Hi! Please can you help? This site is new and I have not been able to test it properly, as I only have one PC at home.
I have only tested in a fairly high resolution in IE7, Opera 9 and Firefox. How does it look in Internet Explorer 6? What about Safari?

I would really appreciate your feedback on style, bugs, layout etc! Are the side-bars (columns to the right and left) displaying properly? I am having some problems with Javascript on my machine and the column height is calculated by Javascript. If you see anything that looks wrong on the site, please let me know.. Alternatively if you think the theme is nice, please tell me !
Thanks for stopping by!”
Cordelia

This information is intended for people who do not know much about Sweden. Since moving to the UK I have been surprised at how many people mix up Sweden and Switzerland… (Luckily Switzerland is a terrific country, so things could be a lot worse!) Sweden is at the top, in the centre! Another thing that surprises me is when people ask me whether I am a Catholic or a Protestant.

Well, if they know I am from Sweden, then they should already know the answer!

Actively practicing or not, practically everybody in Scandinavia is a Protestant! (Just like practically everyone in Spain or Italy is a Catholic.)

HEAD OF STATE: The Head of State is King Carl XVI Gustaf who is married to Queen Silvia and has three children; Crown Princess Victoria, Carl Philip and Madeleine.

GEOGRAPHY AND SIZE: Sweden is the third largest country in Europe, located at the very North of the continent. The upper 1/5 is above the Arctic Circle. Sweden borders Norway to the West, Finland to the East and Denmark to the South.

Previously, the Soviet Union was on the other side of the Baltic Sea; uncomfortably close… Now that the Soviet Union is gone, we find that these neigbours are in fact our good friends, the Balts (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) as well as Poland and the Russian city-state of Kaliningrad. (Up until the second world war, Sweden had excellent relations with the Baltic area, however during the Cold War, Soviet policy towards the West put a stop to this. Our friends from the other side of the Baltic Sea became suspect strangers. Occasionally during the Cold War, some Balts would defect to Sweden on a raft or similar, causing plenty of drama!)

The Swedish Royal Family
POPULATION: 9 million. The language is Swedish, spoken by everybody. Sami (the language of the Lapps, a minority group in the North) is also an official language, along with Finnish, I believe. Sweden has accepted a lot of labour immigration (in the 1970s and 1960s) and refugees (1980s to present.)

As a result approximately 10% of the population are first or second generation immigrants from among others Turkey, Chile, Somalia and Iran. This figure is much higher in the largest cities; Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmoe.

FLAG: Yellow and Blue, symbolising a golden cross against a blue sky!

Politics

Sweden has been governed mainly by the Swedish Social Democratic Party for over 70 years. This has resulted in an economy that is fundamentally capitalist but has been very strongly influenced by socialism. Rental flats and child-care are examples of goods and services which are heavily subsidized and/or price-controlled.

The entire Swedish population today has grown up under the shadow (protection?) of socialism, taking welfare and constant harsh criticism of capitalism for granted. Typical Swedish house + flagSome socialist practices still going on today are so ingrained in society that no political party even dares to question them. Too many people’s lives would be seriously affected.

The fall of communism in Europe brought about some minor change on the political scene in Sweden, as it was proven that communism and socialism were not sustainable political models. The Swedish Communist and Socialist political parties amended their manifestos and the Communist party even changed it’s name to ‘The Leftist Party’ and distanced itself from the policies of the former Soviet Union.

But despite the fall of Communism, the majority of Swedes continued to vote for either of these two left wing parties with one exception up until the general election 2006 when the ‘Middle Way’ parties were elected into power. Swedish 1 May Parade, 2005 In terms of people’s worldview and personal opinions, Sweden may in fact be the most socialist country in Europe today, depending on how you define it. I think this is slowly beginning to change though. What do you think?

During both world wars as well as the Cold War, Sweden was ‘neutral’ and did not get involved. It was one of very few countries that escaped unharmed from both world wars. In fact, the Swedish mainland has never been invaded by foreign powers, with the exception of Denmark taking an interest in the Southern-most tip of the country several hundred years ago.

