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And a terrible attempt at photoshopping too!

What next - “King Charles’s career is over?”.

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I had an interesting experience with pathology results recently and I thought I should share as a warning to others.

I need to have blood tests every two months and was told to go to the same pathology company to ensure the testing is consistent. I chose Dorevitch Pathology because they’re close to where I live. My blood results were going up each time, to the point where the results meant life changing surgery was becoming more and more likely. The specialist then told me to try Melbourne Pathology for my next test. One of my blood levels is meant to be no higher than 8.5, however since April the Dorevitch reading had been increasing a lot each test. The last reading with them was 20.8, and with the current pattern I was expecting the next read to be around 24 - way higher than 8.5.

Melbourne Pathology was completely different. Instead of 7 (which is their maximum for this type of test), my reading had dropped to 12.2, and the follow up reading last week was 11.5. While still too high, this is much better than the huge difference with the Dorevitch reading.

So in summary, if you need to get blood tests and are concerned about the reading, speak with your doctor to see if you can get a referral at another pathologist. The result may not be any different, but it could also be life changing.

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That’s good news I guess!

I hope everything is going to be okay.

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in fantastic news my 8 year old rang the cancer bell today. still got some scans and removal of her central line to go but shes done with chemo and radiation

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That’s so great to hear! I’ve often wondered about how she was going. Hope she can keep recovering and get back to a normal life. Really happy to hear that news tonight after hearing various bad news things about a few other people I know with various medical ailments so thanks for posting for us.

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So happy to hear that :partying_face:

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I never expected Changjiang Currency Exchange to be involved in money laundering operations. It has a shopfront in Glen Waverley shopping precinct, close to the train terminus, and I walk past it every time when I go to buy grocery or Chinese takeaway. This is the shop (from Google Maps):

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Thank you for sharing this wonderful news ! Having had to deal with so bad news recently this has just made my day . I hate cancer ans even more so when a young child has to deal with it.

So glad to hear your 8 year old is doing well and is done with chemo and radiation :footprints::woman_farmer::woman_farmer:

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In regards to my skin check.

It was weird and I am whilst I think the doctor can diagnose skin cancers I think he was trying to make money out of it …

I turned up the next week . They took me in on time . I go in there . Doctor comes in and looks at my foot and cannot find the brown spot he circled a week prior that he so called "found " and even tried wiping off with alcohol the previous time but was still there. It was possibly a blood blister I think that peeled i think or a splinter that had been there. Anyway…

There was a red spot. I was peeved off as I feel like he was just trying to find something to make money out of it . He gets out the dermatoscope and has a look again. The nurse says to the doctor " do you have a photo of it " to which he doesn’t respond. Indian doctor about 40’s has been doing skin checks I think 5 or so years. He said we can keep an eye on it and come back in a few weeks or go ahead now .

I thought well I am going to be charged for being there anyway so said go ahead and do a biopsy on the foot .

The Dr said to me if you don’t hear anything back on the phone you’re good. I got a text message just before 5pm a week later saying nothing was found.


Dentist appointment last week . Oral Health Therapist I should say . . Just got a checkup clean and xrays , one being an OPG … $533 … though with NIB extras it was $213.

She said nothing exciting with my teeth … however the new OPG found decay on an impacted wisdom tooth half poking out half not . She reckons it has moved . Has referred me to an oral surgeon in Rockhampton. Can’t do a filling on it . Hard to brush properly because it is impacted. Not the first dental person to mention it , one dentist was OCD about it bringing it up every appointment to the point i had to change dentists. At that time it was not causing issues.

Though he was right… a few years later it has caused issues .

Hopefully can be removed under local anaesthetic so i can drive home and cheaper unless I 'm some complex case. Might have to get a taxi then as I won’t at that time have someone to drive me. Cannot drive under general. I don’t mind if i am awake hearing sounds .

I heard the older you get the harder they are to get out. My top two wisdom are fine . On the bottom one is only showing some of it and the other is completely under on the side. Might be cheaper to remove both at the same time.

Got an appointment in 3 weeks for a consultation. Never had general anaesthetic. I do find myself falling asleep (get up at 430am ) in front of the tv at 8 pm and not remembering though the concept of time when i wake up is there… apparently with general … you close your eyes and it is the next second you’re awake it seems that no time has passed at all .

Be interesting to see what the specialist says and if it can be done under local.

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I’ve always been a bit sceptical about some dentists/doctors for the same reason.

Two years ago at a check up, a dentist tells me I should get a mouthguard made for night time because she says my teeth are worn from grinding at night. I’ve never had any issues, eg I don’t have trouble chewing food or anything else.

Last year, I have a check up with a different dentist… he says my teeth are all good, doesn’t make any mention about my teeth being worn.

