The Night Mail

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

It mainly lives underground, so it has developed fangs that stick out of the side of it's head, so can strike sideways.

 

 

There must be some strange evolutionary reason for that, though living underground and going for prey in tunnels  you'd think that striking sideways would be pretty impractical.

 

I spotted a smallish Eastern Brown snake near my bird aviary a while back. I tried to keep an eye on it while waiting for the Snake Catcher to turn up but It went down a  crevice between the aviary and the pavers....   About 2 minutes later in the garden bed beside the aviary all these mice started popping up out of  all these holes in the mulch that I had always assumed were just spider holes, I had no idea they were actually  part of some kind of vast  rodent Tora Bora  style tunnel system  that the snake had slithered into.

Edited May 6 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

I'm wondering what the purple/lilac dotted line is for?

 

I'd assume that if the blue swelling bit gets beyond that then its getting bigger!

 

A bit like the White Tailed Spider here, who's bite can cause "necrotising arachnidism", which unfortunately does not mean  "SpiderMan style powers"!

 

 

 

Edited May 6 by monkeysarefun

[Tony_S]

I have had that purple skin marker pen ink applied at the hospital. The doctor used it to show the area she wanted the medical photographer to focus on. Probably the same with the snakebite🙂

[iL Dottore]

1 minute ago, Tony_S said:

I have had that purple skin marker pen ink applied at the hospital. The doctor used it to show the area she wanted the medical photographer to focus on. Probably the same with the snakebite🙂

Purple (or black or red..) permanent marker is also used to delineate the area where surgery will take place. In the case of the thumb above - quite probably amputation. That thumb looks beyond saving.

 

When I had one of my first knee surgeries, I had to use a permanent marker pen to clearly indicate which knee should be operated upon (don't ask me why - some hospital SOP or summat). Anyway, I drew an arrow pointing to the appropriate knee together with the words "Cut Here"....

[Dave Hunt]

My Dad once had an insect bite on a little toe that turned septic and then black, a bit like the picture of the snake bite but not as bad. He was taken into hospital, though, and had a marker pen outline of the limit of the black discolouration applied so that the medics could keep track of how the intravenous antibiotic treatment was taking effect.

 

Dave

[jjb1970]

A good rule of thumb here is watch where you walk when you leave the footpath as all sorts live in the grass and under growth and can blend in extremely well. I once noticed a huge monitor resting under bushes, I didn't see it until I was alongside me and it was huge. I just walked on quickly and it didn't do anything. The big lizards look frightening but unless threatened they're usually quite docile and they're used to coexisting with people because of the nature of the place. Some of the snakes are best avoided though.

[Tony_S]

I didn’t really think the purple line was to aid the aim of the snakebite photographer. Hence the Smiley.

[SM42]

As it's a bank holiday, Mrs SM42 is off work. 

She is also in tidying mode, so I am on edge again. 

 

It is impossible to finish any task as I am constantly being hailed to come and look at, do, or make a decision on something else. 

 

Fortunately she has gone shopping so I might get an hour or so of respite

 

Andy

Edited May 6 by SM42
Punctuation

[Dave Hunt]

1 minute ago, iL Dottore said:

When I had one of my first knee surgeries, I had to use a permanent marker pen to clearly indicate which knee should be operated upon (don't ask me why - some hospital SOP or summat). Anyway, I drew an arrow pointing to the appropriate knee together with the words "Cut Here"....

 

In all my orthopaedic operations at Oswestry (two knees, one hip, one foot and my spine - the day I left the RAF I started falling to bits) I had marker pen arrows indicating the bit of me that was to be worked on. On one occasion I was due to go to theatre early in the morning but due to emergencies was delayed until late afternoon, by which time the marker pen had worn off. When we got to the theatre, the nurse who accompanied me to ensure that everything was done 'by the book' wouldn't let the surgeon proceed until he had confirmed with my notes and from me verbally which hip was to be operated on and a fresh marker arrow applied.

 

Dave

[Northmoor]

All these lovely images of the aftermath of interacting with bite-y things didn't put me off my lunch (be realistic) but I'm becoming strangely reluctant to renew my passport.

[monkeysarefun]

9 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

The big lizards look frightening but unless threatened they're usually quite docile and they're used to coexisting with people

That's cos you live in the jungle!

 

Old bushie lore here is if you see a goanna in the outback, don't startle it cos when startled they instinctively run up the tallest thing, which in the outback is probably you.

 

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

The day I left the RAF I started falling to bits

I think this applies to all service personnel.

 

I'm convinced that armed forces medics have a secret file, which is destroyed when you are discharged.

 

It is a forecast of when and where you are going to start disintegrating, and your retirement is planned by the appropriate personnel branch, to start  six months before you start falling to bits.

 

Since the file is destroyed, they then claim that you were fighting fit when you left and that any ailment you subsequently suffer from cannot be attributable to your military service, so you don't get any additional pension or cash payout.

 

Fortunately for me, my arthritis of the left ankle kicked in 18 months before I was due to leave, so when I did leave, I got an additional lump sum. 

 

It wasn't much, but I was able to buy a couple of cakes with it! 

