Hello all! No, I'm not quitting lantern collecting, but I'm going to have to slightly cut back on restoration attempts. I've reached a point where the arthritis is really taking over. Got to be so careful with glass globes! Have trouble gripping them without dropping them! I have some Coleman globes that would be expensive to replace. Don't want to sound like I'm "crying in my beer", (sounds interesting) but just curious how the rest of you guys and gals cope with this. I've fought this for over 25 years, runs in the family, and it's not just the pain, which is bad enough, but the finger joints are becoming very hard to move. Anyway, I realize we have quite an age difference here so this will not apply to everyone. This latest Vapalux E41 will probably be the last restoration of any significance for me. Once I complete it I'll simply be on the lookout for lanterns that require less restoration needs! Not giving up - yet! Hope I haven't bored everyone to death here.
Sorry to hear about your arthritis, George. I’m very glad that I’m not afflicted with it. My mother had mild arthritis, and that was bad enough. Best wishes Tony
George, you have my sympathies. I too suffer severe arthritis, mainly in my hands and fingers. My right hand is virtually useless now and I have to pick up my beer glass with two hands! I know that long hours at the bench (I am a clock repairer) makes the pain worse, but if I rest too long the joints stiffen even more. No winners in this affliction. Still we muddle along as best we can and reflect that there are others with bigger problems. Anyway, keep up with the lamp collection and keep posting.
@george Mate, that is sad news, however it’s not too sad as you’re still in the game as it were. My mum had arthritis in her fingers and it made life for very difficult, so I can understand a little of what you suffer. All the best to you mate, keep on posting and keep the banter up. Cheers Pete
Thank you all so much for all the words of encouragement. It means a lot. Like I've said before, this is a great hobby comprised of great people!
Hi George, rather than bored to death you are a great new year inspiration, I sincerely hope you find some lamps needing a little less fettling, God bless you George, Frank
@outback boy G'day Frank, going to have my procedure done next week, then after a week or 2 to get over it I'll contact you to make a time to visit you folk. Then its Swap Meet time. Looking forward to see you both. Cheers Pete
@george I am so sorry kind sir about your condition. I hope all is well and you get the help you need. Prayers to you....
George, mate, that is awfull. Part of the collecting is getting an old dirty, bad, looking girl, shine again like a star. I would say, contact your health insurance to check if they compesate the price difference between NOS and repar jobs. You have to spend more money due to the arthritis...
This here is the nuthouse.......sort of, so you are home George. And home too as to be heard. It takes courage sometimes to voice one's difficulties, but I am moved to see how the responses come in and welcome everyone, arthritus or something else. Mike P.S. All this might be an incentive to enjoy weathered lamps as well. Just you look at them for what they are, do not touch(!) sit back and listen to their amazing adventures.
Actually, on this forum, we're the sane people. Its the rest of the world that's got me worried ........ Cheers Pete
Hey @george here in the UK we usually give people an honour for their contribution to whatever it was they did. For women, they’re made Dames, for men, Knights. So, perhaps now as the body is refusing to play its youthful games, you should take your Knighthood and help keep the rest of us sane folk (@AussiePete, totally correct!) in order, or disorder. I hope that you have no intention of abandoning this ragtag band of light providing misfits! Wishing you well Sir George!
They say CBD oil (which is all the rage these days) is quite helpful. I have no personal experience with the stuff, but might be worth looking into.
Good day to you George I think I am like most of us here we get our hands on a Lamp and the world does not exist until a plan has been made for full restoration of said lamp, even by the best of methods we employ it is pure neglect of what is around us untill we can go no further due to spares and extreme family pressure . Hopefully after your procedure You can take your time and restore a lamp that will take longer and you may outdo the rest of us in enjoying the process . If I am anything to go by , I only need to look at a globe and I swear it moves ! Or I put something in the way to assist in the method of breakage , As I say it is the way we aproach the restoration and hopefully you get some extra spare third hand tools and you can teach us all how to be more patient with our projects. And the very Best of Luck to you .
@george It is awful that you so badly suffer pain with. A lot of people have your affliction and I sometimes wonder if all the money spent on cancer research impedes research on more common ailments, ailments that make millions of people live in pain and a terrible quality of life. Don't get me wrong, I understand the villian that cancer is. My grandfather, father and sister have all passed away due to cancer. My mother had a kidney removed due to cancer. I'd like to see a world cancer research centre set up where thousands of scientists are working on cancer but they aren't duplicating each others work and they can all work together to find a cure. Governments and private donations could fund the centre and if private donations are to be used strictly for cancer research that's all good and dandy. If such a centre had thousands of scientist working together I suspect billions of dollars could be saved and then allocated to diseases that painfully ruin lives. Arthritis is a terrible thing to have, acute arthritis is inhumane. So too gout and one many may not have heard of fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a shocking thing to have yet virtually nothing is understood about it. Even things like Psoriasis which affects 10's of millions of people should have more research money made available to find a cure. Those 10's of millions of people spend billions each year on medications and creams that don't work for the vast majority of suffers. Those 10's of millions of people have to see a Dr in regards to their condition 10's of millions of time, wasting resources. Finding solutions to the many debilitating diseases will eventually allow much more money to be allocated to other problematic areas. George, I do hope you intend to stick around the forum. Forums need men like you with their knowledge and a passion for the subject matter.