The Vikings

Swedish Vikings 400-1100 AD explored mainly to the East (Russia, Poland and the Near East) and as a result have less of a violent reputation than the Danish and Norwegian Vikings who sailed West, regularly attacking settlements on the British Isles or in North West Europe.

The Swedish Vikings however, usually crossed the Baltic Sea and sailed down along the rivers of Russia and the European mainland. They were regular visitors to Istanbul in Turkey (called Constantinople at the time) and they also ventured deep deep into Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine where they were able to access trading routes into Asia. Vikings hence traded with merchants from the Far East and are said to have got along well with Cossacks, Turks and many others who lived in the areas they visited.
.Swedish Vikings: Violent Bullies or Misrepresented?
Archeological findings of a Buddha statue dating from 400 AD, as well as other products originating from the Far East show how far the Vikings’ contacts reached. In many cases, Vikings had rune-stones made to commemorate their trips abroad; these have been a great testimony of how the Vikings travelled and what they did on those trips.

(Occasionally they did actually live up to their violent reputation though, plundering and capturing locals as slaves whom they brought back home to use as labour. This was not the norm though! )

The Viking era ended in Scandinavia when the area became Christian around 1100 AD. (The Viking lifestyle wasn’t compatible with Christianity!) The religion of the Vikings; ‘Asatru’ , i.e. the worship of the Norse Gods such as Oden (Odin), Tor and Freja (Freia) was gradually replaced with Christianity over a period of a couple of hundred years, AD 1050 and onwards. Some traditions of the Vikings are still practiced in Scandinavia though, thinly disguised as local-flavour Christianity.

Middle Ages and Protestant Reformation

During the Middle Ages Sweden was in a Union with the other Scandinavian countries; Norway and Denmark. Finland was also part of the union, but not as an independent country; it belonged to Sweden at the time. Just like in the rest of Europe, the nation-state as we know it today did not yet exist. Local princes were at war with each other on and off across the area and the inhabitants of the ‘country’ were mainly only united by the fact that they spoke the same langauge.

In the early 1500s Sweden became unified as a country under King Gustav Eriksson Vasa. At the same time the country also became Protestant. The reformation in Sweden was a quick and efficient process, at least compared with how it worked out elsewhere. Sadly plenty of damage to historical buildings was done by over-zealous reformers who painted over beautiful church-wall decorations with white chalk and destroyed art that they felt was too inspired by Catholic beliefs.
Gustav Vasa, country founder
During centuries following the protestant reformation of the country, Sweden became a local empire, controlling Norway, Finland, part of the Baltic States and even parts of Germany. It participated in a number of wars on the European continent and in Russia.

The Swedish empire fell apart during the 18th century at which point Sweden began forming close ties first with France, then later Germany which is more similar to Sweden in its language and culture. The close ties with Germany lasted until the Second World War. My grandmother learnt German as her first foreign language in school, just like I learnt English as my first foreign language.

The War and It’s Aftermath

In the era after the war, the Social Democratic Party has been in power for all but a few years. This has influenced the entire structure of the country, from the appointment of judges and educational leaders to the appointment of bishops in the (national) Lutheran Church (which is effectively a state organ).

In addition, the media is also strongly tainted to the left and Social Democracy now permeates the country down to its very core. Over the last 70 years Social Democracy has managed to perpetuate itself in all parts of Swedish society and even form an alliance with both the national unions and the major businesses and financial institutions of the country. As a result, Sweden now has a rather unique mish-mash of socialist and capitalist institutions co-existing in harmony.

Ex-prime minster Olof Palme (1927 – 1986) personifies this state of affairs quite well in that he was a socialist albeit from an upper-class background. Famously he got along very well with the industry leaders of the country while still being a strongly committed socialist. He regularly voiced criticism towards the United States, particularly it’s foreign policy.

The only available (two, state owned) TV channels during Palme’s years in power were strongly tainted from a socialist perspective which influenced the generations growing up watching it. (I count myself to that generation.) Even children’s programmes regularly had a socialist edge to them!

