An App for Lymphedema Self Care

I am on the fence on this one. At NYU, a bunch of really smart people have developed a prototype of an app for self-care for lymphedema. They have tried it on about 20 people. They realize that they used their app on patients who are highly educated and tech savvy. A great idea. Right?

Not. They realize their audience is skewed in one direction. But I think I could be put in that group myself of well educated and tech savvy but I am not going to jump on my phone or laptop at every twinge. Not happening.

I think I blogged about the idea of 'cool' apps for anyone over 30. Not so great. I like the idea of helping with self-care for patients but not necessarily an app. I think we need a new idea for this. The internet and technology do not solve everything.

Less Technology

We are away on vacation (note to burglars: we have a house sitter and two anti-burglar cats) and I have less access to technology:

• My phone is dead. I mean the battery is dead. I brought the wrong charger so it won't charge. As a backup we have my husband's phone but its not mine so I won't be using it much.
• There is one TV in the house we rented. It is downstairs and there are 7 of us now and will be 11 of us later so that means not a lot of tube time.
• All the plugs in this house (built in the early 1800s) are two prong. All the computer chargers are three prong. Dead batteries will probably occur.

And I don't really care. I can live without technology (as the withdrawal begins). We are at the beach. I have a pile of library books. It will do me good to unplug. We will have to do things like talk to each other.

I do want to take pictures so without my phone I might just not. That's okay. We are with family so other people can take pictures too. 

It also means I can't obsess over any new ailment because I can't just google it. (This is a very good thing.) I'll just pretend I'm healthy and any new ailment will magically go away like for normal people.

I think we spend too much time online, looking at screens and we don't look at the world around us. (Think of the people who have walked or driven into things or off things because they are looking at a screen. Or the groups of teens who sit together but look at screens at text each other instead of talking.)

I am happy to be unplugged. I will blog but I will also go to the beach. The beach just might be more important (and is a five minute walk).

Star Trek Tricorder

Do you remember the Star Trek Tricorders? No not the phasers (always set to stun) but the tricorders that could diagnose people instantly of cancer or all sorts of other ailments. Dr whatshisname had one. I would love it if they were available to diagnose me and skip all the medical misadventures that make our lives so 'fun'. But it is really possible? I don't know at this point.

Google's biotech section, Verily, said that they could develop one in six months. That was three years ago and it still doesn't exist. (Who woulda thunk?)  And based on what has been said by a former employee that if employees said it was a bit 'out there' they were frozen out of future decisions.

"Tricorder is not the only misfire for Google’s ambitious and extravagantly funded biotech venture, now named Verily Life Sciences. It has announced three signature projects meant to transform medicine, and a STAT examination found that all of them are plagued by serious, if not fatal, scientific shortcomings, even as Verily has vigorously promoted their promise.

The Tricorder, as Conrad and others at Verily call the device, is “in the realm of not only science fiction, but beyond that — science fantasy,” said David Walt, a Tufts University chemistry professor and nanoscience expert who met with Verily scientists and engineers last year to share his concerns. “And I’m not sure it will ever be science reality.”"

Science fiction or science reality?

"Verily appears to be having more success with less world-changing projects, but it still chooses to showcase its most ambitious ones — perhaps, some critics suggest, to promote itself as a company poised to defeat disease.

“One needs to balance how much these toys are used mostly for marketing and for giving a sense of a company really working on something impressive — the brave new world — or if we’re talking about something that will have clear and immediate clinical impact,” said Dr. John Ioannidis, a professor of disease prevention at Stanford University. “The latter is very hard to imagine.”"

So if its a marketing splash? What are the ethics of this? If it makes a big splash and helps the company with its stock values, how does that help us patients? It doesn't but just make the company lots of money. 

Star Trek also had all those little communication devices. We have those - our cell phones. But the rest of what was used on the show may be a bit too far in the future.

Technical Difficulties

I hate technical difficulties. One of my main responsibilities at work is IT support for the company. I troubleshoot, set up computers, install software, and more. I also help friends with their computers as well. Therefore I hate it when I have technical difficulties.

Right now my laptop is in ICU at the local computer store. The preliminary diagnosis is that the plug where the power cord from the wall outlet plugs in has died. The laptop didn't recognize the AC adapter so I couldn't charge the battery, and if you moved it a tiny bit (or not at all), it would lose contact with the AC adapter and shut down. Not fun and basically made the computer unusable.

I will know in a couple of days if its an affordable, sensible, repair. The laptop is 3 years old so it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money on it. And I really do not want buy a new computer right now. Nor is it backed up (which is a cardinal rule in the IT world).

In the meantime, I am using my phone and tablet for technology. Its okay but not great. Yes I can access the internet and my email but the on screen keyboard is a PITA. And all my files are on the laptop so I can't take care of some volunteer work. Nor do I have all computer programs that I use regularly.

But its not health related and it is aggravating. Grrrr.