‘Astounding results’ for new melanoma treatment
The value of immunotherapy in treating melanoma cannot be underestimated, according to respected Lismore general surgeon Austin Curtin who spoke about immunotherapy and other ways of managing melanoma, including surgery, in the latest installment of the GPs Ask video series developed by St Vincent’s Private Hospital Lismore.
Dr Curtin said immunotherapy was the ‘latest addition to our armamentarium’ and had been delivering impressive results.
‘Fifty percent of people with metastatic melanoma respond to these drugs. Thirty percent of people, in fact, have lost all evidence of disease and are surviving for more than five years.
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Fire and Rain
I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again
… Won't you look down upon me, Jesus?
You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way
Fire and Rain, James Taylor, 1974
When it was installed people joked that Lismore’s ‘ark’ wouldn’t repel floodwater.
It didn’t, nor did the flood levee built at far greater cost.
Mrs A stood chest deep in water from midnight to 4.00 pm the next day when the family finally convinced someone to look for her. A young man on his kayak found her and organised the rescue boat.
Mr B, aged 90, was able to get up into the ceiling space as the waters rose. Mrs B was too weak to get through the manhole and stood on the table in the water. They were both found alive, badly shaken, but alive.
Mr C got on the bed with the dog and waited. If the water got above the windowsill they would drown. It only got to the power point.
Mr D lost his accommodation in North Lismore. He worked without a break at the Southern Cross University emergency centre for 10 days and then asked staff if he could borrow a clipper so he could go off somewhere private and cut his toenails.
Ms E got water under the house. She was cleaning up with friends when she collapsed and could not be resuscitated. She was dead on arrival at Lismore Base Hospital.
There are thousands of such stories from the Lismore flood of 2022, ranging from the banal to the tragic, all demonstrating the responses of a community thrown into chaos by a natural disaster.
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- Written by David Guest
Next Nordocs Webinar
Day surgery joint replacement, the cutting edge
Hear Grafton orthopaeedic surgeon, Dr Sam Martin, in conversation with Dr Peter Silberberg
Date: 13 April 2022
Time: 7.30 pm on Zoom
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the webinar participants will have
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Have a better understanding of how knee and hip joint replacements can now be done as same day surgery.
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Have a better understanding of how same day surgery improves patient outcomes
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Have improved ability to optimise patients pre-operative management
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Be able to recognise appropriate physiotherapy management for TKR
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Know how same day joint replacement surgery is been achieved in Grafton
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Building blocks
The Superbowl is the final of the American National Football League and a major event in the calendar for many Americans. There are about 12 minutes of live action in the three hours it takes to play and much of the intervening time is spent on advertisements.
These ads tap into the zeitgeist of American life and are a bellwether for future fashions. For many the Superbowl is a must watch event. Must watch for the ads, that is, not the game.
At this year’s Superbowl there were four advertisements for crypto currencies. At $13 million for sixty seconds they don’t come cheap but the wild ride of crypto speculation has fueled fortunes for some early adopters and there is a large market of new entrants. Thousands of companies are competing for this attention in America, Australia and around the world. You don’t want to miss out. Don’t be like Larry.
Larry David Crypto Commercial. FTX Super Bowl Commercial 2022
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- Written by David Guest
We are on Aboriginal Land…
It was 36 years ago today, began the email from my journalist colleague and nationally renowned poster artist Chips Mackinolty in Darwin reminiscing that on 26 October 1985 the return of Uluru-KataTjuta – Australia’s greatest icon – to the Traditional Owners (TOs) was formalised by the Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen.
The title deeds were passed over and the TOs signed an agreement to lease the park back to the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service for 99 years. A board of management was established with a majority of Anangu (Aboriginal) members. The park continues to be jointly managed but is rarely out of the news. Climbing ‘Ayers Rock’, named in 1873 after Sir Henry Ayers, the Chief Secretary of South Australia, was ended in October 2019, despite some (white) opposition.
In 2015 a TO named Reggie Uluru said, ‘The land was being returned to its original owners, so we were happy. Long ago Anangu were afraid because they were pushed out of their lands. And because of that Anangu left. But now a lot of people want to come back. That’s good. It’s our place, our land.’
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