There was very little diversion or opposition to the Social Democratic view of the world which was more or less consistently published in Swedish media for many decades. A kind of self-sensorship was going on whereby a lot of important policy-decisions were never challenged despite being far from unambigous.
Socialist, Aristocrat, Prime Minister
Really, you could say that Social Democracy and Political Correctness became the new religion in Sweden as the Church of Sweden lost it’s position as a force to be reckoned with in society.. It is generally agreed that the main national School of Journalism in Stockholm was (is?) 100% ‘red’. This school has been turning out well-trained but also socialist-biased professionals year after year since the 1940s. As you can imagine, this has had a very significate impact on the political climate in media!

Olof Palme was active in Swedish politics for over thirty years and had a huge impact on the country, following in the tradition of previous long-term socialist prime ministers Per Albin Hansson and Tage Erlander. Palme was murdered while walking home (without bodyguards) from a Stockholm cinema with his wife in 1986. The murder is still unsolved.

Joining the EU

Sweden was ‘neutral’ during the Cold War, not associated with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. For this and other reasons, Sweden stood outside of the European Union until after the Cold War had ended and there had been a national referendum about whether to join the union or remain loosely associated with it through the EES.

It took a lot of convincing on the part of those in favour of joining (i.e the political and financial elite) in order to get the population to vote ‘Yes’!

The referendum, taking place in 1994, was a very close call indeed, as most Swedes had initially been against Sweden joining the EU. (Not surprinsing really, after decades of negative reporting about the EU in the media!)

Hence the campaign proceeding the referendum was a rather odd affair as it actually turned out that the population at large, at this point, was more socialist than the Social Democratic Party itself! (The Party had become aware of the financial reality of the situation and turned away from its previous position on EU membership. The people however were not so quick to catch on..)

The types of reservations that people had against joining the EU were mainly along the lines of “The EU will destroy the welfare state”; “The EU is an elitist organisation that is really mainly out for financial gain at the expense of the third world / working class et.c…. ” Anti-EU Cartoons; Witty but mainly nonsense!There was also some anti-German sentiments, added to the average Swedish person’s suspicion against the general competency and efficiency of any country in the Southern part of Europe…

The campaign for a ‘Yes’ vote was sponsored by business organisations and all political parties with the exception of the Leftist party. I think it would be fair to say that the ‘Vote Yes’ campaign was much better sponsored than the ‘Vote No’ campaign… Private enterprises realised that they would be in a really difficult situation should there was a ‘No’ vote. Hence they litterally threw money at the ‘Yes’ campaign!

They got away with it as the Social Democrat party leadership themselves supported the Yes vote.

(How awkward for them that the actual party members had been so brainwashed to dislike the EU that they didn’t (initially) follow the party line and support membership!)

However, in all honesty, it has to be said that from a financial perspective the playing field wasn’t exactly equal on this vote. With excellent resources at their hands, the ‘Yes’ campaign managed to significantly swing public opionion within a period of about a year. The ‘Yes’ campaign won the referendum with 50.5% of votes, or something like that.
I was a student at the time and actually did some campaign work for the ‘Yes’ side. It was a lot of fun!

Sweden joined the European Union in 1995. In another referendum in 2004, Sweden voted not to adopt the Euro as national currency for the time being. I think it is obvious to everybody that this is a temporary state of affairs. Whereas a financially and politically influential country like the UK can possibly afford to decline the Euro, Sweden cannot.

Technorati Tags: sweden, swedish, socialism, scandinavia

Men, read no further… Ok, if you are a man, stop reading right now. I promise you, you will find this post really off-putting. (But make no mistake; for approx. 10% of women, this reflects the harsh reality of life!)

However if you are a woman suffering from menorrhagia or uterine fibroids, you may find some comfort in this article which shows that you are not alone! I am just one of millions of professional, health-conscious women who suffer from this despite my best efforts to stay healthy. The greyish objects are the ‘foreign’ objects, the fibroids. Fibroids are basically muscle-like growths in the uterus. Many women have them (over 30% of all women). However mine are unusually large. The fibroids colled toxins passing through the body, and stores those toxins inside it.

