#nuffield

[whataniceone2]

Metal sunflowers

[monkeyssalad-blog]

1951 Morris ad by totallymystified

[stark-park]

I'VE JUST HAD TOP SURGERY! OMG! Can't believe it finally happened!

If anyone's curious, here's the timeline of my journey so far:

Referral to gender clinic sent via NHS England: April 2019

East of England gender clinic called: Jan 2022

Had 4-5 calls with clinic: Jan 2022 - May 2024

Jan 2022 = 1st call to take me off Tavistock list and onto EoE list. 2nd call week later to talk with them about myself, dysphoria, how long felt trans, where I fall on trans scale and how I see my gender, and most importantly: what I want from them, etc

Later 2022 = 3rd call that went through same things as 2nd but with a different person so they could compare notes and confirm gender dysphoria/incongruence diagnosis.

In both calls with the clinic, I expressed that my main dysphoria was with my chest and the thought of going on hormones beforehand would exacerbate feelings so I wanted to pursue top surgery (removal of breasts) first.

In both calls, I was asked if I had socially transitioned, who I'd told, how it made me feel, and experience that affirmed this was the correct path for me, etc. I had come out to my work as non-binary with a shortened version of my birth name. I knew this was temporary until I took the plunge and changed my name (ADHD procrastination is a bitch 😂)

August 2022 = I socially changed my name and confirmed the pronouns I'd like to be called. It didn't really come as a shock to anyone tbh, which was good. I think this was before my 3rd call with clinic, so I was able to tell them my new name.

Feb 2023 = I legally changed my name (big up the ADHD procrastination and finally the impulse to just DO IT!). I did this via Deedpoll and had 2 colleagues/friends sign as witnesses. I chose them as they had easy to understand jobs so would look more official than unemployed or self-owned company person.

March 2023 (I think) = I had my 4th call with the clinic, this was specifically for top surgery. They asked me about what kind I wanted, who/where I wanted to go with, if I understood the risks etc. I answered all bar who/where as I didn't have anyone bar really old names that I'd seen from YouTube. I asked them to send me a list so I could choose.

April 2023 = I chose My Andrew (Andy) Mellington at Nuffield Health in Brighton as my surgeon. I'm considered obese so I wanted a realistic BMI goal. Most wanted a BMI of 30 so I didn't even look at them (this was based off comments I'd see on social media, with some people saying a few surgeons weren't very nice), whereas his, and Mr Kneeshaw (I think) accepted a limit of 35 BMI. This was far more attainable for me. I did email them both (details on their websites to info emails can be found easily) and enquired. Mellington's team came back to me the next day asking me to send questions to a specific person, they then came back very quickly (same/next day). I'm still yet to hear back from Kneeshaw 😂 (a friend of a friend went with him which is why I considered him, but Mellington was quicker, had good reviews on social media and I was able to find someone who had my body shape, pictures, and replied to me! So that consolidated my decision.)

Aug 2023 = official referral from EoE gender clinic was sent to Nuffield requesting Mellington to take me on.

Nuffield team called me to confirm consultation date: early January 2024

At this point the team also sent a short form for me to fill in and requested pictures of my chest

Consult with Andy Mellington: late Feb 2024

I didn't expect him to talk about much of my trans experience tbh but he did ask a little (how long felt like this, how did you know etc.) before he then ran through what I requested and what I should expect

I asked for double masectomy. Due to my weight and size of breasts, this was 1 of a few options. Andy said looking at my chest pictures, it's likely my scars would be so close in the middle that to achieve a flatter chest, 1 long scar was gonna be best to avoid leaving a bulge in the middle.

I chose not to have nipples grafted. This was for a few reasons. 1. I don't like when I can see them through my shirt (big dysphoria). 2. I've watched a lot of vids of trans people's recovery and the nips are the grossest (they get removed and reattached so healing is a bit longer/itchier etc than just the main scar). 3. Someone said they were scared of scratching them off and uh...yeah that didn't help. 4. I saw vids of other people with no nips and it looked fine, there's gonna be a big ol' scar on ya chest so it's not like there's nothing to look at.

