Updatey

[peteryoung]

The Three Doctors and the Knee from Planet Blog: I went back to One, who still reckons I need an arthroscopy despite the very dismissive attitude of Two, but he'll be in the States until 3 March. Two confirmed again that no, he definitely won't do an operation as I now have flexibility back in the knee – he seems only interested in treating symptoms rather than fixing the underlying problem. So in the meantime I've approached Three, at a good physiotherapy clinic. Three looked at the MRI scan and diagnosed that the meniscus between my femur and tibia is thin because the movement of the bones is somehow twisting slightly in an unnatural way when I walk, even though this is invisible to the eye. It's probably caused by the weakness of one of my thigh muscles and the compensating efforts being made by the others, and it's slowly wearing down my meniscus. I'm seeing Three again tomorrow to learn how to remedy things that way aswell.

Dog-blogging: Benji's vicious poodle Lookmen has picked up an ear infection, and it makes her shake her head all day. A vet has given us eardrops, which she hates, and she'd bite my hand off when I administer them if I gave her the chance.

Sprog-blogging: We also think Lookmen knows there'll be an addition to the family soon: in the mornings she likes to lie with her head on Benji's ever-expanding stomach, and we wonder if she might be able to hear a heartbeat inside as dogs have such sensitive hearing. Benji had a blood test a couple of weeks ago: it turns out she's been carrying thalassemia all her life without knowing it. It's common with Mediterraneans and South East Asians and only leads to problems for a child if both parents are carriers. So I had a blood test too, which was negative as expected, but now after 48 years on this planet I've finally learned my blood group: B–. It's pretty rare: only 2% of the populations of most Caucasian countries have it. So we know our kid will definitely have a rhesus positive blood group as Benji's is A+. Next month we'll be having another scan, and we'll hopefully learn by then if it's to be a boy or a girl.

Comments

[drplokta]

The kid might be Rhesus negative; positive is dominant, so Benji might have a negative gene as well as the positive. It's only two negative parents who can be sure which their child will be.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

just wanted to second what drplotka said.

I'm also B- and G is O+, but both our son and daughter are rhesus negative. This is because G's mum was rhesus neg and thus he carried a negative gene, even though he himself was positive.

Ear infection or?

[godelescherbach.livejournal.com]

How old is Lookmen? Saffron developed an inner ear problem--not an infection--that included head shaking. "Homeopathic vesticular syndrome", which my vet says translates to "there's a problem here, but we're idiots who can't figure it out". Essentially, they lose their balance, from the K9 viewpoint it's like you're on a merry-go-round and then stopped--your worldview is going round and round until your body can adjust.

E-mail me for more details and symptons...

Re: Ear infection or?

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

She's ten in a few months (a little under 70 in human years) but she still has the energy (and sometimes ferocious aggression) of a puppy. The eardrops seem to be working as her head-shaking is not nearly as bad now: hopefully it looks like it was an accumulation of wax that was affecting her hearing.

Re: Ear infection or?

[godelescherbach.livejournal.com]

Saffron developed the homeopathic vesticular syndrome at 13 (almost 14). So if things don't clear up, let me know and maybe I can pass something on that will help.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Let's hope you will have a knee left to dandle the baby on!