Anaemia

I get anemia (iron-deficiency) from all the bleeding. The doctor told me that my iron levels were really low, almost so low that I need a blood-transfusion. However, since finding out about this I have been trying to get as much iron into me as I can. I take iron-pills and drink a daily concoction of Floradix (Blutsaft) and Vitamin C. Blutsaft Iron Drink… Excessive bleeding during the period is called “Menorrhagia”.

Menorrhagia

The fibroids make the uterus expand, just like it would if you are pregnant. This somehow leads to much more bleeding during your period. For some women it makes the period much more painful.

The fibroids cause me to bleed something incredible for up 7-10 days a month. I simply can’t believe how much I bleed! It’s well over a litre every period, I am sure. Probably it’s more like 1.5 - 2 litre, but I am under-estimating on purpose. (Apparently most women over-estimate how much they bleed, and I wanted to counter-act that tendency.)

If I am home during the worst days (which, ideally, I need to be), I tend to spend my time laying down, using a folded tea-towel that I change every half hour. I guess that illustrates how bad things are. I am too weak and it’s too messy for me to want to do anything else. (If there is any guy still reading - I warned you! )

Anaemia

I get anemia (iron-deficiency) from all the bleeding. The doctor told me that my iron levels were really low, almost so low that I need a blood-transfusion. However, since finding out about this I have been trying to get as much iron into me as I can. I take iron-pills and drink a daily concoction of Floradix (Blutsaft) and Vitamin C.
A few days ago I was really dizzy and fainted for a few seconds on the train to work. The train was packed like a sardine-jar. I swayed, feeling dizzy and weak, about to lose consciousness. I would have fallen to the ground if there hadn’t been so many people around me on the packed train. A woman got up and offered me her seat. I hyperventilated but came around once I was able to sit down and relax. Anaemia causes the sufferer to be constantly fatigued, prone to headaches and just generally weak.

The heavy bleeding makes it almost impossible to function normally at work. No amount of sanitary protection (double, super-extra-maxi-size everything at the same time) seems to last for longer than 20 minutes or so. There is a long walk to the Ladies’ Room through an open plan office, and I am embarrased about having to go so often… I can’t even last through a normal-length business meeting. I am constantly worried about bleeding through the protection. 80-90% of my co-workers are male, so even hinting at the problem is out of the question.

A very embarrasing moment

The other day as I got up from my seat at the train on my way home from work, the unthinkable happened… I felt it the second I rose from the seat…. This has never happened to me before. I am not talking about a tiny stain in my jeans. I am talking about complete flooding, i.e. haemorrhage.

I was wearing a business suit (blue jacket and matching knee-legth skirt), pumps and a short raincoat. Unfortunately I was wearing skin-coloured tights.

Realising what the situation was, I started making my way towards the Ladies at the station, as fast as I could.

But when I got there, it turned out that the Ladies was closed for one of the ‘normal’ reasons… (repairs, vandalism or something like that - who cares… ). I panicked and couldn’t think what to do! Largest size available…
I felt like crying. Another woman was there. I lift up my legs and looked at my tights. The instant I did, the other woman looked too…

There were stripy vertical stains on my tights, all the way down the leg. A few stains had already formed on the stone floor. The woman asked if I was ok? What could I say…? She must have thought I was just some idiot who couldn’t be bothered to wear proper sanitary protection. Whereas in reality I had as much as one person can fit on her without it showing through the clothes.

A man came by for the Gents (which was also closed). He stopped briefly to complain about the closed loos. Then he noticed what was going on and looked shocked.

My humiliation was total. Lord knows what he made of it. I even couldn’t think clearly…) I had done everything I possibly could to prevent exactly this. But there I was with blood dripping down my legs, feeling really weak and really humiliated.

(I could have worn trousers, I guess, or black stockings. I normally wear skirts for work though. Rest assured I am getting some work-trousers though, black ones!) *Blush”

It was dark outside. I decided to run home, despite feeling very weak. A stupid idea perhaps, but the thought of somebody seeing my stripy legs was just too much… It would take a 8 minutes or so. I ran with my coat wrapped around my waist so the stains wouldn’t show. When I got home I had a good cry about it while cleaning up the mess.

