retarius

War between Russia and UK over Ukraine starting up over here? First blood to Russia it seems. I sincerely hope all get well soon.

Good money for Thailand. Do you know if doctors in private hospitals like Bumrungrad like get more or less than this? When I get a bill, I am always pleased that the cost of the doctor visit is usually very low.

We have a couple on our sinks plus a water softener, they include Reverse Osmosis and so should be good to drink. We never have drank the water. Wife uses water from them to boil potatoes with sometimes, our main use is to decant the water into big containers and use it to fill fish tanks. We had one of the two taken out recently. I haven't found them to be that useful and having the filters changed regularly is a ball ache. I wish we had never bought them. They are very easy to install, and despite being in real Isaan, we had no problems with having them installed or with service. There is nothing wrong with them, I just think in our case, having well water (hard) and a 'Master' brand conditioner, they are superfluous, but of course we didn't know that before we bought them. I tried to see our brand under the sink but it is not visible from where I am looking. The only problem we had is that we have frequent power outages during rainy season and the system doesn't like power outages....it beeps like crazy when the power is turned back on. Good luck

Wise move I think. You flew to the US specially for the meeting? Do you have your benefit paid over there? I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that if you wanted your payment made at BKK Bank here in Thailand you have to apply through PI. I'm sorry I used PI now. It avoided dealing with the time difference in the US or travelling there.

It is 8 years since I went through the process, but it was very straightforward, easy and quick. Having said that they have stopped my payments twice.....last year it was three months before I noticed, and it was very difficult to have it restarted and they were extremely slow and uncommunicative. It took about a further 3 months to have the payments restarted, so I was 6 months without the payments. I think they must have had changes, staff cuts or whatever, but what was great easy service is now very poor from the PI office, for example you used to be able to call them easily, now you can only call on a short window two mornings a week. I still don't know why they stopped the payments, despite asking repeatedly.

I am constantly on at my wife for wearing her gold when she is out. She ignores me, which is ok....it's her jewellery.

The photo looks doctored.

You are right, you caught me out, I have never read anything about this thing with Thaksin. I had simply forgotten he had HT, I have early stage Alzheimers.

Thanks for this, yes of course, valve surgery is fairly old hat andJena have a history with heart valves. But there are different valves in the heart, I think the most common valve replacement is mitral valve replacement although I haven't looked upon the numbers. The case we are discussing here is a person with a specific issue ie Aortic Regurgitation (AR), where the aortic valve does not seal properly and is therefore not patent (ie leaky), resulting in blood from the aorta regurgitating into the left ventricle. The new Jena valve is specifically for this condition, AR. Other valves for the aorta may have issues with size (the aorta expands and contracts). The revolutionary thing about this valve is that it expands and contracts with the aorta and therefore is supposed to be much less likely to leak. It sounds logical, so why not develop it? I am not trying to imply in any way that it isn't a great treatment. My point is simply that CE marks are easy to obtain, and require little (sometimes no) human data, and that it may be worthwhile to wait until a full and, I believe, more rigorous US FDA approval is obtained since they, FDA, have requested such a larger and longer study to secure approval in the US. I may be wrong and this device may be being implanted put into thousands of patients daily in Thailand, if Jena have been able to use the CE mark to secure registration for the device in Thailand. I was involved once in a project for an implantable device for bones, and after discussion with the CE people, they proposed we undertake a study in 4 sheep in a clinical study for approval, although to be fair, the small number was due to ethical considerations for the animals involved. I may be biased but I didn't develop and especially high regard for CE marks....they are ok for car seats for kids but for implantables for humans, I have some doubts. I guess I trust the FDA more than I trust a CE mark, because I am American.

I'm aware Jena announced results with a small trial in 2023 to secure funding for a larger trial to seek US FDA approval. Unless I am mistaken, I think that this valve for aortic valve replacement is not yet approved in the US, but has a CE mark in the EU. CE marks often require little data. If the valve is not approved here, it could be used for 'compassionate use' here in Thailand in patients with severe AR with approval from authorities. I don't know that hospitals in Thailand yet have access to the Jena valve, but maybe you have looked into it. I'm a cautious chap and tend not to rush into new technology, especially implanted into vital organs. I worked in healthcare all my working life and tend to want to see smaller studies verified by long term studies, preferably with demonstrated outcomes, before using them in my own body.

No need for doctors any more is there, just google your condition and decide everything. Does he have high blood pressure as well? How do you know that?

Wonderful pithy comment. Thank you for the smile it brought to my lips.