Andy did reassure that he's never had any nipples fall off of his patients, if that's what I was worried about too. But honestly, I just don't want them. And if I decide later that I want something there, then I could choose to get them tattooed on.

Nuffield team called to confirm surgery date: mid-March 2024

Date of surgery: 30th May 2024

Pre-assessment call 14th May 2024

Call from Nuffield team. Went through medical history and confirmed what needed to be done about getting bloods taken

Pre-assessment appointment: 21st May 2024

Went to my nearest Nuffield hospital (1 hour away) and had blood taken and MRSA swabs. Team were really nice and welcoming.

I got ill for a month and half so had to reschedule my surgery 😭: May 17th 2024

It was rescheduled: late Aug 24 but I asked to be kept on the list if anyone else cancelled, I was then re-rescheduled for late July 2024

And now, it's August! It's done!

In morning of July date, discharged the next morning.

2 week post-op meeting with Nuffield team will come. I will be able to take my binder off, they will check my scars. Expected to be about 30 minutes, can be in person or virtual (I was advised virtual is absolutely fine as I live far away, Andy was happy with results and no nips meant better recovery).

Then I have a gender clinic appointment expected around April 2025 to possible talk hormones.

It's been a long time to wait, and that's without all the dysphoria that comes with living in the wrong body for so long, but my god am I so relieved right now. It's (pun fully intended) such a weight off my chest!

[camillasgirl]

Queen Camilla’s Patronages

The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre Charity   (Patron from 08.09.2006)

Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) is a world renowned centre of clinical excellence and one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the UK. The Trust is made up of four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital (which includes the Children's Hospital, West Wing, Eye Hospital, Heart Centre and Women's Centre), the Churchill Hospital and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, all located in Oxford, and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, north Oxfordshire.

[automotiveamerican]

A Brief Look at Morris Motors in the US Market

[crypticcanidae]

only interesting diagram in my biology textbook

[optimabatteries]

1949 Nuffield Oxford London Taxi, one of three known to exist. It has a Morris chassis and an 1800cc/15-horsepower overhead valve, inline four-cylinder commercial engine from Morris, mated to a four-speed transmission. www.powerpacknation.com

[infectiouspiss]

My Full Experience Getting Top Surgery!

I'm officially one month post-op so it's time to post my full experience! Recovery was an absolute nightmare but I'm glad I went through it all.

I got my surgery at Nuffield Brighton Hospital, my surgeon was Mr Ian King, I LOVE my results and I highly recommend Mr King as a top surgeon to all my U.K. friends.

Before/After images and a link to the full write up of my experience under the cut! 👇

Read the full story HERE! wow i sound like a clickbait site!! you won't believe what happens !!!!!

but seriously i went through hell with some of this and have had to file two complaints to the hospital because of how bad it was. i'm shocked i didn't get some form of infection or complication.

(gonna have to censor my before pictures because this website isn't the biggest fan of trans people lmao)

before

after

[transmonstera]

PLEASE READ BELOW

Hi! I am a UK based trans artist and writer looking to pursue a private hysterectomy. I run an Etsy store (you may even have one of my stickers or badges!) and work part time but am still struggling to save much of anything towards surgery due to debt, living costs, etc so I’m looking for a little bit of help!

The reason I am pursuing a hysterectomy now is due to having cervical ectropion. This condition is where the cervix is essentially inside out and causes bleeding and excruciating pain. Frustratingly enough the treatment for this condition worked for all of two weeks before returning straight back to how it used to be. Cervical ectropion is aggravated by fluctuating hormone levels, particularly estrogen, so if I was to ever experience atrophy and seek treatment for that it would only make my ectropion far worse. The NHS does not offer hysterectomies for this condition due to them deeming it “a harmless condition”. Funnily enough the only procedure they approve of to “treat” this is a tubal ligation which has nothing to do with the cervix (make it make sense). 

I could attempt to get a hysterectomy through my GIC (Nottingham), however their communication is abysmal, I get one appointment a year with them and I cannot sit by and wait for the topic to come up on their terms, they never even spoke to me about top surgery (after telling me they would) leaving me to get that privately too, and I think even if they do approve a referral it’d take far too long and I would have little control in the situation. I simply cannot be in this pain for however long they wish to take to help me. Especially with how things are going for trans healthcare.

