Kathy ’ s Story: Living Better with Mesothelioma – Possible with the Right Team of Experts
Kathy Ebright was enjoying life with her husband, 2 kids and 7 grandchildren in rural Pennsylvania, when everything changed suddenly. This is true for thousands of people fighting cancer across the world, but hearing the word “mesothelioma” is not common.
“I went numb, I might have said a few words, but I couldn’t put words together to speak,” Kathy said.
Kathy and her husband, Doug
Almost everyone has been touched by cancer, but Kathy and her husband didn’t know anyone with mesothelioma in their small town of Richfield. They only heard of the disease from commercials for lawyers who specialize in asbestos...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - September 23, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Cancer Patient Stories Research surgery Uncategorized asbestos joseph friedberg lung sparing surgery mesothelioma Source Type: blogs
Working Out in Recovery: How Exercise Can Help Keep You Drug-Free
Eating, sleeping and feeling healthy may seem like normal parts of life, but being able to function effectively on a day-to-day basis should not be taken for granted. Like so many other medical problems, addiction interferes with an individual’s normal physical functioning. Instead of eating properly or seeking intimate partnerships or healthy relationships, addiction overrides the brain’s survival circuits, leaving the addict seeking drugs or alcohol above all else. Rebuilding these inborn mechanisms that encourage health is essential to a successful recovery, and many people entering recovery choose to build an exe...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - September 7, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Richard Taite Tags: Richard Taite addiction Addiction Recovery addiction treatment addiction treatment center alcoholism drug treatment center exercise prescription drug abuse prescription drug addiction substance abuse Source Type: blogs
Parsing the Candidates ’ Persuasion Strategies
During this general election season, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates will try hard to persuade voters. The way politicians communicate verbally and nonverbally plays a major role in how they influence us. Speech-language pathologists, with their expertise in pragmatics and communication, uniquely understand the intentions underlying candidates’ messages—their word choice, facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice—and can explore their diverse communication styles. SLPs can use their knowledge of persuasion strategies to help clients and students improve their discourse skills.
Here are some of...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - September 6, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: ASHA Staff Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Autism Spectrum Disorder Fluency Disorders Language Disorders Prosodic Disorders Schools social skils Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs
Another Day, Another BMJ Study on Payments to Physicians
This study focused on oral anticoagulants, or blood thinners, and non-insulin drugs used to treat diabetes. The study found that when a pharmaceutical company spends $13 on a physician, that company will later see ninety-four additional days of prescriptions for brand-name anticoagulants and an additional 107 days of prescribing brand-name drugs to treat diabetes.
The study examined nearly 46 million prescriptions to roughly 10.5 million Medicare recipients, using Open Payments and Medicare Part D prescribing data for two classes of commonly prescribed, commonly marketed drugs: oral anticoagulants and non-insulin diabetes...
Source: Policy and Medicine - September 5, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Can we break the cycle of chronic pain in patients following orthopedic injury?
A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
“You are the only one who truly understands your own pain.”
As one trauma survivor from the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore told us: “The pain is with you 24/7. It is nonstop. And that is the hard part, you cannot escape it.”
Pain is classified into two general categories: acute and chronic. While acute pain is sudden in onset and relatively short-lived, chronic pain is usually defined as pain that lasts longer than three months. Both types of pain can affect a person physically and emotionally. ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 30, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/melissa-yu-and-maureen-mccunn" rel="tag" > Melissa Yu and Maureen McCunn, MD < /a > Tags: Conditions Orthopedics Pain management Source Type: blogs
Nanoparticles Help Platelets Stick Together to Stop Bleeding
Nanoparticles (green) help form clots in an injured liver. The researchers added color to the scanning electron microscopy image after it was taken. Credit: Erin Lavik, Ph.D.
At this week’s 252nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society researchers from University of Maryland, Baltimore County reported on the development of nanoparticles that can help speed up blood clotting. So far tested only on pig’s blood, the goal of the research is to provide clinicians with a more effective way of treating internal bleeding.
The new nanoparticles took effort to create because besides promoting ...
Source: Medgadget - August 24, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: Anesthesiology Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Critical Care Military Medicine Nanomedicine Source Type: blogs
UMMC Hosts Paintfest America
By Kirsten Bannan, System Communications Intern
For patients diagnosed with cancer, treatment may mean having surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, or a combination of all three. But, cancer patients at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) recently were treated to another type of therapy — one that indulged their inner artist and helped them step away from their illness for a moment.
The UMGCCC hosted a PaintFest America event July 7, and dozens of patients, staff members and family members spent the morning painting colorful canvas murals set up on tables in t...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - July 26, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Cancer Employees & Staff Events paintfest paintfest america UMGCCC Source Type: blogs
Get Ready for the UMMC Blood Drive, July 26–28!