Heart valve surgery is often not emergency and the surgery is often elective. The surgery is often used to correct a leaky valve that is inhibiting efficient functioning of the heart and doesn't imply that you might die tomorrow morning....it's more about improving heart function and quality of life. Of course if left too long untreated, it could become life threatening especially if valves are or become infected (often with Strep viridans).

Oh you poor deluded thing. I don't give a flying <deleted> about posts on here. You attempt to convey the impression that you are a rigorous, knowledgeable and thoughtful chap whop can tell the difference between belief and knowledge. You are simple as media influenced and based as the next guy. I pity you.

I see the video was released in 2015. Perhaps the TikTokkers should have held their comments and deprived the issue of the oxygen of publicity. I agree with the comments about this being a thin-skinned culture. I love Thai women, but then again I have an affectionate and caring wife who is not a money grubber....and I didn't meet her in Thailand, so she had some exposure to the world. Obviously, I might feel different if I had little money and a Thai bar girl ripped me off.

I went for holiday there once....no cars, narrow concrete tracks, and precious little electricity...the whole Island is solar powered. Fantastic beach and good food at reasonable prices. Accomodation was expensive.

Like a lot of other things in life, some dark skinned women sing nicely, some other not so much. Give Bessie Smith a try. Better still listen to the girl singing back up vocals on "Bring your lamp trimmed and burning" by Blind Wille Johnson (originally recorded on wax).

UNFORTUNATELY THE WORLD IS MADE OF BS.

My point is that the chap making the claim, knows nothing other than what is reported in the media. And we have all seen that and drawn our own conclusions. It is ludicrous to suggest that a poor man from Isaan jailed for 5 years for picking wild mushrooms get this sort of treatment....they'd let him die. Perhaps if you went out and became a billionaire (in USD) then perhaps you would get special treatment too.

Re privacy laws. Not if Thaksin gave permission for the information to be released. To be honest heart valve surgery ranges from routine to very severe...it is the severity we need to understand if he is being treated specially. This is theatre, the people arranging this have nothing but contempt for people....they don't care what you or me think, or the Thai people think. They are totally shameless, and they know the Thai people will accept what they do because they have been doing it for years

Have you tried Heathrow? Hub airports can involve a lot of walking. I travelled from a regional airport in the UK to Dubai to Bangkok. No issues except the flight from the UK into Dubai was late and we missed the connecting flight, the late arrival was due to air traffic control in the UK. Emirates were superb, all Bangkok passengers were booked into the Copthorne Hotel, whisked there via coach. We just walked through immigration. Got vouchers for evening meal, and breakfast and lunch on the following day. There was no standing around and no drama. I also flew to Czechia last year on Emirates....suberb service in Business Class. My job was flying around the world and I got picky about airports and airlines. I think Suvarnabhumi is OK and is better than Don Mueang was before it closed. Thai is a joke airline in my opinion and I won't fly it after a very bad experience in 2008.It is a very bad airline that had a major corruption problem with its directors and friends filling First Class on freebies with spouses going to Tokyo shopping with massive amounts of luggage. Another example, I won't use Heathrow after the debacle on the opening day of T5. Now I'm off to the US next month, again Emirates via Dubai. A 380 best plane in the world. Emirates Business Class on A380, best business class, I have been in and I have been in an awful lot. I could have flown through Narita on ANA, but the flight from Narita was on one of the worst airlines in the world, United whose business class is shyte.

Any hard facts to support what you know? No, I thought not.

I am surprised that Bumrungrad do not stock it. It is a very old drug from the 1960's and on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines....there are many newer medicines that are supposed to be safer than ethosuximide. But I have been looking for good old quinine to stop my night cramps here, and apparently it is not available in Thailand "because it causes arrhythmias". I use Bumrungrad for all my more serious medical issues, and they seem to have access to any drug in the world....

Thanks. The broken one is fairly recent, I'm not sure exactly probably 2019 or 2018. I have a 35mm M2 still in working order, maybe 50 or more years old (I bought it second hand in the early 10970s) but who uses film any more? I used to work in B&W and develop my own, but digital is so convenient. I have a small collection of old cameras for nostalgic reasons. TBH I'm not looking at other cameras right now....I'd like to get this one fixed. I don't think there is much wrong with it, because you can use the zoom manually but it will not activate from the widget on the camera body which is conveniently next to your thumb as you are composing. I'm sure there is a place in Bangkok, but I don't fancy shanking down there. As a last resort I'm going to NY for 3 weeks from March 20th and will have no problem for a fix there.

I know it's only for Thais but I am offended by such stupidity and naked corruption.