[monkeysarefun]

11 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

In all my orthopaedic operations at Oswestry (two knees, one hip, one foot and my spine - the day I left the RAF I started falling to bits) I had marker pen arrows indicating the bit of me that was to be worked on. On one occasion I was due to go to theatre early in the morning but due to emergencies was delayed until late afternoon, by which time the marker pen had worn off. When we got to the theatre, the nurse who accompanied me to ensure that everything was done 'by the book' wouldn't let the surgeon proceed until he had confirmed with my notes and from me verbally which hip was to be operated on and a fresh marker arrow applied.

 

Dave

 

 

 

Here after pre-med they go through asking you questions to confirm your name, address and then  to confirm  what knee or whatever  they are going to operate on.

 

I'm probably the 1,878,768,564,455th person to go "What! Don't yous  know?? get me out of here!"  thinking its  a  hilarious joke.

 

With our influx of  Brit nurses and surgeons though,  surely one of them hasn't heard it before.

[monkeysarefun]

4 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

that any ailment you subsequently suffer from cannot be attributable to your military service, so you don't get any additional pension or cash payout.

 

 

 

That's pretty poor. My boss at work is ex-Army Sigs, he has hearing loss and a back issue that came on post service career but that he can trace back to incidents during his time in the army. Veterans Affairs have recently sent him on full-body MRI scans, a full audio examination and some weird test involving electrical impulses that sounds pretty painful,  but they are coughing up the cost for all the  tests and are giving hima lump sum payout in the  high 5 figures, plus an extra 30% to his life-time military pension.

 

My office until recently was across the corridor that had a SCIF so the door was a massive metal one, with metal fingers of Beryllium to aid electrical contact or something. One day some tradie tasked with something or other to do with the door decided for no apparent reason to remove the Beryllium fingers with an angle grinder.

 

Once someone noticed what was going on we were all evacuated and were not allowed back downstairs until the dust monitoring was all clear. The Department of Defence came out and gave us something to sign that acknowledged our potential contact with Beryllium dust so if in the future we come down with symptoms  that can be identified with Beryllium exposure we will get compensated.

 

[bbishop]

On duty at Lord's.  It is raining. 

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

 

"Just a sharp scratch"

 

Andy

Followed by - you won't feel a thing honest.

[Winslow Boy]

35 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I think this applies to all service personnel.

 

I'm convinced that armed forces medics have a secret file, which is destroyed when you are discharged.

 

It is a forecast of when and where you are going to start disintegrating, and your retirement is planned by the appropriate personnel branch, to start  six months before you start falling to bits.

 

Since the file is destroyed, they then claim that you were fighting fit when you left and that any ailment you subsequently suffer from cannot be attributable to your military service, so you don't get any additional pension or cash payout.

 

Fortunately for me, my arthritis of the left ankle kicked in 18 months before I was due to leave, so when I did leave, I got an additional lump sum. 

 

It wasn't much, but I was able to buy a couple of cakes with it! 

So not like that chap then who had a picture of himself in the attic which carried on aging while he stayed young.

[Tony_S]

48 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I'm convinced that armed forces medics have a secret file, which is destroyed when you are discharged.

The people trying to get access to their medical files after the testing of atomic bombs have had great difficulty. 

[Tony_S]

14 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

So not like that chap then who had a picture of himself in the attic which carried on aging while he stayed young.

I think I do the aging on behalf of my wife. 

[Winslow Boy]

5 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I think I do the aging on behalf of my wife. 

I thought that was included in the marriage vows but could be mistaken it might just be a variation to the contract.

[monkeysarefun]

10 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The people trying to get access to their medical files after the testing of atomic bombs have had great difficulty. 

 

 Even harder for those who lived in the area at the time -  which  both the British and   Australian Governments  declared was unoccupied - Japan wasn't the only country to have its residents killed by a nuclear weapon.

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

My Dad once had an insect bite on a little toe that turned septic and then black, a bit like the picture of the snake bite but not as bad. He was taken into hospital, though, and had a marker pen outline of the limit of the black discolouration applied so that the medics could keep track of how the intravenous antibiotic treatment was taking effect.

 

Dave

Another medical use of the Magic Marker Pen! (and one that hadn't occurred to me considering that from the picture the thumb looked - to use the medical term - totally f*****)

52 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

All these lovely images of the aftermath of interacting with bite-y things didn't put me off my lunch (be realistic)

Very little puts me off my lunch (especially if it's Schweinhaxen deep fried in the Bavarian style with kartoffelpuffer and rotkraut washed down with ein großes).

 

Even after a stint doing autopsies in pathology lunch was consumed. One has to get the priorities straight!

[Happy Hippo]

44 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The people trying to get access to their medical files after the testing of atomic bombs have had great difficulty. 

A friend of mine fought for years for compensation after he got his medical records released.

 

He was eventually given a medical pension, and was able to enjoy it for just over 6 months...

 

Before the cancer killed him.

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

All these lovely images of the aftermath of interacting with bite-y things didn't put me off my lunch (be realistic) but I'm becoming strangely reluctant to renew my passport.

 

I quite agree; when you think of all the horrible things in France......

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

 Here after pre-med they go through asking you questions to confirm your name, address and then  to confirm  what knee or whatever  they are going to operate on.

 

It's similar here but after the questions they still have to see the marker pen arrow.  And even when you are on a ward, when they come to give you medication they still have to ask you to confirm name and DOB and check them against your notes before handing over the happy pills. 

 

Dave