When the father of a dear friend died some years back, we talked about the words we use – ‘death’, ‘dying’, ‘passing on’ and so on – and how they made us feel. Which was at best passive, but more a sense of being disconnected – totally cut off from people who had been with us all our lives.
This week’s headlines shouted about the increased risk of abnormal blood clotting – venous thromboembolism (VTE) – in the lungs of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. A key trigger seems to be the cytokine storm where the immune system goes into overdrive and attacks the body. Widespread inflammation ensues which damages veins leading to clots. So COVID-19 patients in ICU are now routinely given an anticoagulant to thin the blood (low molecular weight heparin or LMWH).
When repeated intensive hand washing became mandatory in March, a friend phoned me in distress about her very dry hands, which had become red, chapped and sore. It wasn’t just her but also her grown-up children – she thought there might be a genetic component in their sensitive parched skin. My instant response was: ‘get Gloves In A Bottle – now!’ She ordered supplies from Victoria Health and a week or so later reported that this barrier hand cream had ‘worked miracles’ for all of them.
Look Good Feel Better (LGFB) is the beauty and fragrance industry’s flagship initiative, organising free workshops in over 140 hospitals and cancer centres nationwide to help people with cancer overcome the visible side effects of treatments, such as skin issues and the loss of eye brows and lashes. It’s been one of our favourite charities since it started 25 years ago, about the same time as Beauty Bible.