So I’m looking to get it privately. I have been recommended Mr Saurabh Phadnis with Nuffield Health in London due to him approving hysterectomies for many reasons and getting rid of everything you wish to remove and not just the bare minimum. I would like to go with him as I wish to remove everything including the cervix. My GP is happy to do a referral for him, so it is literally just a case of getting the funds. I was quoted an estimate of roughly £9000. I’m not going to ask for people to send me that amount as I know it is a huge sum to ask for. I’m hoping to raise as much as I can by about January/February time (through donations, etsy sales, and anything I can spare from my part time job) and look at taking out a loan for whatever is left over and if I can save even a third of the full amount that would help immensely.

A hysterectomy would truly change everything. I don’t want to take depo injections for the rest of my life, I don’t want to be in pain anymore and I don’t want to bleed randomly throughout the day because I dared to go for a walk. This is not just for transition purposes, this is so I can live without fear of further pain, more bleeding, being unable to treat potential atrophy because of an existing condition, HPV, cervical cancer, pregnancy scares etc.

If you'd like to donate:

ko-fi.com/transmonstera

cashapp: £transmonstera

Even if you can’t donate, please take a moment to share. It’d mean the world to me.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Patients With Long-COVID Show Abnormal Lung Perfusion Despite Normal CT Scans - Published Sept 12, 2024

VIENNA — Some patients who had mild COVID-19 infection during the first wave of the pandemic and continued to experience postinfection symptoms for at least 12 months after infection present abnormal perfusion despite showing normal CT scans. Researchers at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) 2024 International Congress called for more research to be done in this space to understand the underlying mechanism of the abnormalities observed and to find possible treatment options for this cohort of patients.

Laura Price, MD, PhD, a consultant respiratory physician at Royal Brompton Hospital and an honorary clinical senior lecturer at Imperial College London, London, told Medscape Medical News that this cohort of patients shows symptoms that seem to correlate with a pulmonary microangiopathy phenotype.

"Our clinics in the UK and around the world are full of people with long-COVID, persisting breathlessness, and fatigue. But it has been hard for people to put the finger on why patients experience these symptoms still," Timothy Hinks, associate professor and Wellcome Trust Career Development fellow at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre senior research fellow, and honorary consultant at Oxford Special Airway Service at Oxford University Hospitals, England, who was not involved in the study, told Medscape Medical News.

The Study Researchers at Imperial College London recruited 41 patients who experienced persistent post-COVID-19 infection symptoms, such as breathlessness and fatigue, but normal CT scans after a mild COVID-19 infection that did not require hospitalization. Those with pulmonary emboli or interstitial lung disease were excluded. The cohort was predominantly female (87.8%) and nonsmokers (85%), with a mean age of 44.7 years. They were assessed over 1 year after the initial infection.

Exercise intolerance was the predominant symptom, affecting 95.1% of the group. A significant proportion (46.3%) presented with myopericarditis, while a smaller subset (n = 5) exhibited dysautonomia. Echocardiography did not reveal pulmonary hypertension. Laboratory findings showed elevated angiotensin-converting enzyme and antiphospholipid antibodies. "These patients are young, female, nonsmokers, and previously healthy. This is not what you would expect to see," Price said. Baseline pulmonary function tests showed preserved spirometry with forced expiratory volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity above 100% predicted. However, diffusion capacity was impaired, with a mean diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DLCO) of 74.7%. The carbon monoxide transfer coefficient (KCO) and alveolar volume were also mildly reduced. Oxygen saturation was within normal limits.

These abnormalities were through advanced imaging techniques like dual-energy CT scans and ventilation-perfusion scans. These tests revealed a non-segmental and "patchy" perfusion abnormality in the upper lungs, suggesting that the problem was vascular, Price explained.

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing revealed further abnormalities in 41% of patients. Peak oxygen uptake was slightly reduced, and a significant proportion of patients showed elevated alveolar-arterial gradient and dead space ventilation during peak exercise, suggesting a ventilation-perfusion mismatch.

