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Stem Cell Research, Auto-Immune Disorders-Obama

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Posted 11/4/2008 7:08 PM (GMT -7)
Well this will prob get deleted but.
Methinks some are more than a little misguided and just want to politicize the issue. Human embryo cultivation is what is opposed not stem cell research. Also its not prohibited, just not federally funded. Tremendous strides have been made using other available cells. If embryos are so critical why don't we have any miracles from one of these other National Health care countries??? HMMM.
Posted 11/4/2008 11:32 PM (GMT -7)
Not that it matters now, since the election has been decided, but both presidential candidates were proponents of stem cell research (including using embryos). Always make sure to do your homework before voting.

Posted 11/4/2008 11:34 PM (GMT -7)
Meesh, we did IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So thanks again for posting, and may the Force be with blue. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])
Posted 11/5/2008 7:22 AM (GMT -7)

Paul L said...
Love4cats, be careful what you say about the Canadian health care system. It varies from province to province and city to rural areas. I live in Toronto and have always had excellent care. I would never trade our system for a US style system. I have never experienced any of the problems you talk about.

I did not say the system was better in the US, but the health care that is given to patients is better.  I think health care should be provided to all, but a broken or inefficient system is not a good thing either. 

Just because somebody lives in rural ON shouldn't mean they should go without a family doctor, they pay their taxes for that service just as city folk do.

I also live in ON, and you are right, the health care system varies between provinces, here is not as good as AB, even with all the cuts Klein made.  Maybe TO has great care, but move away and see what happens.  I lived in Brockville for 3 years with no family doctor because there wasn't any taking on new patients.  City of Kingston is trying to "bribe" family doctors here because there is just not enough.  I finally got one, but in a different town, now that doctor has moved to Ottawa, grrrrrr.

My daughter who possibly has UC has been waiting to see a GI for almost 6 months.

My father, who has a heart condition has had to go to emergency to get his annual blood work done because his family doctor retired and nobody to replace him.  Walk in clinic refused to send him for his blood work because they said that would mean he would become a patient and the doctor was not taking on any new patients.

In 2005 17% of Kingstonians were without a family doctor.

When my mother caught a heart virus in the Florida she was wisked away to a cardiologist immediately and got the best care she has ever had in her life.

Posted 11/5/2008 11:19 AM (GMT -7)

I also live in ON, and you are right, the health care system varies between provinces, here is not as good as AB, even with all the cuts Klein made.

I live in Alberta - sorry to tell you we're in no better shape here than you are - family doctors are impossible to find (I got lucky and found one just as a new clinic opened in my neighbourhood!).  It took a year to get in to see a GI - and I only got in when I did because I was upgraded to "urgent" by my family doctor.  It took another six months to get an appointment for a colonoscopy - again, then only because I was again upgraded to "urgent" status - otherwise two years is the normal wait. 

I appreciate that here in Canada medical bills for an emergency or for a chronic condition like UC won't bankrupt you, but our system is far from perfect.  There are private clinics (not supposed to be but they get around the rules) so if you can afford it your care is better than the average Albertan, but most of us wait and suffer like so many Canadians!

Posted 11/5/2008 5:57 PM (GMT -7)
I am sorry to here your problems but I have always got prompt excellent care here in Toronto. The most I have waited for a specialist was 8 weeks and that was in the summer when he was on a 2 week vacation. I normally wait 2 weeks or less for a GI. A few years ago I had to get a new family doctor because my old one took a job as Air Canada’s chief physician. I went to the “College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario” website for a referral and within a few hours I had a new doctor fairly close to home. I’m currently in the hospital and most of the patients are not from Toronto. My first room mate was from Oakville, 45 minuets away, the second one was from Parry Sound, over 2 hours away. And another woman I met was from Thunder Bay, Ontario, 10 to 12 hours away. She told me she will be flying home when she is discharged.
Posted 11/7/2008 11:21 AM (GMT -7)
Hey, Meesh-- yesterday I was readling an I'net article about Mrs. O, in which it said that longtime friends always call her "Meesh"!  cool   They're now wondering if that will still be acceptable. (So it made me wonder whether that's also your nickname, or did you just pick it to use online?) / Old Hat

Posted 11/7/2008 1:23 PM (GMT -7)
There are different types of stem cells.  Most of the current work is on adult stem cells, which can be taken from our own body.  These seem to have the most promising benefit from what research says.  In fact, I think I recall that there was a program that talked about converting any adult stem cell into one that mimics (or becomes like) the embryonic cell, which is most adaptable.  Long to say, there is more to this than some think and I think we are already progressing in this avenue. I just hope it pans out :)
Posted 11/7/2008 2:10 PM (GMT -7)
mh53Mike.    You are sure right!  It is impossible to get health care when you have UC.   When my son decided to start his own business he didn't realize that no one would accept him when he went to buy it.  What a shock!

We talked to many many Insurance companies and they all said,  "so sorry, but your UC makes you unacceptable"

He had a rough time working for companies because he spent lots of time in the bathroom, or took off sick during flares.  Once had to have a co-worker take him to the emergency room because he was in such misery.

Now, no one can abuse or intimidate him due to he can schedule his own hours.  But...the no insurance thing is not good.  He has to pay for everything out of pocket and it runs into the thousands every year.  Luckily most docs give him a little discount on his bills.  He was accepted for the Free Remicade because he qualified due to his low income and no insurance.  Thank God for that blessing and now maybe it will change his life if it works.  I hope Obama gets a plan in place for people like my son that he is able to buy insurance just like the Government workers are privy too, and we, the taxpayers,  pay for.

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