Had Good Laugh Last Night

[RenalSurvivorDotCA]

Was watching "Star Trek IV:; The Voyage Home" last night. It was the one where they went back in time to 20th century Earth to get 2 humpback whales.
When they went to the hospital to find Checkov, Dr. McCoy walks past an elderly moaning woman on a gurney in the hall. He asks "What's your problem?" She answers "Kidney dialysis."
LOL Like dialysis was the disease. Shows what the general public knows of kidney disease.  Doc says "Dialysis? What is this? The Dark Ages?" and gives her a pill from his bag.
Later, as they  make their escape from the hospital, the pass the old lady...docs are wheeling her out in a wheelchair. Apparently she is being discharged. The docs are waving charts in front of each other murmuring "...complete recovery...fully functioning...unbelievable etc" The old lady is yelling "I'm cured!"

LOL. If only it were that easy in real life, huh?

[Zach]

I loved those scenes!
 

[Dianejt]

gotta love sci-fi

[RightSide]

Was watching "Star Trek IV:; The Voyage Home" last night. It was the one where they went back in time to 20th century Earth to get 2 humpback whales.
When they went to the hospital to find Checkov, Dr. McCoy walks past an elderly moaning woman on a gurney in the hall. He asks "What's your problem?" She answers "Kidney dialysis."
LOL Like dialysis was the disease. Shows what the general public knows of kidney disease.  Doc says "Dialysis? What is this? The Dark Ages?" and gives her a pill from his bag....The old lady is yelling "I'm cured!"

LOL. If only it were that easy in real life, huh?

It will be--someday.  I'm sure of that.

I'm sure that maybe 50 or 100 years from now, folks will consider dialysis to be a terribly primitive way to fight kidney failure.  Just as we now consider iron lungs to be a horribly primitive way to fight polio.

Remember, prior to 1954, poliomyelitis also had no cure and no prevention.  Many who caught the disease had to spend the rest of their lives in iron lungs--mechanical ventilators to breathe for them:

http://tinyurl.com/rkggp

Then in 1954, along came the polio vaccine--and the iron lungs mostly disappeared.

Dialysis is for ESRD what iron lungs were for polio.

[RenalSurvivorDotCA]

It will be--someday.  I'm sure of that.

I'm sure that maybe 50 or 100 years from now, folks will consider dialysis to be a terribly primitive way to fight kidney failure.  Just as we now consider iron lungs to be a horribly primitive way to fight polio.

I'm sure too. All we really need is a way to filter blood more on a cellular level with filters as small as in a real kidney. I believe nanotechnology will lead to this. Imagine an implantable mechanical kidney the same size as a real kidney yet more efficient. Or if we could clone live kidneys from our own cells that would not require the use of anti-rejection drugs.

[Phil]

I think there is a great potential in regenerative medicine....if you havent seen it check out this speech on TED...pretty amazing....

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/alan_russell_on_regenerating_our_bodies.html

[paris]

When dialysis is no longer a profitable business, then maybe we will find a "cure" or a new, better treatment.  I hope so for the next generations.         Wish we all could have one of those magic pills!

[Stoday]

I'd be happy if I could regenerate my teeth 

[KICKSTART]

Didnt one of our members say ..nothing much had changed during the last 35 years !

[Red from Canada]

Interesting video.  One of the side bars was on Dean Kamen, who is my all-time hero!  He invented the PD dialysis machine that keeps me alive, the I-Bot, a wheel chair that can go upstairs, and now a functional robotic arm for those who have lost limbs or had them totally blown off.  What a guy!

[Riki]

Interesting video.  One of the side bars was on Dean Kamen, who is my all-time hero!  He invented the PD dialysis machine that keeps me alive, the I-Bot, a wheel chair that can go upstairs, and now a functional robotic arm for those who have lost limbs or had them totally blown off.  What a guy!

Also a water filtration system for third world countries. I love Dean Kamen, and see him as one of my heroes as well.  The Home Choice kept me alive for nearly 5 years.  His name was Luther.  He traveled with me to NYC twice.  Unfortunately, Air Canada killed him on my return home in May 2008.

[RenalSurvivorDotCA]

His name was Luther.  He traveled with me to NYC twice.  Unfortunately, Air Canada killed him on my return home in May 2008.

Now, THAT begs for a story. What do you mean, Riki? Did an AC flight crash with him on it?