Long Wait for Treatment

In May 2006 I went to my GP (Doctor) about this. Typical! I had to see a male doctor! I tried not to be pre-judiced about it. It should not be embarrassing… He is a professional… And just because some American women online had troubles with male doctors doesn’t mean that I will.

I had already researched the problem and was fairly certain it was fibroids that was causing my bleeding problem. I explained this to the GP.

But the doctor thought I was misguided. Exaggerating, maybe. He said ‘No, you don’t have that, I am pretty sure.’ And I almost trusted him for a second!

The only reason he ended up sending me for a ultrasound uterine scan was because I insisted that he did. He said ‘Well, if it will make you feel better, I don’t mind.’

I had tried to be nice about it, not coming there as a know-it-all patient.. But really, I was desperate to get checked, and I was not prepared to accept a ‘no’.. It was very clear to me that there was something wrong with me. I knew that I had all the symptoms of fibroids.

It is a bit worrying to realise that if I had I listened to this doctor I might still not be diagnosed! He wanted to send me home with a strong pain killer; (Mefenamic Acid). But really, the pain is the least of the problems with my periods!

Photo of Multiple Small-ish Fibroids.
I have only one.

1-2 months later I finally got an appointment for a scan. The technician spotted the fibroids immediately and commented that they were quite large. One was 8 cm in diameter. (But I think it’s grown a lot since then… the bleeding has certainly doubled since then… )

I had no private health insurance at this point. (Most people in England don’t have that, unless it’s a job benefit for a fairly good job. I had just started a new job, so the insurance had not yet kicked in.) As a result of this, I was at the mercy of public health care for the first time ever.

NHS (National Health Service)is a perfectly good and a completely free service. (Well, our taxes pay for it!) But waiting-times can be long for appointments. Also, the patient does not have the extra leverage of also being a customer. She cannot take her business elsewhere if she is not happy… (And even if she could, it would not worry the NHS in the least, quite the opposite!)

Most NHS hospitals are old and quite run-down, having been patched up as and when the funds were available. The staff is competent, dedicated and generally nice. The equipment needed is generally available. However the staff is over-worked and under-paid and there are certainly no luxuries or extras offered…

During the autumn I got called to see a doctor at Kingston-upon-Thames hospital. Although my appointment was at ‘Mr Davies’ Surgery’, the doctor I actually ended up seeing (to my surprise), was an Indian lady. She had a very strong Indian accent which I was struggling to understand. Soon it became obvious that she knew even less about fibroids than I did, despite being a doctor. (I had read up about fibroids by then).

Seriously irritating! She treated me as if I had an IQ of about 50 or so, asking me questions from a script. She did not give me a opportunity to ask my own questions and seemed uninterested in anything other than following her script. What was her problem!? Most of what she was asking was completely irrelevant, or questions which I had already answered previously and which should therefore already be noted in my patient records.

The interview finished with her insisting that I take something called “Tranexamic Acid” (supposed to reduce bleeding) for 3 months before anything could be done. Then I should come back for an evaluation.

This was a complete waste of time and I knew it. But I had no energy to argue. Also, I was hoping that some pills I had bought on the internet (Vitalzym) might help. I really wanted to believe in them… More on this later.

The Uterine Embolization…. I can’t wait!

Finally the three months had passed. There had (as expected) been no improvement. I got another call to attend Mr Davies’ surgery.

A scary MRI Scan is required..
The doctor I saw this time the doctor was a really nice woman named Nicola. She treated me like I actually had a brain and asked my feedback before making recommenations. I felt as if she sympathised with my situation and was thinking about what the most appropriate treatment would be based on my circumstances.

It was clear that this doctor had not had time to read my records either, and wasn’t necessarily a guru on fibroids. But she seemed knowledgeable enough, was very friendly and genuinely keen to help.

