alexis

I agree - somewhat disturbing. One of my friends is a vet and she is on call at night. She lives 5 mins walk from where she works and the nurse stays in a flat upstairs. The nurse checks on the animals regularly and the vet pops in once overnight to double check. Interestingly I read this about 'human' nurses - 18% of nurse practioners are calling themselves this when they don't have the qualifications to do so and are also prescribing drugs when not allowed! Mind you when they are qualified to , the course is something like 40 days to learn how to when it takes a Dr 5 years. I believe the course to examine and diagnose patients is a similar length for nurses to become qualified in examination and diagnosis. When being assessed the nurses are expected to be able to perform at the same level as a dr would doing a similar job ( according to the nursing ands midwifery council documents on becoming a nurse practitioner) i.e an advanced nurse practitioner should work to the same level as the GP in the GP surgery, or as a junior dr in hospital.They are assessed by other nurse practitioners. Sorry for the slight tangent! http://www.healthcarerepublic.com/news/GP/...-qualification/

I asked my vet last year about yearly vaccines and she said they don't have the brands that are licenced for 3 yearly vaccination so wasn;'t an option. We keep Charlie up to date incase she needs to go into kennels. I think a lot of chronic illnesses are attributed to vaccinations that aren't necessarily caused by them. I have heard people try to blame almost every disease known to vaccination yet most of them were around before vaccines were invented! I think many diseases are happening now due to change in diet and obesity more than due to vaccination. Also there will have been a genetic impact as well. Re tetanus jabs, the current thinking is that if u have had 5 i your lifetime then u are covered forever ( that's 3 as a baby, one pre school and one in mid teens). If you have had a local reaction to a vaccine it shows that you have a good immune reaction, not necessarily a reaction to the vaccine itself. RE arthritis and tetanus, there is no evidence this is the case, the nurse was talking rubbish!

Cerazette has been wonderful for me. Most of the other pills give me nausea or vomiting or breakthrough bleeding. Nothing on cerazette! No periods at all and no side effects either, I love it!

ooh they're lovely - are you selling them cos a collar like that would look great on Charlie - brindle and white staffy!

I don't agree with abortion for social reasons which is why most abortions occur. As a dr you see quite a lot of young women having multiple abortions as they get pregnant and it is 'inconvenient' for them to have a baby and they use it as a form of contraception.I won't sign an abortion form as I feel that signing to say "the risk to a woman’s physical or mental health or the risk to her child(ren)’s physical or mental health will be greater if she continues with the pregnancy than if she ends it" to refer the patient for an abortion when often this isn't the case would mean I was lying. The quoted bit above is the abortion law stated on the form a dr has to sign. In the case of physical problems then it's a different matter. I think it is too easy to get an abortion in the UK and women should have proper counselling before they do so. Many women I have spoken to do see it as any easy option and don't realise the lasting effects.

sounds like contact dermatitis yes- likely to be nickel in the buttons. Best treated with steroid cream, possibly with some antibiotic cream if infected - go see the GP!

could they be haematomas? basically a bad bruise where the tiny blood vessels under the skin leak blood which collects under the skin and then clots so a clot sits under the skin. the clot cannot move anywhere or cause any harm but can be painful and takes a few months usually for the skin to reabsorb the blood.

Natalie- if you've had a blood test and then been given antibiotics then it's likely the test was for H Pylori and u tested positive for it, then antibiotics are given to treat it. Lansoprazole is very similar to omeprazole so switching drugs is unlikely to help. My thoughts would be have u given the omeprazole long enough to work? It can take around a month to decrease the acid and for the inflammation to heal, what dose of omeprazole do u take? It can help to take 40mg for 2 weeks and then decrease to 20mg. has the H Pylori been killed off by antibiotics - it should have been but not always. u can't have a blood test tho as you'll always test positive on the blood test if you've been infected in the past. you have to have a breath test and for that u have to be off all acid suppressing drugs for 2 weeks an ultrasound might help as sometimes gallbladder pain can be felt in the same place as bad indigestion although gall bladder pain is more common in the upper right side of the tummy let us know what happens I'm assuming you've done the lifestyle stuff- extra pillow at night, small meals more often, no alcohol or cigarettes, no spicy/acidic food.