@Matty Thank you so much. I know what cancer is, too; my wife of 50 years has been fighting it for almost 26 years. What it would be like to only live in a world where none of this existed. What a blessing it would be.
I think we all have family and friends that suffered/died from cancer (I certainly do! I lost some of the finest friends/relatives because of cancer). It is one of very few charities I give money to/buy things from. But, if your illness is less common, everybody seems to 'forget' you. No charity is raising money for research for sclerodermia - system sclerosis. In Belgium, more people each year win the lottery than people are diagnosed with it. So, having "won" the bad lottery I hope to win the good one as well! Thanks to medicines developed to treat cancer (!) it can be slowed down and even stopped, but it is a life long treatment. But we have hope!
@Matty It’s a really important point you’re making. ICGC is one example, see International Cancer Genome Consortium Lots of countries agreed to focus on a particular cancer, and countries like the US with greater capacity took on more than one. Perhaps we need more initiatives like this.
I still think there are independent labs, universities, hospitals and even individual scientists that would be working on the cancer of their choice despite how promising International Cancer Genome Consortium looks. I just did a quick google and in Australia alone from 2016 to 2018 nearly $250 million was spent on cancer research. I found the following. let the numbers sink in. Imagine adding up what the world has spent on cancer research in the last 20 years. The figure would be mind numbing. This is the US alone and just federal government spending. There is no mention of how much is donated by Americans each year. It may well match what Washington spends. "All that seems like a lot, except that the website of the National Cancer Institute, one of the federal National Institutes of Health, reports that Washington funded $4.8 billion in cancer research in the 2013 fiscal year, and funding has averaged $4.9 billion over the past six years" The money spent for return must be the worst in the history of human civilisation. It will just continue unabated because it is obviously a good cause. I mean whom is going to knock back giving money to the next scientist that says he is only a few years from finding a cure? As previously stated, I am well aware cancer needs to be cured. The problem is, the 10's of millions suffering pitiful lives because no one seems to find the diseases they are suffering from interesting enough to have a full on assault to finding solutions to them.
@george My condolences on your condition and forced inactivity, sir. My dad uses hemp oil to help the arthritis in his hands. Based on that experience, I recommended it to a friend/adopted grandpa and brought him a bottle. Within a week of a couple times/daily application, he went from so swollen he was unable to see his knuckles or move his fingers enough to use his TV remote, to able to wiggle his fingers like a piano player. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007CYVANI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Obviously this isn't a silver bullet solution and won't work for everyone, but so far I've seen it help a couple folks.
@Marc @george Marc, what an interesting post. I showed my daughter this post because my kids have got together and bought me a bottle of Cannabis oil. They want me to use it for my problems and will buy it for me each month. I have refused to take it so far. Reading your post, I got my daughter to read it to because I was thinking Hemp Oil was what they bought me and I wanted to show her there is proof it works. She told me I didn't have Hemp, I had Cannabis. George, Marc, here is where it gets really interesting. My daughter works in a chemist shop, perhaps you blokes call them drug stores or pharmacy's. She told me about a bloke with severe arthritis in his hands and fingers. She said he suffered terribly. He then got onto Hemp Oil, he buys it from the chemist. My daughter has seen the change over the last two months in the blokes hands. When he first bought the Hemp Oil his fingers were stiff and too painful to try and move. A couple of days ago he showed my daughter how he can now wiggle his fingers and open and close his hand into fists. The change has been dramatic and significant. George, you may have one last chance to improve the quality of your life and get back to what you love - fettling.
George, I fail to see what you have got to lose so I am thrilled you are going to give it a try. It may take a couple of weeks for you to start to notice any changes - I dunno really. I guess my point is, don't give up before you have given it a chance to do it's magic. From the web. Cannabidiol oil, known as CBD oil or hemp oil. Some research has indicated that it can relieve the pain of various forms of arthritis as well. I hope the Hemp Oil works for you but if you don't get great results another option would be to speak to a Dr about prescribing you Cannabis Oil. I believe there are two types of the oil, one with the THC removed so you don't get the high the pot heads seek. Hope is a wonderful thing. Without hope, things can't get any darker. I do 'hope' you find things a little brighter now you have something to look forward to in trying to defeat the arthritis.
