Dancing With Fear: A Day in My Life Without a Left Pelvic Bone
I walk like a penguin, I think, chuckling at my short stride. The pain in my hip is significant when I shift weight to my left leg. The pain ascends rapidly the further I step forward, so I shuffle. This sensation is not deep inside like the lightning strikes I felt when my tumor was growing long ago, but instead it shoots out towards my abductors.
I envision my pain as an iron plate, compacted by the burden of cancer, consuming the space formerly occupied by cancerous bone. This plate does not respect my orthopedic oncology surgeon's handiwork -- muscle stapled and taped to other muscle -- and is waiting to explode downw...
Source: I've Still Got Both My Nuts: A True Cancer Blog - June 13, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: a day in my life fear and rage Source Type: blogs
Those J&J Recalls Keep On Coming: Tylenol Bottles Yanked From Brazil
Despite assorted efforts to get its corporate house in order, Johnson & Johnson simply cannot escape manufacturing problems. The latest escapade has occurred in Brazil, where more than 3.3 million bottles of Tylenol Drops are being recalled because the dripper is apparently malfunctioning and can lead to an overdose.
The active ingredient is acetaminophen, which can cause liver damage, and the J&J notice adds that an overdose can also result in nausea and other gastrointestinal problems. The bottles were made between December 2011 and November 2012, according to a notice issued by the health care giant. We asked J...
Source: Pharmalot - May 23, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
J&J Asks Employees To Assess Its Battered Corporate Credo
In the wake of scandals and investigations over manufacturing gaffes, countless product recalls and questionable marketing practices, Johnson & Johnson is embarking on a round of corporate soul searching. The health care giant is asking employees to take "reflect, reaffirm, question, challenge and share" their thoughts on the 70-year-old credo and then take a survey for the purpose of “identifying opportunities for improvement and action.”
The news was conveyed this morning to employees by J&J ceo Alex Gorsky and Peter Fasolo, worldwide vp for human resources and follows the recent launch of the first corporate...
Source: Pharmalot - May 21, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
The Best New Doctor Reaction Yet
He laughed.I went to see a physicians assistant in the rheumatology department yesterday about the bump on my arm (not on a log). He was a very nice man and spent some time talking to me.He said what I have is probably a ganglion cyst and he could stick a needle in it and drain it but it might come back. I said lymphedema arm. He said 'oops, no needle'. I said when I move my thumb around it makes it hurt more, he said I could give you a thumb splint but that would make your arm swell up.So we left it that I will monitor admire it, and if it does become problematic, I would be referred to a surgeon to see if there was anyth...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - May 3, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: treatment options ganglion cyst rheumatoid arthritis doctor appointments Source Type: blogs
Feeding tubes and weird ideas
My favorie BADD post: Tube-ageddon.
I haven't had much time to write anything here about the hell I went through getting my GJ tube. I had every indication for a GJ tube. I had gastroparesis so bad it was starting to affect my breathing, in a way that doctors said was likely to result in infection after infection until I died. From the emergency room onward, doctors were saying my best hope was to get a feeding tube.
Yet the pressure I got from doctors, while in the hospital for one of those infections, was to just keep getting infections, go home, wait to die. Most of them wouldn't say that outright. But so...
Source: Ballastexistenz - May 2, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Amanda Tags: Abuse Autism Bullying Cognitive disability Degradation Developmental disability Disability Rights Discrimination Ethics Ethics, justice, etc. Food Hatred Medical Medical stuff Outside Perceptions Physical disability Power Source Type: blogs
Lessons Learned from a Medical Mission
Nurses can serve as excellent physician extenders.My mentors in austere medicine warned me that with an interpreter I would be lucky to see 30 patients per day. That concerned me because the local missionaries indicated at our first organizational meeting in the Dominican Republic that we were expecting to see 100 patients per day. On top of that, 100 cards were being handed out at each of the four locations we would be visiting.
As the single physician in the group of 19 team members (seven nurses), these seemed like very high expectations. Working in a setting that uses physician extenders and emergency medicine resid...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - May 2, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Trying to Burnish Its Image, Johnson & - Johnson Turns to Emotions
The company’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit recalled more than 280 million packages of over the counter medications like Motrin, children’s Tylenol liquid and Benadryl in 2010, and the same year, its DePuy Orthopedics unit recalled two popular artificial hip replacement models. About 10,000 lawsuits have been filed involving those artificial hip devices and while a Chicago jury this month rejected claims of wrongdoing by Johnson & Johnson in one suit, another lawsuit in March yielded a less favorable outcome when a Los Angeles jury ordered the company to pay more than $8.3 million in damages to a Montana...