Over time, there was a statistically significant improvement in DLCO, from 70.4% to 74.4%, suggesting some degree of recovery in lung function. However, DLCO values did not return to normal. The KCO also improved from 71.9% to 74.4%, though this change did not reach statistical significance. Most patients (n = 26) were treated with apixaban, potentially contributing to the observed improvement in gas transfer parameters, Price said.

The researchers identified a distinct phenotype of patients with persistent post-COVID-19 infection symptoms characterized by abnormal lung perfusion and reduced gas diffusion capacity, even when CT scans appear normal. Price explains that this pulmonary microangiopathy may explain the persistent symptoms. However, questions remain about the underlying mechanisms, potential treatments, and long-term outcomes for this patient population.

Causes and Treatments Remain a Mystery Previous studies have suggested that COVID-19 causes endothelial dysfunction, which could affect the small blood vessels in the lungs. Other viral infections, such as HIV, have also been shown to cause endothelial dysfunction. However, researchers don't fully understand how this process plays out in patients with COVID-19.

"It is possible these patients have had inflammation insults that have damaged the pulmonary vascular endothelium, which predisposes them to either clotting at a microscopic level or ongoing inflammation," said Hinks.

Some patients (10 out of 41) in the cohort studied by the Imperial College London's researchers presented with Raynaud syndrome, which might suggest a physiological link, Hinks explains. "Raynaud's is a condition of vascular control or dysregulation, and potentially, there could be a common factor contributing to both breathlessness and Raynaud's."

He said there is an encouraging signal that these patients improve over time, but their recovery might be more complex and lengthy than for other patients. "This cohort will gradually get better. But it raises questions and gives a point that there is a true physiological deficit in some people with long-COVID."

Price encouraged physicians to look beyond conventional diagnostic tools when visiting a patient whose CT scan looks normal yet experiences fatigue and breathlessness. Not knowing what causes the abnormalities observed in this group of patients makes treatment extremely challenging. "We need more research to understand the treatment implications and long-term impact of these pulmonary vascular abnormalities in patients with long-COVID," Price concluded.

[probablyasocialecologist]

We tend to talk about the decline in young adults’ home ownership as if it were a universal phenomenon. This is wrong. The share of 25-to-34-year-olds who own their own home in the US is six percentage points lower today than it was in 1990. In Germany it’s down eight points, in France just three, but in Britain the drop is 22 points. It’s a similar story with incomes, where Britons in their thirties are tracing the same trajectories as their forebears while Americans are leaving theirs in the dust. The conveyor belt of socio-economic progress may have slowed elsewhere in the west, but in Britain it has sheared in two, leaving a generation stranded below. As Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, put it to me, this has completely changed the political calculus for young people. In the old Thatcherite world, young Britons had realistic expectations of upward mobility and home ownership, and their political interests naturally lay with the party of homeowners and low taxes. Today none of these things are true. The sense of betrayal is palpable. Ben Ansell, professor of comparative democratic institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford has shown that young Britons have lost the belief in social mobility that was a given for their parents’ generation. Applying his methodology internationally, I find that just 39 per cent of British under-30s trust that hard work will bring rewards, far below those in the US (60 per cent) and Germany (49), and also far below the 60 per cent of British 70-somethings who believe the same because it was true for them.

John Burn-Murdoch, Why are young people deserting conservatism in Britain but nowhere else?

[fuzzyghost]

More books that caught my eye lately:

Timescape - Gregory Benford (1980)

Book of Data - Nuffield Advanced Science (1984)

Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet - Katie Hafner/Matthew Lyon (1996)

Cyber Way - Alan Dean Foster (1990)

Timestop! - Philip José Farmer (1960)

Fly Fishing - J.R. Hartley (1991)

[bpod-bpod]

Triple Threat

This is a mind on the brink of collapse – a collection of brain cells, or neurons, developed in a lab from the stem cells of a Parkinson’s disease patient. These neurons produce the chemical messenger dopamine, and are the first to show signs of the disease onset. Since the patient carried three copies of a particular gene called synuclein – a trait strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease and the degradation of neurons that it entails – these neurons are already experiencing the early stages of damage. This model of dopamine-producing neurons is a platform to investigate the molecular processes underpinning the disease, and if one picture tells 1,000 words, then this image, a composite of 8,000 individual images and coloured according to depth from top right to bottom left, could have a very detailed story to tell about Parkinson’s disease and new approaches to treatment.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image captured at the Micron Bioimaging Facility, Oxford

Image from work by Nick Gatford

Molecular Neurodegeneration Research Group, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Image supplied and copyright held by Nick Gatford

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[harrisonarchive]

Pattie and George at the airport, May 1972. Photo by Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo.