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I had to go under general when I got three wisdom teeth removed at 18. The bottom two were coming in sideways and the top one was coming down on the left. Top right never developed.

It’s pretty much as you say - they ask you to count backwards from 10, I got to about 7 and the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery. No real issues waking up after the anaesthetic and my parents drove me home. The pain came in gradually and was fairly manageable with Panadol.

One word of warning though. They tell you not to eat solid food for about six weeks while your wounds heal. Two weeks in I had very little pain/discomfort and started on solid food early. After about a week or so, I was having terrible breath even after I brushed my teeth. Spotted something one night before brushing, went in with a toothpick, felt my jawbone in the process, and pulled out a mass of half-digested, absolutely foul smelling detritus that had accumulated in the unhealed cavity. So if they tell you six weeks…better make it six weeks.

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This Oral Health Therapist did show me the OPG and the wisdom tooth was all decaying brown/black. Said no hole there but didn’t want me in a couple of years to get tooth pain. Seemed genuine.

Of course she did do the usual … asking me if i wanted braces and a dental implant for a missing tooth (baby tooth that stayed into adulthood with nothing under it )

I assume being 36 not 18 it shouldn’t be too hard to remove impacted wisdom teeth. My old dentist told me it’s easier to remove when young. Bone gets harder or something as you age.

I might be able to go local don’t know yet. I thought people could dream under anaesthetic but it doesn’t seem the same as dozing off asleep on the couch at home.

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It’s better to remove wisdom teeth when you’re young, I had mine removed when I was 24 which is considered ‘late’ and the holes/gaps in my jaw/gums where the teeth were are still noticeable many years later (if you get them out earlier this is much less of a problem)

That being said, my grandmother had a wisdom tooth pulled in her late 80s and it was fine

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I had my top wisdom teeth taken out when I was very young, but my bottom ones weren’t removed until my early 30s. It was only when they started causing toothaches that I got them done, I had never been told they should be removed before then.

But because the wisdom teeth were angled forward, they also caused cavities in the molars in front of them, so they both ended up needing root canal and a crown on each. All up that probably cost me about $4,000 (back in the 00s).

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I went to the dentist when I was 16 and they referred me to the orthodontist because I still had 4 baby teeth which they thought was unusal. From there they then found that when I chewed only a couple of back teeth made contact and that kicked off several years of pain unfortunately.

  • Upper jaw expansion with a plate at the top of my mouth which my Dad had to wind every night and it literally broke my cheek bones and expanded things. Also, Dad often missed the winding point and often stabbed me in the roof of the mouth with the pointed stick - he claims it was accidental.

  • Surgery to remove 4 wisdom teeth and 3 of the baby teeth (they missed one on the day so one got done a couple of months later at the dentist). The surgery one was done under a general and they said the swelling would last up to 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I only just reached the maximum swelling and apart from a bit of colour at the top of my forehead I was yellow in the face for weeks and looked like a Simpsons character. A friend had 4 teeth out also and had no reaction and was back at work later that afternoon so it can affect everyone differently.

  • Jaw surgery to realign my upper and lower jaw and screw them in place now that the upper jaw was bigger.

  • Braces for several years and where two of the baby teeth were removed the gum was cut and the tooth exposed and the new teeth were tied to the braces and literally pulled down over several months. All quite painful.

Needless to say, I’m not fond of dentists after several years of all of that and many months of liquid diets at various points. I remember my Mum telling me off when I called the food “spew-ree” but she then sympathised and realised that after 5 weeks of it I was getting a bit over it all! Turns out you can have too much jelly, ice-cream and custard.

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Catching up on this years The Cheap Seats. No offence intended but Dylan Alcott’s voice sounds almost like Chas Licciardello.

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I’ve only had one wisdom tooth removed,about 17 years ago.It was fully through my gum and getting infected so it had to be removed. I had it removed under a local anaesthetic only by an oral surgeon.
I have another one that is only partially through my gum and has been like that for years but as yet not been a problem.The other two have never come through yet.

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That’s a bit of a strange one. I’m not a dentist so I’m not sure how common it is. I’ve always been to the dentist ever since I was young so I’m pretty lucky in that sense. Had all my wisdom teeth out when I was 17 due to the fact they weren’t strait and were coming through on an angle so out they came.

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Yeah, it seemed that many of my teeth were just slow. They did actually wonder at the time whether it was due to some birth complications. They also had to have xrays to make sure that there were new adult teeth up there as my mum when she was younger had a baby tooth pulled and no adult tooth came through… they actually found it in another xray a few years ago just sitting there in an odd location.

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We’ve all seen them, now it’s finally made the news

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