simon43

Happily I am still very fit and run every day ????. As yet, I have no outward cancer symptoms, but the MRI scan strongly suggests prostate cancer and I'm waiting on the biopsy results. At least prostate cancer is usually slow-growing.

I planned, thousands of USD on expat medical insurance over the years. I got sick (suspected prostate cancer) My medical insurance refused to cover the cost (long story, already covered in other posts) I had to return to the UK for treatment on the NHS The waiting times are not too bad (cancer treatment is prioritised), although I'm grateful that prostate cancer is usually a slow-growing cancer type. So.... you can make as many plans as you like, but 'bad luck' can scupper your well-thought out plans. Another example: A week before flying back to the UK I was stung by a box jellyfish on Koh Phangan. Totally unexpected event, most people die of heart failure within 10 minutes of the sting. I also 100% felt and thought that I was going to die (as I flailed around on the floor of a beach restaurant as locals frantically poured vinegar on me and commented in Thai that I would be dead in a few minutes). Amazingly I recovered..... These 2 recent events have changed my view on planning for the future, 'cos you never know what plans the Grim Reaper has!

AFAIK, a 'healthy' automatic transmission car cannot stall!

It is an ASEAN problem, but as most of us know (think of the civil war in Myanmar), ASEAN is weak as water and will not intervene in another member country's problems.

Thinking back, I was also arrested in The Netherlands! I was the temporary transmitter engineer and DJ on an offshore radio station in the 1970's called Radio Delmare. When I returned on the tender boat back to The Netherlands, we were all arrested by the Dutch police. The police took the Dutch and Belgian nationals off somewhere and they took me directly to the ferry to England at Hook of Holland, wished me a nice trip and that was that! In the past few years I have been 'hassled' by police/military in both Myanmar and Laos for my totally legal amateur radio activities. In Laos my house was raided 3 times by many police and I was taken against my will to the local police station where I was 'grilled' about my activities (they ignored the copy of my ham licence issued by their own government). In Myanmar, some senior military chaps visited me for a nice chat about how I could perhaps help them with developing satellite technology (I used to work as a satellite design engineer), in return for allowing me to do my ham radio hobby. Sorry, no can do!

If you look at the satellite fire map over the past 24 hours, it's clear that most of the fires are actually in Shan State (Myanmar) and Laos - the Golden Triangle region, which is probably better renamed as The Smoky Triangle. The likelyhood of Thai farmers not burning the stubble is almost zero and the likelyhood of Lao and Shan farmers not doing likewise is less than zero. In other words, if you don't like smoke pollution, don't visit or live in that region, because nothing will change.

Tamsulosin doesn't have a similar action to Finasteride. The latter is an 5-alpha reductase inhibitor which can lead to a reduction in the physical size of the prostate, whereas Tamsulosin is a Selective Alpha-1-Blocker which relaxes the muscle around your bladder. But Tamsulosin doesn't reduce the size of your prostate. (All according to my non-medical understanding of these 2 drugs!).

Duh! To all the outraged posters, check your calendar!!

I spent a day in the jail under Pattaya Courthouse, based on some trumped-up and fake charge that I refused to plead guilty to. I had my shoes and tie and belt taken away from me, but rather than being put in the 'cages', I was allowed to sit on a chair outside the cages. (Maybe because the police there knew that the charge was fake). I watched others come and go, all shackled with a heavy chain on their legs. Most were Thai, some were foreigners. I was lucky enough to get bail, but looking at some of those in shackles I wondered if they were innocent of the charges against them but didn't have the funds to pay for bail.

He was time-travelling... ????

When I lived in Myanmar and was paid in USD cash, I used to have to iron these notes at my hotel before they would be accepted! If it didn't look as if it were newly printed then nobody would accept it....

A question primarily for Sheryl: I have BPH and I also have 2 tumours inside my prostate (I will get the biopsy results soon as to whether they are benign or not. If I take Finasteride to reduce the size of my prostate could it cause those tumours to breach my prostate wall? (ie - as the prostate shrinks slightly and the tumours do not shrink, then maybe they will end up breaching my prostate - not a good scenario if they are canerous). I

Although Finasteride is often recommended to recover hair loss, medical research also indicates that it can reduce the prostate size in BPH. Does anyone have experience *(successful or not) of taking this drug to reduce their BPH symptoms/prostate size?

