kafkaian
Established Member
Dear contributors,
I think I need to share this with you all.
Early in February my father was admitted to our local hospital in Solihull, West Midlands, with respiratory problems having been diagnosed some months previously with COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease i.e. disease of the lungs. He was having difficulty breathing.
This disease can be of two distinct causes; occupational (dust/chemical inhalation) and social (smoking).
In my father's case this was probably a combination of the two. However, in his early years before he became a white collar administrator and engineer, and during his time in the RAF, he worked with chemicals, dust creating equipment and spraying guns succumbing to all sorts of airborne 'nasties'. Not only that, my father's relaxation came from successfully refitting, revamping and working on the various family homes we had over time.
Sanding would be done WITHOUT a mask. Cars would be resprayed WITHOUT a mask. Old lead paints would be removed WITHOUT adequate protection. In those days, 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s, these careless practices were the norm and it was perfectly reasonable to clean hands using paraffin, turps or spirits (not good for the liver) or suck petrol out of tanks with a tube.
In my father's case, these lack of simple precautions based on the genuine ignorance of the time with regard to breathing have culminated in the following:
In mid-February my 76 year old father contracted an infection of the lung i.e. pneumonia. After being put on a pressurised NIV mask in an attempt to improve oxygen uptake and ease the breathing, the respiratory consultant in charge, on realising my father was near death, took the inevitable decision to apply an invasive procedure to allow apparatus to take over my father's lungs. He was then rushed to an ITU/ICU ward at another hospital where he remained unconscious for several days while sedation and third party life support was applied.
On the 23rd/24th February my father's condition was critical and we nearly lost him as the doctors gave him only a 50/50 chance of survival.
A few days ago after a slow and arduous recovery in a hospital ward where he was allowed to fall twice and took at least 2 weeks to speak lucidly, my father was eventually released from hospital. He survived this ordeal but still remains in a poorly state of breathlessness, swollen ankles and malnutrition - all exacerbated by the diarrhoea from the many drugs and antibiotics still required.
To make matters worse and further reducing his quality of life, over the last 10 to 15 years during his retirement, my father developed tinnitus and virtually lost most of his natural hearing. This was all due to the following in order of the severity of cause and effect:
1) Not using ear defenders during factory visits churning out noise that would be considered obscene by today's standard,
2) Not using ear defenders when working with power tools.
The crux of this post is this:
Dear fellow contributor, woodworker and DIYer/builder, please, please, please wear a mask when doing your work if you don't have specialist extraction systems and make sure they fit and are of sufficient grading for the job.
I am 42 and during my 20s and 30s was also very complacent. Now I have put a stop to that and won't create dust unless my family is out of the way and I have suitable protection. I have probably created in myself, a similar legacy to my father's but at least have 20 odd more years to protect my lungs in the way he didn't and might, therefore, suffer less of an ordeal - added to which I have never smoked.
If anything I hope my father's genuine case will convince contributors/readers to this and other forums, that they must wear suitable protection at all times commensurate to the task in hand. If you don't want to do this for yourselves, then please do this for your family and loved ones who will have to endure the trauma me and my family have had to for some weeks now. One minute my father was about to die, the next he had a future and this situation continued like a switch of hope and despair. The emotional rollercoaster was the most debilitating situation I have ever experienced and would not wish this on anyone here.
The jury's still out on mdf, modern plastics and insulation material, but I suspect in years to come the effects of these modern materials along with their binding agents and glues will become subject to objective scutiny leading to all sorts of detrimental health questions.
The saddest thing of all during my father's stay in Intensive Care was stark. Most of the people admitted to ICU had breathing problems of some sort, but in a ward of 9 incumbents at any one time, many died. It was like a conveyor belt of death.
Work safe and live long
All the best
Ian
I think I need to share this with you all.
Early in February my father was admitted to our local hospital in Solihull, West Midlands, with respiratory problems having been diagnosed some months previously with COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease i.e. disease of the lungs. He was having difficulty breathing.
This disease can be of two distinct causes; occupational (dust/chemical inhalation) and social (smoking).
In my father's case this was probably a combination of the two. However, in his early years before he became a white collar administrator and engineer, and during his time in the RAF, he worked with chemicals, dust creating equipment and spraying guns succumbing to all sorts of airborne 'nasties'. Not only that, my father's relaxation came from successfully refitting, revamping and working on the various family homes we had over time.
Sanding would be done WITHOUT a mask. Cars would be resprayed WITHOUT a mask. Old lead paints would be removed WITHOUT adequate protection. In those days, 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s, these careless practices were the norm and it was perfectly reasonable to clean hands using paraffin, turps or spirits (not good for the liver) or suck petrol out of tanks with a tube.
In my father's case, these lack of simple precautions based on the genuine ignorance of the time with regard to breathing have culminated in the following:
In mid-February my 76 year old father contracted an infection of the lung i.e. pneumonia. After being put on a pressurised NIV mask in an attempt to improve oxygen uptake and ease the breathing, the respiratory consultant in charge, on realising my father was near death, took the inevitable decision to apply an invasive procedure to allow apparatus to take over my father's lungs. He was then rushed to an ITU/ICU ward at another hospital where he remained unconscious for several days while sedation and third party life support was applied.
On the 23rd/24th February my father's condition was critical and we nearly lost him as the doctors gave him only a 50/50 chance of survival.
A few days ago after a slow and arduous recovery in a hospital ward where he was allowed to fall twice and took at least 2 weeks to speak lucidly, my father was eventually released from hospital. He survived this ordeal but still remains in a poorly state of breathlessness, swollen ankles and malnutrition - all exacerbated by the diarrhoea from the many drugs and antibiotics still required.
To make matters worse and further reducing his quality of life, over the last 10 to 15 years during his retirement, my father developed tinnitus and virtually lost most of his natural hearing. This was all due to the following in order of the severity of cause and effect:
1) Not using ear defenders during factory visits churning out noise that would be considered obscene by today's standard,
2) Not using ear defenders when working with power tools.
The crux of this post is this:
Dear fellow contributor, woodworker and DIYer/builder, please, please, please wear a mask when doing your work if you don't have specialist extraction systems and make sure they fit and are of sufficient grading for the job.
I am 42 and during my 20s and 30s was also very complacent. Now I have put a stop to that and won't create dust unless my family is out of the way and I have suitable protection. I have probably created in myself, a similar legacy to my father's but at least have 20 odd more years to protect my lungs in the way he didn't and might, therefore, suffer less of an ordeal - added to which I have never smoked.
If anything I hope my father's genuine case will convince contributors/readers to this and other forums, that they must wear suitable protection at all times commensurate to the task in hand. If you don't want to do this for yourselves, then please do this for your family and loved ones who will have to endure the trauma me and my family have had to for some weeks now. One minute my father was about to die, the next he had a future and this situation continued like a switch of hope and despair. The emotional rollercoaster was the most debilitating situation I have ever experienced and would not wish this on anyone here.
The jury's still out on mdf, modern plastics and insulation material, but I suspect in years to come the effects of these modern materials along with their binding agents and glues will become subject to objective scutiny leading to all sorts of detrimental health questions.
The saddest thing of all during my father's stay in Intensive Care was stark. Most of the people admitted to ICU had breathing problems of some sort, but in a ward of 9 incumbents at any one time, many died. It was like a conveyor belt of death.
Work safe and live long
All the best
Ian