The following pertains to 1972, but, as most are probably familiar with the car crash photos (via Google), those will not be included here. On February 28, 1972, George and Pattie were in a car accident as they drove from Henley-on-Thames to London: "[The accident occurred] on the M4 motorway near Maidenhead in Berkshire. Around midnight, during an electrical blackour in the area, their 6-litre Mercedes car approached a recently opened roundabout and collided with a lamppost on a centre barrier. (The bright fluorescent lighting on the road had been extinguished just 75 minutes before the accident occurred.) George, with blood streaming down his face, and Patti [sic - Pattie], are immediately transferred by ambulance to Maidenhead Hospital where they are treated for their head injuries in the casualty department. George is discharged but has to return later to the hospital to have his stitches removed. He returns to his Henley mansion while Patti [sic - Pattie] is taken to the nearby Nuffield Nursing Home in Fulmer, Slough, suffering from concussion. She is detained for observation and the following morning the hospital announces that she is 'quite comfortable.'" - The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001 (2001) "July 12 - George appears before the magistrates in Maidenhead, to explain his car crash on February 28. He tells the court: 'I hit a motorway interchange crash barrier because I did not see the warning sign.' George is later found guilty of careless driving and is fined ₤20. In addition, his license is endorsed for the second time, the first being pm Tuesday February 23, 1971. [That charge was for 'driving without reasonable consideration,' per the same book.]" - The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001 (2001)

You can read an article about the accident at Meet The Beatles For Real.

[slymo07]

Nuffield House

[thoughtlessarse]

Keir Starmer looks certain to be Britain’s next prime minister—but he’s using the same centrist playbook that has opened the door to the far right in France and Germany. Britain’s general election is still a week away, but the outcome is already certain: Nothing much will change. With the far-right Reform UK party sucking support from the collapsing Tories, Keir Starmer’s Labour Party looks on course for a sizeable parliamentary majority. But while the word “change” is sprinkled liberally through his campaign publicity, the overarching message  is that he will deliver “economic stability” through “tough spending rules” that he insists will generate growth while keeping taxes down. This is a circle that British politicians have been trying to square for decades. Their premise has been that relatively low taxes on profits and wealth will encourage domestic investment and lead to growth. The problem is that they haven’t: Since the 1990s, overall investment in the UK has flatlined at around 17 percent of GDP, well below the 20–25 percent range of other G7 countries. Within that, public investment has been running at a miserly 1.5 percent of GDP. Lydia Prieg, the head of economics at the New Economics Foundation, says the UK is “living with the consequences of decades of underinvestment” and that by sticking to arbitrary fiscal rules “the major political parties are threatening to doom the UK to years of stagnant or even falling living conditions, along with an inability to meet the future challenges of the climate crisis and an ageing population.” As the Financial Times recently reported, outside of London the UK is now poorer per capita than Mississippi. Even on the National Health Service, a totemic issue for Labour, Starmer’s promise to bring down record waiting lists rests precariously on minimal extra spending. An analysis by the health think-tank, the Nuffield Trust, found that the annual real increase in funding over the next five years promised by Labour is, at 1.1 percent, only fractionally above the 0.9 percent offered by the Tories and would leave the NHS with £20 billion a year less than required for its plan to recruit up to 360,000 extra staff by 2036/37. Having promised to keep taxes down, Labour is relying on economic growth to generate greater tax revenues. But Starmer’s only specific levers for achieving growth are a controversial de-regulation of planning to allow development on the country’s green belts and a National Wealth Fund capitalised with £7.3 billion over five years—a meager sum compared with Australia’s investment in 2006 of AUS $60.5 billion (circa £25 billion) to set up its Future Fund (which is now valued at AUS $223.4 billion).

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