I am back. Yes, we have snow. About three inches. Shirt sleeves and sandals back to ski jackets and mukluks in less than 18 hours.
I am trying to get back into the webinar. When I lose the connection it kicks me right back to the beginning of the session and I have to fight with the scroll bar again. Thinking it may be the friction ridges on my fingers. They are barely there.
This is a real tangential subject – and I promise to get back on topic soon – but many of us are ‘of a certain age’ and might be interested in this. The simple fact is, as we age, our fingerprints disappear. If you ever wanted a life of crime, now may be the time!
No, seriously. They disappear. A few years back I had to renew my clearances and I had to go back to be fingerprinted at least three times. We finally just gave up and declared me safe to work with kids. It was crazy frustrating.
Another Aging Puzzle: The Case of the Disappearing Fingerprints has all sorts of neat info on this topic. You might want to look at it. Especially if you need to be fingerprinted for volunteer work or something. Get you prepared for having to go back and back and….
Back on subject: the article on nine things to think about when considering a stem cell trial. I am still looking at the bullets under the first point so this review might take a while.
Expense was another thing to consider that they mentioned. The last I looked the pay for the trial I want was $75 a day. Holiday Inn Express was giving discounts on rooms if you needed to stay. So basically, we might be able to stay for ‘free’ but meals, gas and wear and tear are going to be all ours.
Knew that. Actually, it is part of the reason I am retiring. Retired I have a pension, a guaranteed income even if I need to spend days in Philly. If you are still working and looking at clinical trials of any type, you will need to consider the possibility of lost wages. Nasty thought but it may need to happen.
Oh, and we have said this before but it is worth repeating:
We do NOT pay to be in stem cell trials or to get any other experimental treatment.
If some ‘doctor’ says he has a great, experimental treatment but you need to pay? Get out of there as quickly and graciously as possible and call your local medical ethics board. There is something wrong and it needs to be looked into.
Second bullet is covered. Yes, we know there are different types of stem cells. There is a whole bunch of science involved here but they have done all these manipulations to be sure the stem cells in my chosen trial are appropriate.
The caveat here is know your provider. Wills Eye Hospital has been ranked the second best in the nation. (What’s first? Bascom-Palmer in Miami.)
Carl Regillo, my retinologist, has credits as long as your leg. Open a page covering an ophthalmology convention and the boy’s picture is there. Too legit to quit…or to do shoddy research.
OK. That covers points 1 and 2. Bye!
Written April 2nd, 2018