By Maggie Gill, System Communications Intern
Now is the time to give, says the American Red Cross. On July 5, the not-for-profit organization issued an emergency call for blood and platelets. The request comes on the heels of a particularly slow donation season, when the available supply fell 39,000 donations short of hospital need – a number that’s expected to climb in the following weeks, as regular donors flock to the beaches and mountains for the summer holidays. Unfortunately for the five million Americans who rely on transfusions each year, a vacation is a luxury that they can’t afford.
“We urge people to giv...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - July 20, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Blood Drives Blood Donation hemoglobin UMMC Source Type: blogs
Get Ready for the UMMC Blood Drive, July 26 –28!
By Maggie Gill, System Communications Intern
Now is the time to give, says the American Red Cross. On July 5, the not-for-profit organization issued an emergency call for blood and platelets. The request comes on the heels of a particularly slow donation season, when the available supply fell 39,000 donations short of hospital need – a number that’s expected to climb in the following weeks, as regular donors flock to the beaches and mountains for the summer holidays. Unfortunately for the five million Americans who rely on transfusions each year, a vacation is a luxury that they can’t afford.
“We urge people to giv...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - July 20, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Blood Drives Blood Donation hemoglobin UMMC Source Type: blogs
Patient and Wife Make Their Own Success Video
It was a scary moment for Jody Wright. Her husband, Carl, needed an aortic valve replacement and the operation was being performed by a surgeon they had just met – Bradley Taylor, MD, MPH.
If the surgery went as planned, Carl could be on the path back to the life he once knew, going on walks and creating stone sculptures. If it went wrong? As Carl puts it, he might have been shaking St. Peter’s hand sooner than planned.
The surgery was a success, and Jody and Carl couldn’t have been more pleased with the care they received from the University of Maryland Medical Center and Dr. Taylor.
Jody, who has a background in fi...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - July 19, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Patient Stories Source Type: blogs
Living with Mesothelioma: A New Normal
In December of 2007, Timonium resident Jen Blair was pregnant with her second son, Kevin. It was a “very painful pregnancy.” She went to a few doctors, who told her the pain was normal. The pain returned, “worse than ever,” six weeks after giving birth to Kevin. More doctors. More tests. She was first told she needed laparoscopic surgery, then that she had stage 4 cancer in her abdomen. She was told to get her affairs in order.
It turns out Jen had peritoneal (in the abdomen) mesothelioma, in which cancer cells are found in the membranes around organs in the abdomen. This is very rare — only about 350-500 c...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - July 15, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Cancer patient care Patient Stories surgery advocacy mesothelioma volunteer Source Type: blogs
Celebrate Cataract Awareness Month by Looking After Your Eyes
The month of June is dedicated to raising awareness for an eye condition that affects approximately 22 million Americans ages 40 and older: cataracts. A cataract is a clouding in the lens, the part of the eye that focuses light on the retina – much like a camera’s lens. We can think of a cataract, then, as a spot on the lens that causes the pictures we take to turn out faded and blurry. It can grow over time, due to the clumping of protein in the eye, and if allowed to progress, can lead to blindness.
The good news is that cataracts that interfere with daily activities are treatable with a safe and effective surgery; a...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - June 23, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Miscellaneous cataracts Dr. Bennie Jeng eye care ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
Balkanization and Immigration in America
One common critique of immigration and multiculturalism is that it will cause Balkanization in the United States. Usually, the evidence that purportedly shows Balkanization in America is underwhelming. Real Balkanization, in the Balkans, quickly led to terrorism, civil war, genocide, and some of the uglier nationalist movement of recent centuries. By comparison, there is hardly any ethnic separatist nationalist terrorism in the United States inspired by immigrant groups or their descendants.
The best example of ethnic separatism from a migrant group is terrorism caused by Puerto Rican socialist-inspired nationalists ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 20, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Taking Treatment & a Half Marathon, Together, One Step at A Time
The relationship between a cancer patient and their care provider is a special one. Between radiation therapy appointments, hours of chemotherapy, and even sometimes surgery and recovery, there’s not much that can strengthen this bond, besides running a half marathon.
But Tiffani Tyer, a nurse practitioner in Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC), and Dana Deighton’s journey started long before this year’s Maryland Half Marathon & 5K.
About 3 years ago Dana was diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer. At 43 years old with 3 young children, it was, ...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - June 20, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Cancer Doctors Employees & Staff patient care Patient Stories Uncategorized radiation oncology Source Type: blogs
Taking Treatment & a Half Marathon, Together, One Step at A Time
The relationship between a cancer patient and their care provider is a special one. Between radiation therapy appointments, hours of chemotherapy, and even sometimes surgery and recovery, there’s not much that can strengthen this bond, besides running a Half Marathon.
But Tiffani Tyer, a Nurse Practitioner in Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC), and Dana Deighton’s journey started long before this year’s Maryland Half Marathon & 5k.
About 3 years ago Dana was diagnosed with Stage IV Esophageal Cancer. At 43-years-old with 3 young children, it was, ...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - June 20, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Cancer Doctors Employees & Staff patient care Patient Stories Uncategorized radiation oncology Source Type: blogs