Half-way through the interview she mentioned Uterine Embolization which I had read about in a book that I bought about fibroids. She said it was probably a better alternative than myomectomy and that she would discuss it with Mr Davies and somebody called Dr Todd, a radiologist I believe. I left feeling hopeful.

Another couple of months passed which brings us to present time.

So about two weeks ago I saw Dr Todd. He was really nice and friendly. He said he could help me!

The procedure (fibroid embolization) does not require open surgery - It is all done via a blood vessel! They cut off the blood supply to the fibroids. This makes them die and wither away. They then come out as grey-black liquid. Gross! Kingston NHS Hospital
I’ll have to stay for two nights at the hospital.

(An NHS hospital - ugh! Kingston hospital is an old run-down Victorian pile of bricks, mainly… It looks very raggamuffin. Not a very uplifting place)

But anything is worth it to be rid of the fibroids… NHS dump, here I come! In fact, I can’t wait!

(Actually, at the time of writing, I do have private health insurance through my new job. But I doubt whether it is valid for problems that were discovered before you signed up. Sigh)

My appointment to do the surgery is for the 4th of March. It takes a week to recover. I’ll have a fab time laying in bed, reading, watching TV and messing around online. This is the plan anyway…
Then no more scary bleeding EVER! I’ll just have normal periods that can be managed using normal-sized tampons.

Vitalzym

This remedy against fibroids is heavily advertised online. Perhaps you have come across ads for it?

One woman who sells it online has set up a ‘testimonial site’, where she talks about how Vitalzym cured her fibroid problems. Incidentally she is now selling it, for the benefit of other sufferers.. I was quite taken in by her story.

I can’t say whether Lorraine (the Vitalzym seller) is honest or not, but I CAN tell you that Vitalzym did nothing for me!

It is really quite expensive, so for that reason I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are able to spare a few hundred pounds without worrying too much about it. However, it definitely does no harm, so if money isn’t a problem, then go for it! You’d have nothing to loose but your cash.
What’s with the ‘ä’?
Surely they mean ‘a’!
Personally I used it for the 3-4 months within which you should be able to notice an improvement according to the Vitalzyam doctor. I took between 8 and 30 pills per day, as recommended by the same physician. The bleeding was unaffected. But despite the fact that it didn’t work for me personally, I really thought that it seemed like a good product. I was very disappointed when it proved inefficient.

I still think it may be helpful in stopping you getting fibroids in the first place, alternatively in stopping some very small fibroids from growing large. But if you’ve already got fibroids badly, I really don’t think it can make much difference. I think I spent £300-£500 or so before I called it quits. I really hope that this was not one of those products that take advantage of the vulnerability of people who are driven to desperation by their symptoms and are unwilling to have surgery.

If somebody who reads this has been helped by Vitalzym, please let me know. I’d love for it to work, but based on my own experience I have to conclude that it doesn’t.

I also looked into ‘estrogen dominance’ as a reason for triggering fibroids. I became fairly convinced that I was suffering from this hormonal imbalance and bought some anti-estrogen (progesterone) tablets. As you may have guessed, there was no noticeable improvement from these tablets either. Again, these progesterone may be helpful for preventing you from getting fibroids in the first time. However when you got them badly, only surgery or UFE will help.

Conclusion

I am a bit scared about the surgery and the pain afterwards. It is not exactly guaranteed that it won’t make me infertile (although supposedly it doesn’t - Dr Todd mentioned patients of his who had become pregnant within as little as six months after the embolization).

I don’t know any Christians who would pray for me as I go through this, so if you are a Christian, please would you pray for me; that the surgery goes well? I’d really appreciate it!

If fibroids are affecting you, please tell me by making a comment below! Or, if you want to make any other sort of comment, please do. Just don’t say it’s disgusting, as 1) I warned you, and 2) I can’t help it!

I will update this post after the surgery.

Cordelia

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UPDATE: In this article you can read about my hospital stay and the Uterine Fibroid Embolization. Thanks for your prayers!
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Technorati Tags: fibroids, ufe, uterine+fibroids, embolization,nhs
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