Source: PharmaGossip - April 26, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Hell of a time to show up, complications. Hell of a time.
So, when I visited the lovely Nikki and her cronies up in Seattle (heeeeeyyyy!), I came down with a Horrible East-Coast Plague brought by the lovely Lara. Lara is Gwyneth Paltrow; don't let anybody tell you different. Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice; *I* say it will end with an innocent-sounding sneeze from Pittsburgh.Three days ago, I came down with Plague Two-Point-Ought.The doc could do nothing for me, since I declined her kind offer of multiple opiates for cough suppression. Even as lovely as that stuff can be, I'd rather cough until my toenails come loose than itch and be constipated and paranoid ...
Source: Head Nurse - April 22, 2013 Category: Nurses Authors: Jo Source Type: blogs
Do Alzheimer's Medications Work, Who Should Take Them?
Over the years my clients have asked me, “Should my loved one be taking any of the Alzheimer’s medications?”
By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room
Over the years my answer has differed depending on how much I knew about the medications, the relative costs of the medications, and how much research has been done on the effectiveness of the medications. Here is what I’m saying currently.
There are only 5 medicines that the FDA has approved for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
None of the medications cure the disease. None of the medications stop the disease process from continuing on long term,...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - April 15, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs
I Know Everything about Pope Francis
Weeks ago I visited PepperoniNip and La Mole in Florida for a brief vacation that included Baltimore Orioles spring training, fried gator tail and elderly people. My ageism diminished significantly after making friends with an 80-something at the ballpark. 89 is the new 75.
My return flight to Washington departed on-time at 4 p.m. A hailstorm in Atlanta, where my short layover would be, shut down Atlanta Airport and my plane diverted to tiny Savannah Airport. The captain kept us on the tarmac in hopes that we could be one of the first planes back out to Atlanta when the storm cleared.
Now infused with anti-ageism, I chat...
Source: I've Still Got Both My Nuts: A True Cancer Blog - April 4, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: travels Source Type: blogs
Red Tape Rant
Nat had a strange rash today. I got the call from his caregiver, who also sent me photos of the rash via text. I immediately remembered the shingles Nat had a few years back. Shingles is an awful disease that is related to chicken pox. It hurts and hurts and it takes a while for it to clear up. I called my sister who is a pediatrician and sent her the photos. It was just a rash, she concluded. Thank God. Give Nat Benadryl, she told me.
The thing that bothers me is that when I called the house manager I was told that legally, the caregivers are not allowed to give Nat Benadryl without a doctor calling the pharmacy and signi...
Source: Susan's Blog - April 1, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Susan Senator Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 27-year-old woman is evaluated for a 4-week history of wheals
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.A 27-year-old woman is evaluated for a 4-week history of wheals, characterized by a burning sensation without pruritus. Each individual lesion persists for 48 hours and slowly resolves, leaving a bruise. Current medications are diphenhydramine, hydroxyzine, cetirizine, and oral contraceptives. The patient’s mother has systemic lupus erythematosus.On physical examination, vital signs are normal. She has scattered edematous indurated erythematous plaques consistent with wheals. There are scattered ecchymoses a...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 20, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Conditions Dermatology Source Type: blogs
Into the Midnight Hours…
In an hour it will be midnight. It is not often I am up this late, but I can’t sleep. I’ve tried all the tricks of the trade including a warm glass of milk from the microwave. Maggie keeps traipsing into my computer room with a swagger to check on me. I will then hear her go jump back on the bed in the bedroom after a good ole back scratch. She is like me and we thrive on our routines. She wants me to join her in the bed. She can’t sleep without me. I’ve been afraid to take too much of my Clonazepam as it messes with my memory. It certainly would put me to sleep, though. Benadryl doe...
Source: The 4th Avenue Blues - January 8, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: Andrew Quixote Source Type: blogs
Sharing Orders with Patients
In previous posts, I've talked about the perfect storm for innovation - alignment of an idea, policy, technology, people, and incentives. Roni Zeiger, a world class informatician who provided physician leadership for the Google Health project in the past, recently suggested an idea which I think has the potential for significant innovation in the world of patient and family engagement - Patient Friendly Orders.Here's an analogy.Last night I went to a neighborhood grocery store, Roche Brothers, to purchase a few vegetables. They were having a sale on romaine lettuce and a special bar code on ...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 2, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