Have only had one dog - Charlie but have had lots of rats if that counts Jake Zac Errol Dylan Winston Archie Charlie Bradley Dumble Bailey Dennis Basil Jasper Riddles Branston Pickle Barney Fred Jack Murray A Friend's dogs Butch Izzy Spot Molly Mac Reggie Fruin

Have been offline for a few days so have only just read this. Wendy, I'm very sorry.

i feel like getting pissed

Am off to bed. back at work at 11pm! last night was weirdly quiet and therefore dragged a lot! 2 nights left then 3 days off then on days at the weekend!

re bite wounds - any breaks to the slin will need a course of antibiotics as bites are notorious for getting infected (human bites are worst tho!). Most kids will be covered for tetanus unless they are over 15 and missed the last booster at school (otherwise they should have had the ones as babies and one at around 5 yrs of age, then a booster at around 15. People are theoretically covered for life if they have all of those and another one in their 20s-30s)

RMF - I have just booked here http://www.florenceandtuscany.com/scheda.php?id_app=1 for a week in a months time for OH's 40th birthday!

safestyle fitted our windows 10 yrs ago. Rubbishly. The windows whistle and u can see a draft moving the curtains. They were paid to brick up the sash boxes but when we looked behind the PVC there is just a hole and then brick with damp coming through. I know there have been a lot of complaints and watchdog have investigated them in the last few years. The salesman was here with me and my mum for 5-6 hours giving us the hard sell. I wish we'd gone with someone else to be honest!

Charlie (staffie) got into a fight with a dog at the weekend, over a ball. She ran up to the other dog and next thing a fight had broken out, i'm not sure who started it. I had to grab her harness to split them up. Just before this she'd said hello to a few other dogs and had a sniff about with no problem. Usually on our walks I'm able to stop her going up to other dogs by saying no and usually have a ball on me, which I didn't this time. If she's got a ball or I have she tends to ignore other dogs. A puppy came uo to us the other day in the park and she had a ball in her mouth and all she did was turn her back on the pup and walk away. You can't usually throw a ball with other dogs around tho as she will snap at them when they chase it so we don't. We got her aged 6 months and for the first few months she met her doggie mates most evenings in the park and was fine. Then a staffie pup around 16 weeks joined in and from day one would just run up to Charlie and launch himself at her neck. he was walked by some kids with no collar and no lead and he'd had no training at all. After a fight broke out between them we started avoiding the other dogs and so Charlie has spent most walks on her own apart from when we meet her collie cross friend Cassie. She's gone for Cassie once when she got jealous of me stroking Cassie instead of her but since then there's been no probs. This week she has been playing with her frisbee with Cassie with no problems. Charlie does tend to nip at other dogs if they start chasing/running. I don't think it's an aggressive thing, she does it to sleeves/clothes when she gets excited about something. we've trained her to greet people with a toy in her mouth to avoid this. She has on occasions been possessive over toys but it's never really ended up in a fight like at the weekend. She does need work on her training ( she's a lot better on the lead now) but it's difficult getting to a regular class working shifts. I was thinking maybe a weekend residential course together might be a start? Or a session one to one with a trainer? She could do with some more socialising but it's hard to do that if you don't know anyone with other dogs. She hasn't really played with other dogs apart from Cassie for a while and Cassie isn't possessive of toys at all. Charlie is toy obsessed and not bothered about food when out. There is a service called tails in the park in Liverpool which we are looking at when she and OH move up here which will take her out to a place with private land for a 2 hour walk or for a whole day. www.tailsinthepark.co.uk. I'll try and go on a walk they do to see what it's like Has anyone got any advice on how to improve her socialisation and toy possessiveness? Where's best to start?

Wayne (Oh's) nearest is Nettie ( she lives opposite). As for me I'm not sure I live in L18 in Liverpool

