Month: November 2023

By David Tom Cooke, MD, as told to Susan Bernstein The term is “inoperable lung cancer.” It means that the risk of surgery to remove the lung cancer exceeds the benefits of the surgery for a patient. However, it is hard to tell if someone is “inoperable.” Age is one factor that can slightly increase your risk, but it’s not necessarily prohibitive. I’ve operated on 90-year-olds. Other health problems you have can be a factor, such as impaired lung function. If we remove a lung tumor in a person who already has minimal lung function due to severe COPD or ... Read more

The site of once-pasty Brits turning a shade of pink whilst bathing in the Mediterranean sun has been common-place for as long as there have been cheap commercial flights. However, low-cost air travel and scorching weather is a recipe for bedlam on the beach, as British holidaymakers scramble for a portion of scolding sand on which to lay their towels. But maybe there’s another way to enjoy some summer sun? Maybe, just maybe, there are European holiday destinations that aren’t swamped with sharp-elbowed tourists fighting tool and nail for the last lounger round the pool? As it happens, there is: ... Read more

A woman from Lebanon has made headlines after doctors have removed a so-called “vagina stone” the size of an orange from her pelvis.  The bedridden 27-year-old, who suffers from cerebral palsy, found it impossible to urinate, which is why she went to the doctor. Vagina stones can form in two ways: when urine buildup in the vagina crystalizes, or when an untreated bacterial infection causes urine to harden. In the Lebanese woman’s case, the former reason that was the cause of her pain.  READ MORE: Winter Storm Cait leaves more than 2million people stranded as it pummels the Great Plains The ... Read more

Black Friday 2023 is finally upon us with sales and discounts on all manner of products up and down the UK. One of the most popular categories of Black Friday deals is tech, with thousands of deals across major retailers including Amazon, Currys, Argos, Very, and more besides. The problem is actually finding the very best tech deals out there – there are often a lot of deals that don’t actually have great discounts, or are still products that cost hundreds of pounds. You need to think carefully about whether you actually want to spend £600 on something even if ... Read more

The Silver Line helpline marks 10 years of combatting elderly isolation (Image: Getty) Can it really be ten years since the terrifying, inspiring day we launched The Silver Line Helpline? Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago, sometimes like the blink of an eye.  So much has changed in the world since November 25 2013, but one thing has stayed the same. The scourge of loneliness. Every now and then somebody new rediscovers the fact that loneliness is seriously damaging to our mental, physical and emotional health. Most recently it was the World Health Organization. They announced they are now ... Read more

By Leah Phillips, as told to Janie McQueen I was diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2019. I never even tried a cigarette. I didn’t grow up around secondhand smoke. But at first, before I had biomarker testing, doctors told me they hoped I’d be alive at Christmas the following year.  In September 2019, it started with a cough that was persistent and didn’t go away. Eventually I was misdiagnosed with pneumonia. Then I went in for another CT scan and it showed lytic lesions — cancer spots — in my spine. A bone biopsy showed they’d spread from my lung to ... Read more

Russia and China have been in talks about constructing an underwater tunnel connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland, according to a report by the Washington Post. The information came to light as Ukrainian intelligence intercepted messages exchanged between companies in Russia and China discussing the possibility of this tunnel project. The talks are believed to have been prompted by Russian concerns over potential Ukrainian attacks on the Kerch bridge, the current link between Crimea and mainland Russia. Engineers estimate that the proposed project would require a minimum investment of £4 billion ($5 billion), as reported by the newspaper. THIS IS ... Read more

By Alison Massey, as told to Susan Bernstein There is a perception that chemotherapy is like treatments from 20 or 30 years ago. They think it will have side effects that are not tolerable, but we have made significant advances in managing the toxicities that come with these cancer medications. People think chemo will make them sick, but that’s not the case. Each individual treatment regimen has its own side effect profile. If you look at the list of possible side effects, people can be overwhelmed. Most people will experience a side effect, but no one gets every possible side ... Read more

By Diane Miller, as told to Stephanie Watson Until Jan. 14, 2021, if you’d asked me to describe myself, I would have said, “I’m a wife and mother.” After that day, I added “cancer survivor” to my title.   At first, I attributed the back and foot pain I was having in late 2020 to over-exercise. But when several rounds of physical therapy didn’t relieve the pain, I went to an orthopedic surgeon, who sent me for an MRI. I expected arthritis, or maybe a herniated disk. I never imagined that I might have cancer. Thankfully, an oncology office happened ... Read more

Nov. 22, 2023 – Winter is almost here, and with it may come runny noses, coughing, and congestion. But how do you know if you have just a common cold or one of the three respiratory viruses that make up the “tripledemic” – RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), COVID-19, and influenza?  Based on symptoms alone, it’s difficult to tell which illness you might have. But there are clues that can point you in the right direction: how severe your symptoms are, how long it took for symptoms to set in, what viruses are circulating in your community, and more.  We asked ... Read more