When it’s Your Wife…
In a painfully honest and moving essay entitled “The Day I started Lying to Ruth“, physician Peter Bach chronicles his gradual evolution from the oncologist who couldn’t understand why his patients would continue to seek treatment for a disease that was inevitably fatal
Each successive change [of treatment] brings more side effects with less chance of benefit… the cancer gets smarter, the treatments get dumber. Somewhere in this progression the trade-off no longer makes sense … I’ve often thought that cancer doctors go well past that point.
to the husband who, along with his wife, grasped at a...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - May 8, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Second Opinions cancer Peter Bach Wife Source Type: blogs
Polenta & Eggs
We made a big batch of butternut squash polenta with sausages and onion, adding an extra cup of grated squash to the polenta as it cooked. While this made for a delicious flavored polenta, there was quite a bit left over.
The great thing about polenta is that it hardens as it cools, so we spread it into a class refrigerator dish and put it in the fridge. Next morning, I cut it into rectangles and sauteed it up beside my egg as it cooked in olive oil. A sprinkling of freshly ground pepper topped off a delicious breakfast!
What do you do with your leftover polenta? (Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan)
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - May 5, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Pasta Rice & Potatoes Butternut Squash leftover leftovers Plenta Source Type: blogs
Spaghetti w/ Garlicky Breadcrumbs & Anchovies
You know the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree when your daughter texts and asks what you’re doing tonight, and you text back that you are making this for dinner, and she texts back “OMG!! I just watched that video this morning!” followed by a little icon that she describes as “Me running home for dinner!”
Yep, it doesn’t take much to excite us in the TBTAM household, and this recipe, along with the utterly charming video of Melissa Clark making it, was the highlight of our day yesterday.
We made the dish exactly as written, but but did add a little grated Parmesan when ser...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - April 29, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Pasta Rice & Potatoes anchovies breadcrumbs Melissa Clark spaghetti Source Type: blogs
Ortho Diaphragm Discontinued
It appears as if Janssen Pharmaceuticals has discontinued production of the Ortho All Flex Diaphragm. That’s not great news for women wanting the full range of contraceptive options.
The good news is that diaphragms are still available in the United States through Cooper Surgical. It’s a wide seal diaphragm, which may not be suitable for all women, but will probably fit most. Your doctor will have to get a fitting set for this particular diaphragm, and once your size is determined, order it for you rather than you taking a prescription to the pharmacy.
If you happen to be in Europe, you can get a Caya Diaphra...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - April 24, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Family Planning available Can't find Diaphragm discontinued Source Type: blogs
Pollen!
Yew Pollen
So I was sitting on my bed on Sunday afternoon (oh all right, I was taking a nap…) and happened to glance out the open door into the garden, where I saw that our Japanese Yew bushes seemed to be smoking.
Really. Several times a minute, at random intervals and from different locations, little puffs of smoke were emanating from between the branches.
I was sure there was a fire, but a closer inspection revealed that this was no smoke. This was pollen, fine as smoke, bursting out of the small flower buds that had cropped up all over the bush this season.
Yew Pollen
As the seed pods open, they let out a fin...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - April 8, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Gardening evergreen male pollen smoke Yew Source Type: blogs
A Graphic Medical Tale
An otherwise healthy young man develops hugely swollen lymph nodes in his neck and is admitted to Cleveland Clinic for evaluation and treatment. Being also a talented graphic artist and writer, he pens a graphic tale of his experiences in being a patient and a bit of a medical oddity.
On hospitalization, the fortune of living near world-class medical care, and raging against the risky unknowns. Drawn shortly after I left the hospital in January of 2014.
Add my friend Davey Connor to the emerging chorus of patients who aren’t afraid to let us know what it’s like to be on the other side of our stethoscopes.
A g...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - April 6, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Second Opinions Cat scratch fever ePatients Patient engagement patient stories. Source Type: blogs
Broiled Salmon with Mushrooms and Farro – Inspired by Lyfe Chef Art Smith
One of the highlights of my visit to the Medicine X Conference in Palo Alto in September, in addition to my poster presentation and meeting all the amazing e-patients, docs and tech gurus there, was dinner at Lyfe Kitchen.
Founded by former McDonalds CEO Mike Roberts, Lyfe (which stands for Love Your Food Everyday) is the first of a growing chain of healthy, pretty fast food franchises that “put sustainability, our planet and our employees first”.
As soon as I entered Lyfe, I was hooked.
There was a gorgeous live herb garden forming the centerpiece of the place and lending a deliciously fresh scent to the roo...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - April 2, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Fish Brolied Salmon Farro Lyfe Kitchen Art Smith mushrooms recipe Source Type: blogs
Almond Cake
One of life’s better days.
Started with having both girls home for dinner. Add in daylight savings time and the first bike ride of the season in Central Park and life is pretty damned good. Then give me a sunny afternoon in the kitchen baking and I’m over the top.
This cake will put you over the top, too. From my fave old magazine “Pleasures of Cooking”, it’s dense and sweet but not too sweet due to a touch of lemon tartness and has a wonderfully chewy outer crust.
I made the cake substituting olive for vegetable oil, resulting in a slightly richer and denser cake than the original recipe. H...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - March 30, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Desserts almond cake italian olive oil Source Type: blogs