I've had a rubbish 10 days and now feel low and completely useless. It started with my favourite rat Barney dying. He'd been ill for a while and I knew I'd have to make a decision to have him pts soon so had planned to spend some time with him on his own. I got in from work last friday morning and found him dead in the cage. Thurday I started nights in A&E and it was the only day that week I hadn't got him out for a cuddle. The 6 nights in A& E were rubbish with sick patients and particularly with one patient with hindsight I wonder if I should have dealt with her differently/better but it is easy to say with hindsight and I had discussed the case with the senior dr on duty to get his opinion so I dunno. I started a new rotation on Thursday and am still sorting out paperwork/car parking/computer log ins etc. I am one of the few who change hospitals every 4 months. I found out that since I didn't use the 3 annual leave days left in my last rotation that I can't carry them over so will have to ask to be paid for them. That means I can only taje 9 days leave every 4 month rotation but people who are in the same hospital can carry days over so can work 2 weeks annual leave together! i also found out that if u work bank holidays in A&E u don't get days off in lieu but u do if u work in any other dept and my friend working in A&e in yorkshire will get them off in lieu- seems v unfair! I am on call for the next 5 days then go onto nights for 4 then back on days for the final few days of the 2 weeks on call. Yuck! I'd felt down all weekend so thought I'd take Charlie staffie on a walk in the snow this morning. She had a run around in the park yesterday with her frisbee so went on a street walk today. There's some grass by the common so I thought I'd let her have a run around in the snow. So far so good. she met a few dogs and they sniffed each oither fine. Her recall wasn't as good as usual, maybe due to the snow? so I was about to put her back on the lead. Next thing I knew she'd run off towards a black dog ?collie/labcross and a fight had broken out. I ran over and managed to grab Charlie's harness and break it up. Turns out the black dog had a ball and they'd fought over it. Charle had a few bite marks to her neck and ear. I put her on the lead and stayed around waiting for the owners to check their dog over. I asked twice if the other dog was ok and the owners just said yes without checking the dog over thoroughly. I thought maybe I should have left my phone number or something but the lady owner came over and apologised and said her dog doesn't normally attack other dogs and I said Charlie doesn't either.I'm not sure who attacked who. I know Charlie can be possesive over toys so we're usually really careful. So now I feel even worse. Can't even take the dog for a walk properly.

bump- anyone any suggestions?

Wayne's dad has finally sold Wayne's house to a developer! This means that he'll have to give 8 weeks notice in at work and move in with my parents in London for a bit before moving ( finally!) up to Liverpool. It means Charlie will have to move up to Liverpool too. I am out of the house for 8-12 hours a day and am a bit wary of getting a dog walker to walk a staffy type in Liverpool at the mo. So we thought it might be an idea to try to find someone who will either do 30 mins of cleaning or ironing a day and sit for 30 mins watching telly/ interacting with the dog ( she'd probably go to sleep on the sofa!!). Will obviously pay for the whole hour. It would need to be Mon- Fri. Does anyone have any suggestions how to find such a person in the Wavertree/Mossley Hill ( L15/L18) area of Liverpool? Ta

no posts for almost an hour??!! where is everybody??!!

my friend tells me she felt in it Southampton too!

RMF - the whole house has just shook, including the sofa I'm sitting on. lasted about 20 secs, 3 waves of shakes. Very weird! kitty-kat that's what I thought. I'm in S Liverpool, where are u?

My GP training finishes Aug 2010. That's if we decide not to start a family between now and then ( i'm 30 already). OH is planning on coming up here but he's unlikely to find a job in what he does now unless he works away for short periods and freelances. The plan is to sell the house he lives in in London ( profits split between him, his Dad and brother) and then move up here. The house needs work before selling and the family have been saying they'll do it for over a year now! It's starting to really annoy me!

I'm fed up. Am supposed to be driving down to London to see OH but thanks to hospital's mistake i'm stuck here on my own until Thurs eve. I've got 10 days off work and so planned to go and see OH in London - not seen him that much lately cos of shifts in A&E in Liverpool and not seen Charlie dog much either. You may remember I've had funny vision in my eye for 2 weeks. Have been to eye clinic twice - the last time was a week ago. Got told the 1st time my eye looked fine and they weren't sure what exaclty was wrong. 2nd appt a week later got told I have a visual field defect and the back of my eye looked funny and I may have thrombophlebitis which may or nay not have an underlying cause and they couldn't tell me what the long term outcomes could be. Had to have lots of blood tests and xrays and make another appt for 1-2 weeks. So after the appt last Tues i made an appt for this afternoon, knowing I finished nights this morning and could have 3-4 hours sleep before getting the bus to appt and drive to London tonight. This morning I got a letter saying my appt is now Thursday morning! I can't drive there as they are going to dilate my pupils and it takes an hour on the bus each way and I can't drive for 4-6 hours after that.Looks like I won't be going to London until Thurs eve now. OH and I were really looking forward to spending time together! I phoned up today saying that Thursday I was supposed to be in London and so getting to hospital in Liverpool was difficult to be told that if I didn't turn up to the appt offered I wouldn't be seen until April!! It's their c*** up as the clerk gave me an appt in a clinic that had been cancelled., If they'd have suggested an appt this Thursday to me last week when i was there I'd have said I couldn't make it and they would have booked me an appt for next week or the week after but due to their mistake and then offering me an appt now they can't change it apparently, other than move it to April! The dr wanted to see me in 1-2 weeks but apparently this makes no difference. I'm fuming! What if I'd have been going abroad? Would they have expcected me to cancel my holiday???!!