June 13th, 2011 by Davis Liu, M.D. in True Stories
Tags: Colon Cancer, Colonoscopy, Dr. Oz, Emotions, Follow Up, Harm, Inaction, Preventive Health, Preventive Screening, Primary Care, Psychiatry, Psychology, Reasons For Being Lost To Follow Up
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Dr. Mehmet Oz recently had a piece in Time titled “What I Learned from My Cancer Scare” in which he became the the more humbled Mr. Mehmet Oz. As noted previously here, Dr. Oz last summer had a colonoscopy at age 50 and much to everyone’s surprise had a precancerous colon polyp. He was advised to follow-up again for a repeat test in 3 months.
As the Time magazine piece noted, he didn’t return for 9 months despite repeated reminders from his doctor.
From this experience, he essentially stumbled upon what has been challenging American medicine and primary care. How do we enable patients to do the right thing and get the screening tests done and treatments necessary to avoid premature death and maintain a high quality of life? As a highly trained professional, Dr. Oz knows the risks and benefits of not doing a preventive screening test. As a doctor, he knows all of the secret protocols and codespeak we use when calling patients or asking them to see us in the office for important matters. As a doctor, he also understood the importance of a repeat colonoscopy to ensure no more colon growths.
Yet he didn’t return for 9 months. Why? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
June 12th, 2011 by Bongi in True Stories
Tags: Bleeding, Bleeding To Death, Clotting Factors, Emergency Medicine, Futile Surgery, ICU, Liver Laceration, Major Multiple Trauma, Ooze, South Africa, Surgery
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Sometimes different people see the same thing from a slightly different angle, giving a completely different perspective. In my line this can turn out to be quite macabre.
It was one of those cases. It was probably hopeless from the beginning, but he was young and we had to give it a go. As soon as the abdomen was opened everyone knew things were bad. There was blood everywhere. It took a while to even see the damage to the liver because I needed to get rid of the blood in the abdomen before I could see anything. However, once I saw the liver even I was shocked.
The liver was ripped apart with one laceration dropping down to where the IVC sat menacingly behind it. It seemed to spit and splutter at my efforts to bring the bleeding under control in defiance of me. But I did what I could as fast as I could. At times like this the unsung hero is the anesthetist. If he can’t get fluid and blood into the patient fast enough, no matter what the surgeon does, it will be in vain. That day the anesthetist was great. Somehow he kept some semblance of a blood pressure in the patient against overwhelming odds. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
June 11th, 2011 by KerriSparling in Humor, True Stories
Tags: Cake, Cake Pops, Creative Food, Cupcakes, Diabetes, Novolog, Sugar, Type 1 Diabetes
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You know when you’re skimming through the newsfeed on Facebook, and something totally grabs your face and says “LOOK AT ME I AM THE AWESOME?”
Yes, that’s precisely what happened when I stumbled upon Faye’s photo of Novolog-inspired cake pops. (You did read that correctly. Here, look:)
Photo – and cake pops – by Faye!
Faye has been living with type 1 since the age of 9, and for her 18th diaversary she wanted to make something special and bolus-worthy. Her current obsession has been cake pops (making them and feeding them to her non-d friends, even though I can safely say that some of her d-friends would happily go chompies on one), so when she saw the bright orange candy melts at her local AC Moore, a lightbulb went off – NovoLog cake pops! It was too funny (and ironic) to pass up. It’s a celebration of living with diabetes for 18 years, and it’s also a tribute to the diabetes community and a reminder to find the humor in our journey. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
June 7th, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in True Stories
Tags: Bariatric Surgery, Cruel Comments, Gastric Bypass, Humiliation, Medical, Obesity, Surgeon, Weight Loss
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Say you’re a bariatric surgeon. You’d think Americans would be beating a path to your door. After all, this is the land of Instant Gratification! Who wants to just eat less for the better part of a year to lose 50 lbs when one can be cut open and have one’s gastrointestinal anatomy rearranged — resulting in the necessity of eating less, but why quibble — to lose that same 50 lbs (or more)? Changing lifestyles is boring; surgery is exciting!
Funny how it turns out that in order for the surgery to succeed long-term, patients have to commit to lifestyle changes anyway. In fact, before any reputable bariatric surgeon will operate, patients have to demonstrate their dietary commitment by actually losing some weight on their own, prior to surgery. What I don’t understand is why people then go ahead with the damn surgery anyway? Logically, it’s almost like you have to prove you don’t need it before you can have it. Hey, I’ve never said I understand people.
Perhaps overcoming this paradox is the explanation for the behavior of a certain bariatric surgeon, brought to my attention by a mutual patient. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
June 6th, 2011 by AndrewSchorr in True Stories
Tags: Actor, Advertisement, Coincidence, Commercial, Lipitor, Pfizer, Pharmaceutical Marketing, PR, TV
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You may recall, I have a beef with Madison Avenue ad agencies that keep serving up the same New York actors in television commercials for different illnesses. I take it personally. The woman with cancer also has asthma. The man with arthritis also has erectile dysfunction. I feel bad for them!
Last night the quest by an actor to find work got ridiculous for me as my wife, Esther, and I were watching one of our favorite shows, “Criminal Minds,” on CBS. It was a particularly violent episode where a Bonnie and Clyde-type couple shot their way across Montana and proved to be the sickest of cold blooded killers. As the story develops, both the young man and the young woman were abused as children and their plan becomes to mete out retribution to the parents who ruined their lives.
Late in the show the young woman confronts a gray haired man in his 50’s behind the counter at his service station-convenience store. It was her father. She points a gun at him while he pleads for his life. I turned to Esther and said “I know that man! Where do I know him from?” Esther didn’t know and I couldn’t remember. Back on the screen things go from bad to worse, and while the young woman hesitates, her boyfriend sends the father to the hereafter. It was so sad. Where do I know that guy from???? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
Dr. Mehmet Oz recently had a piece in Time titled “What I Learned from My Cancer Scare” in which he became the the more humbled Mr. Mehmet Oz. As noted previously here, Dr. Oz last summer had a colonoscopy at age 50 and much to everyone’s surprise had a precancerous colon polyp. He was advised to follow-up again for a repeat test in 3 months.