So how does that work when it says that you signed up just 3 hours ago and your member number is 368,477? Simon (member #174)

According to The Sun newspaper, he has died in the Thai hospital. Not sure if the link is allowed: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21880896/brit-dad-dead-motorbike-crash-thai-holiday/

No... see my previous posts on this subject.

I know that it is only a library photo, but the maths on that board doesn't make sense! Does Pythagoras theorem work differently in Thailand?

The pandemic is over but not the air pollution...

In my recent prostate biopsy operation in the UK, as I was hoisted into the leg stirrups and bared my nether regions for all to see, I humourously reminded the young doctor that he was doing a prostate biopsy and not a gender reassignment operation ????

So the original risk was diddly-squat and now treble that risk is also diddly-squat! From the link: "It equates to six cardiac deaths per 100,000 females vaccinated with at least a first dose of a non-mRNA vaccine"

[quote] However it may be pot luck as to how much proof is required by individual NHS locations/overseas visitors officer/GP's WRT to "settle". [/quote] Indeed. In my case, absolutely no proof has ever been requested, neither from the GP with whom I registered, nor with the hospital. I stated that I have been living overseas for 21 years and have now returned to the UK. No-one questioned me whatsoever about this, other than an interest in what life was like in Myanmar and had things changed in the UK. contract of employment - I have none (I am self-employed, teaching online) tenancy agreement - I have none (I am staying in a hotel) evidence of mortgage repayments or of being in the process of purchasing a property - nope! evidence of utility/and or council tax bill payment - nope! evidence a child is enrolled in a school" - nope! Free NHS treatment is dependent on UK residency (more than 183 days/year in the UK). For this current year, although I have not yet been in the UK for 183 days, that will be the case later this year. I have also spent longer in the UK this year than overseas. Anyway, this is off-topic!

When I returned to the UK, I registered with a GP on Thursday, had my appointment with the GP the following Monday and got referred to the hospital for cancer tests. The hospital called me on Tuesday and I had my first meeting with the specialist the same week on Thursday...... Since then I have had almost weekly appointments at the hospital (handing over my MRI scan data from Bumrungrad, sorting out a UTI several times which delayed the biopsy, and then the biopsy last Saturday). The delays have been quite reasonable.

[quote] Meanwhile, Chiang Rai governor Puttipong Sirimat said yesterday (Monday) that he will not yet declare Mae Sai district a disaster zone, as proposed by the business sector and civic groups, for fear that the measure will have a negative impacts on a lot of people, but he will explore other options. [/quote] Pathetic!

[quote] ... I used to have a friend in his early 20's that was gay and once he entered his 30s is turned out he was straight now! ... [/quote] So slipping the pink oboe up his jacksie was just an accident then? ????

If you go back to the UK and declare that you intend to remain in the UK, then NHS treatment is free immediately. I returned to the UK (after 21 years living abroad) in February for prostate cancer diagnosis and possible treatment. I declared my circumstances to my new GP and the hospital where I'm having treatment and all accepted me without questions. Since returning to the UK, I am well into my cancer diagnosis (biopsy a few days ago). I also have been receiving free NHS prescriptions (antibiotics etc) since I'm over 60 years old, plus free eye test and cheap glasses at Vision Express, plus free Covid, flu and pneumonia vaccinations (I have a minor lung issue for many years), plus free colon cancer blood in poop test..... As I explained in another thread, my return was hastened by the refusal of my private health insurance to cover the cost of my prostate diagnosis and treatment. That international company refused to cover the costs because I had failed to declare my slightly enlarged prostate when I signed up to the health cover many years ago (I only knew about this BPH when a Thai doctor told me this after a DRE). No written diagnosis was ever given and no medication was needed at that time. Although BPH is an ailment in the prostate, it has zero relevance to prostate cancer. Nevertheless, this was the reason why my insurance company rejected my claim and also cancelled my insurance cover immediately! I am currently going through the process of claiming financial damages through the insurance ombudsman, but I will not be surprised if the ombusman sides with the insurance company. Therefore, I would strongly suggest that if you do apply for medical insurance, that you disclose every single ailment or condition that you might have had in your life, on the basis that no matter how minor that ailment might have been, your failure to disclose it could be a reason to reject any future claim. (Your insurance company might laugh at your list of bunion, benign mole removal, cosmetic minor surgery, broken arm 20 years ago etc etc, but at least they cannot claim that you hid these details from them!).