[Riki]

His name was Luther.  He traveled with me to NYC twice.  Unfortunately, Air Canada killed him on my return home in May 2008.

Now, THAT begs for a story. What do you mean, Riki? Did an AC flight crash with him on it?

No.  They wouldn't allow me to keep him with me as carry on.  Somehow, when loading him on the plane, they turned the case upside down, and then put something really heavy on top.  I think the big, red fragile stickers made sure that something heavy was put on top of him too.  Anyway, they broke the case he was in, and broke the door off that holds the cassette in.  I was able to get a replacement the next day, female this time, named LB.  She never traveled with me, but served me well until I had to start hemo in December.

[RightSide]

There was another episode of Star Trek that now reminds me of ESRD.

In one episode of Star Trek (Original Series), the crew contracts this strange disease whose symptoms are rapid aging.  Like Captain Kirk starts having difficulty walking, he has bone pains, he has trouble thinking and remembering, just as if he were 75 years old.  So does Mr. Spock and others.

Sound familiar?

In a sense, we ESRD patients have also contracted a strange disease whose symptoms resemble aging:  Bone pains of course, some of us need canes or walkers to get around.  Our thinking and ability to concentrate may be clouded.  Our memories may be impaired.  We may get heart trouble.  And our lifespans are shortened.

Maybe the strange disease that Captain Kirk caught was ESRD.   :-)

[Stacy Without An E]

My other favorite Dialysis scene is during the first season of "Scrubs" where an elderly woman decides not to go on Dialysis because she's already had a full life.  J.D. can't accept this, so he comes up with a list of things she should do before she dies, and it turns out she's done them all.  The whole storyline involving their interaction in that episode is written quite well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn--7WFOlx8

[Marina]

Was watching "Star Trek IV:; The Voyage Home" last night. It was the one where they went back in time to 20th century Earth to get 2 humpback whales.
When they went to the hospital to find Checkov, Dr. McCoy walks past an elderly moaning woman on a gurney in the hall. He asks "What's your problem?" She answers "Kidney dialysis."
LOL Like dialysis was the disease. Shows what the general public knows of kidney disease.  Doc says "Dialysis? What is this? The Dark Ages?" and gives her a pill from his bag.
Later, as they  make their escape from the hospital, the pass the old lady...docs are wheeling her out in a wheelchair. Apparently she is being discharged. The docs are waving charts in front of each other murmuring "...complete recovery...fully functioning...unbelievable etc" The old lady is yelling "I'm cured!"

LOL. If only it were that easy in real life, huh?

I'd  like  one  of those  magic  pills!!!!!!!!!

[calypso]

I'd  like  one  of those  magic  pills!!!!!!!!!

I'll take several million pls. There are some ppl I wanna share with. Everyone.

It's party time! lol

On the topic of Sci fi. Look back in the original series their handheld communicators were science fiction, now we have cell phones....heck mini computers with internet access even, handheld.

They had handheld lasers. We now have handheld lasers that can burn you, or blind you. The military has lasers that can kill by burning a hole through the retina of the eye and into the brain. They also have that laser on a 747 that can kill from afar. So yeah Sci-Fi can become Sci-Real before you know it so yeah I think we will lick this disease someday as well.

[Riki]

The mp3 player was created by someone who watched an episode of ST:TNG where Data is listening to several different musical pieces, and had a huge database from which to choose on his computer.

There's a lot of stuff that came about because of Star Trek... There was a documentary about it on Discovery, called How William Shatner Changed the World.  It's actually a good documentary, even if it's hosted by Bill, he can be very funny sometimes.

I kinda forgot about that scene.  I really need to watch those movies again.  The pill that cures kidney disease makes 2 things I want from Star Trek.  The other is a transporter. I hate being 1000kms away and in a different country than my best friend.

[casper2636]

God, do I want one of those magic pills, and the transporter! I want to go back and live my life  :)healthier, and keep in condition and not take what I have been given for granted. Thats what I love about science fiction - it always gives us hope

[RightSide]

God, do I want one of those magic pills, and the transporter! I want to go back and live my life  :)healthier, and keep in condition and not take what I have been given for granted. Thats what I love about science fiction - it always gives us hope

I've got primary FSGS.  My nephs never did figure out just what caused my FSGS.

Even if I could step into a time machine and go back in time and live my life over again, I wouldn't know what I should do any differently.  Maybe I was just fated to get FSGS no matter what I did.