian. That is a

> great honor for her and for you. Nice work Mom ( & Dad)!

>

> I am sorry you didn't get more relief from the epidural...perhaps

> after the excitment of graduation is over and you can rest and relax

> you will still see some improvement...they say it takes two weeks to

> get full effect...and no doubt tension, whatever the source, can make

> you feel pain more. Are they suggesting another round?

>

> Are you saying that your surgeon is suggesting he would extend your

> fusion but not address the underlying flatback? Hopefully your

> insurance will at least let you get a second opinion.

>

> Keep us posted! Cam

[Guest guest]

Thank you very much for that article that you attached--it sounds

VERY INTERESTING. I plan on reading it in detail. I even printed it

out! I have always been careful what I do and don't do as far as

movements go, and also in bed sleeping as well. I have been sleeping

with a folded pillow between my legs for years. There was a time when

I didn't do it, and it felt better to get back to that practice. I

always sleep with my legs on top of each other, maybe one more bent

than the other, whatever feels more comfortable.

Luckily, I have a PPO insurance, so don't need a gatekeeper for

anything. As long as the doctor or surgeon is on the long list in

California, I'm OK. I've already checked it out and Berven, Hu and

the others at UCSF are in our network, so I think I'm fine. Didn't

you say once that you're in a support group of Scoliosis people in

the Bay Area? I also heard that the UCSF bunch now has a 6 month

waiting list for appointments?

I plan on bringing up the S-I injections at my next appt. on Jun.

20th and also what his thinking is on the fusion lengthening. I

personally can't see what good that would do without the revision

surgery as part of the package. I'll try not to be rude or whatever,

but sometimes you wonder about these doctors! My chiropractor said at

my last appt that if the medical community would have asked the

chiropractic community for input before they developed these

harrington rod surgeries, they could have told them that you needed

the body in balance in all planes--including the saggital plane, and

then all of this mess of flatback could have been avoided!! But, the

medical community has some sort of long-standing prejudice or dislike

of the chiropractic community and won't even listen to them.

Chiropractors are much more open minded as a group--at least mine is!

He started out in medical study to become a doctor and switched to

chiropractic!

Thank you again for your input and looking forward to hearing from

you again!

Carol V. in California

> Hi Carol...

>

> You can see a picture of the sacroiliac (S-I) joints here:

>

> http://www.spineuniversity.com/public/spinesub.asp?id=89

>

> I have S-I joint pain, which manifests as a fairly sharp pain in my

> upper right buttock. As I recall, the way that the surgeon can tell

> if the pain is in the S-I joint is by having you lie on your back

and

> moving the joint by manipulating your leg.

>

> I have not had any injections, but may try it in the future.

>

> I have found that I can control the pain somewhat by 1) not sitting

at

> my desk for long periods of time and 2) laying properly in bed. The

> surgeon who did my original spine surgery told me that most S-I

joint

> pain occurs because the patient stresses that joint when they lay on

> their side in bed and allow their top leg to rest on the bed in

front

> of them instead of keeping their top leg on top of their lower leg.

>

> Good luck in getting some relief. It sounds like the surgeon you're

> seeing plans on being your gaitkeeper. If your insurance requires

> referrals, you could be out of luck.

>

> Regards,

>

[Guest guest]

Here is an article that reviews the serious problems with oscillometric devices. The article speaks for itself. If you are one of the pts in whom the device overreads the BP you may be treated for HTN you do not have. If you are the pt in whom the device consistently reads too low your deadly HTN will be missed and you will have a stroke etc because you high BP was missed. The only way to determine if you or you mother or father or pregnant friend are one of those in whom the device reads inaccurately is to have a systematic comparison by trained people using a mercury manometer and the automated device sequentially and then compare the results. We recommend this be done once a year. You must decide how much of an error you can live (or die) with--1 mm, 2 mm 5 mm 10 mm Hg?

Limitations of current validation protocols for home blood pressure monitors for individual patients. Gerin W, Schwartz AR, Schwartz JE, Pickering TG, son KW, Bress J, O'Brien E, Atkins N. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY. Blood Press Monit. 2002 Dec;7(6):313-8.

