Best Of

Question for @Foxy if you have time and inclination to answer..

Please could you tell me, how high is a C-Reactive Protein level of 279 mg/dL?

High enough that you should be seeing someone not posting on here

Without wishing to worry anyone - if I was seeing that number, it would go straight to hospital. Right now.

Where are you getting it from?

That was what my reading was when I was in hospital just over three weeks ago. They gave me loads of antibiotics and I feel better, but I don't know if I'm well

When I went to hospital, it was because I had excruciating pain in my chest; I didn't think I felt otherwise unwell. The follow up from the hospital was to tell me to get a chest x-ray in eight weeks, but nothing about a follow-up blood test, which my Dad thought was insane

After many long phone calls, I finally managed today to get my doctors surgery to get my GP to look at the details and get me booked in for a blood test. They offered me their earliest appointment for a blood test - in nine days time; I'm hoping to go back to work a week today

After some slightly terse discussion about the practicalities of their earliest appointment, they've booked me in for 7:30am tomorrow

If you have any doubt about your condition, go to A&E.

The cost, to the NHS, of 5 minutes with a doctor saying you are actually OK is small.
The cost, to the NHS, of catching a problem early is vastly less than if you get to the 999/Ambulance stage.

My faith in A&E has somewhat diminished since they took very good care of me when I'd been hit by the car

Even with the CRP of 279 it took them over twenty hours to give me a bed and antibiotics

I did have a really lovely thing happen in A&E, that I haven't yet reported on

About an hour after my arrival, an older lady sat down in the waiting room about five yards away from me, in quite a huge and busy waiting room. I thought I recognised her and tilted my head and frowned.. She looked up and we both said each others' names at the same time. She's a really sweet lady who I deliver mail to, and have chatted to loads of times

Then her daughter sat down next to her, having brought her to the hospital. I also deliver mail to her, she has one of my favourite dogs on my route (a lovely lady Lab called Muddy). I chatted to them, and then just the Mum after the daughter had to go, for about three hours

She got a room much sooner than me, but I somehow bumped into her three more times while we were both in the hospital. We're now friends, and I've met up with her three times in the three weeks since we've been out of hospital

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I was mystery shopping the Forest of Dean heritage railway wrt accessibility.

This is the reply, to which I give about 7.5 out of 10 - that is, quite good, especially around prompt individual attention given to my query. So well done the FODway. I'll copy to the other project I was talking about, and ask them to make sure that latest accessibility standards are a foundational aspect of their project.

There are other things for a 9/10 or 1 10/10, such as secure, inclusive parking for adapted cycles and mobility aids, gradients, offsite safe routes to get there etc, but I'd need a more detailed conversation to explore those.

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Good morning, Matt

Many thanks for your enquiry.

We are able to accommodate both manual and electric wheelchairs. We provide a ramped access to the train for boarding and disembarking at our stations, and there are disabled toilets at our main station, Norchard, and also Lydney Junction and Parkend. Our porters will be happy to assist.

If you are thinking of visiting, especially during busier days, or booking an experience such as a Santa Special, we ask that you let us know when booking so we can check availability of wheelchair spaces and reserve these for you, as there is limited room on board. For those who are able to transfer from wheelchair to a seat, we are happy to store wheelchairs and reserve tables closest to the ramped access.

We regret there is no wheelchair access for the First Class saloon, due to the nature of the carriage.

Finally, we recommend starting your journey at Norchard station, as we have a large car park including disabled spaces, plus a wheelchair accessible museum, shop and café. There are also half price discounts for carers for our steam train rides, and an £8 discount per carer for our Santa Specials.

Please let us know if you have any further queries, or need help booking something.

Kind Regards

Ha!

The BBC's "anti-bias" dossier that called out Panorama for splicing together disconnected quotes itself spliced together disconnected quotes.

According to Michael Prescott Trump actually said the following, which indicated there was no incitement to riot:

We are gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be with you. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.

What Trump actually, actually said it appears was the following, with the bit that Prescott cut out in italics and a clear incitement to riot;

We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.

Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.

I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

https://bsky.app/profile/jamesrball.com/post/3m5gxauahck2e

If I were an impartiality advisor tasked with assessing the impartiality of an ... impartiality adviser, I'd note that this guy is a highly experienced journalist and PR executive.
Unless he's extraordinarily incompetent, then that's not a simple mistake.

That he seems to have done more or less exactly what he condemns the subject of his report for doing, and leaked that report to a newspaper not entirely sympathetic to the BBC, does not suggest to me a seeker after truth and justice.

Ha!

The BBC's "anti-bias" dossier that called out Panorama for splicing together disconnected quotes itself spliced together disconnected quotes.

According to Michael Prescott Trump actually said the following, which indicated there was no incitement to riot:

We are gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be with you. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.

What Trump actually, actually said it appears was the following, with the bit that Prescott cut out in italics and a clear incitement to riot;

We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.

Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.

I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

https://bsky.app/profile/jamesrball.com/post/3m5gxauahck2e