BACKGROUND Automatic blood pressure monitoring conducted at home is increasingly used in the diagnosis and management of hypertension. We assessed the adequacy of existing British Hypertension Society (BHS) and Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) validation standards for automatic blood pressure monitoring devices.

SUBJECT AND METHODS A theoretical study and an empirical test are presented to estimate the proportion of persons for whom a blood pressure monitor validated according to existing BHS and AAMI standards would be inaccurate.

RESULTS The results suggest that a major limitation of both protocols is the lack of attention given to the number of individual patients for whom a monitor may be inaccurate.

A blood pressure monitor that meets the AAMI and BHS validation criteria may report blood pressures in error by more than 5 mmHg for more than half of the people.

CONCLUSIONS A validation standard that does not take account of the person-effects on error will lead to a substantial proportion of persons

BACKGROUND Automatic blood pressure monitoring conducted at home is increasingly used in the diagnosis and management of hypertension. We assessed the adequacy of existing British Hypertension Society (BHS) and Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) validation standards for automatic blood pressure monitoring devices.

SUBJECT AND METHODS A theoretical study and an empirical test are presented to estimate the proportion of persons for whom a blood pressure monitor validated according to existing BHS and AAMI standards would be inaccurate.

RESULTS The results suggest that a major limitation of both protocols is the lack of attention given to the number of individual patients for whom a monitor may be inaccurate. A blood pressure monitor that meets the AAMI and BHS validation criteria may report blood pressures in error by more than 5 mmHg for more than half of the people.

CONCLUSIONS A validation standard that does not take account of the person-effects on error will lead to a substantial proportion of persons using self-monitors that are systematically inaccurate for that person.

We are working on a standardized protocol to do this for every patient.

You can also go to sharedcareinc.com and get the link to the British HTN Society update on automated devices. This is updated every few months.

I sit on the AAMI Committee which sets the standards for devices. They are voluntary so that one can sell them in the US even if they dont meet the standards. Cavet emptor or patient beware!

A better solution is to not take BP every visit unless indicated. BP is indicated only every 2 years if it has been normal for a year (no Hx of HTN of course). BP in the office is basically a screening test for High blood pressure-sort of like a Pap smear. We don't do Pap smears every visit.

One of these days there will be a major lawsuit I suspect for some one who develops a stroke from HTN that was missed by one of the machines.

What we are recommending is that offices set up a BP room and measure BP carefully at least one a year in these rooms and this BP is the one that is used to make decisions on. Not one done badly every visit.

May your pressure be low!

Clarence E. Grim, BS (Chem/Math), MS (Biochem), MD, FACP, FACC, FASH

Clinical Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology

Director, Hypertension Diagnosis and Treatment Center

Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Hypertension

Published over 220 scientific papers, book chapters and 220 abstracts in the area of high blood pressure epidemiology, physiology, endocrinology measurement, treatment and how to detect curable causes.

Listed in Best Doctors in America

Specializing in Difficult to Control High Blood Pressure and the History and Physiology of High Blood pressure in the African Diaspora

[Guest guest]

Hi Carol, It sounds like you are doing all the right things and

staying on the positive side. Glad to see you got the map thingy

figured out. Don't you love seeing the pix? Especially the members

that shared ones with family in them... spouses, kids and grandkids.

It makes the whole idea of wanting a better quality of life clearer

when you can see those loved ones that we all want to hang

around " healthy " for as long as possible! Hugs, Marty

[Guest guest]

I guess I better get off of this now---been up a little too

long....paying for it in pain. Can sit about an hour, and that's about

it. One thing I don't understand is when I asked Dr. Hu about

the " hardware " she installed after the second surgery, she looked

puzzled and said the only " hardware " she had installed was cages. So, I

told her I guess I'd have to see the X-rays to really understand. She

did the posterior surgery first--took 7 1/2 hrs on the 6th, that's when

she did the 4 osteotomies and cages, and then on the 13th she did

the " disc decompressing " stuff....and that took around 4 1/2 hrs. I

will be curious to see what exactly she did. I have some numbness in my

back around the incision area. (mon. get the staples out locally here)

I have some loss of sensation around my right knee and below and then

between my left ring finger and pinkie finger. If I find any more, I'll

post later.

Carol V.