August 14th, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Battling Diabetes, Diabetes, Diabetes Management, Diabetes-Related Decisions, Diabetic Mommy, Family Planning, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Pregnancy and Childbirth, Reproductive Health
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While I was at CBC a few weeks ago, one of the staff members asked me if I was planning on having more children. “I don’t think so,” I said, without hesitation. “I love my daughter endlessly, and now that she’s part of my family, I can’t imagine my life without her, but I can’t lie to you. I didn’t enjoy being pregnant. I wanted a baby, but spending nine months pregnant was very, very stressful.”
The staff member who asked the question looked disappointed. And in that moment, I sort of wish I had lied. “Oh, you look disappointed. I’m sorry! It’s not just because of diabetes stuff. It’s my own personal preference. I don’t want to lie!”
And I won’t lie. The end result of my pregnancy was the most beautiful, smiley baby I have ever laid eyes on, and having her as part of our family has been the greatest joy that Chris and I have ever experienced. Seriously — it sounds like a cheesy Hallmark card, but it’s true. This kid fills a hole in my heart that I didn’t even know existed until I heard her cry and I finally felt complete. But being pregnant, the actual journey of carrying her inside of me, was not an experience I’m looking to repeat. This isn’t entirely a diabetes-based decision, either. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
August 14th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Alternative To Real Life, Clay Shirky, Cognitive Surplus, Disconnecting From The Online World, Divide Between Online And Offline, Facebook, General Medicine, Health and the Internet, Healthy Lifestyle, Internet Addiction, Social Media Behavior, Social Media Tools, Twitter, Unplugging From The Internet, Work-Life Balance
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It’s a post you’ll see periodically: Blogger goes on vacation and goes dark from his blog and Twitter. This spawns the requisite post detailing how nice it was to be away. Refreshed and all the stronger, we hear about the lessons from playing parchese, listening to the crickets sing, and ignoring the purr from Tweetdeck.
[Recently] I have been on vacation, but I didn’t necessarily unplug. I screened for critical emails once a day. I had prewritten and scheduled a couple of posts, but they didn’t require much maintenance. Besides that, I was too busy boogie boarding, kayaking, and eating crab cakes to really look at Twitter. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
August 13th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Annual Exams, Checkmarks Against Doctors, General Medicine, Health Insurance, Health Insurance Policies, Insurance Companies, Maintenance Medications, Medical Checkups, Medical Service Provider, Physician Ratings, Prescription Renewals, Primary Care, Routine Maintenance
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My car was making a chirping noise when I drove forward and a high-pitched whine when I went in reverse, so I took it into the mechanic and, while he’s under the hood, for some long-deferred routine maintenance (an oil change).
So when the phone rang, I was expecting him to tell me I need new brakes. Nope, it’s the pharmacy, which can’t refill a prescription. I have to see the doctor in person. I’m not sick, but I’d deferred my routine maintenance for too long. In this case, because I’m on a maintenance drug, he needs to check my blood pressure (which by this point was rising). Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
August 13th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Caregiving, Cognitive Decline, Cognitive Function, Dementia, Elderly, Feeding Tubes, Healthcare Economics, New York Times, Nurses Aide
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An article in [last] week’s New York Times entitled Feeding Demented Patients with Dignity suggests that hand feeding dementia patients may be a better option than tube feeding them.
My God, are we really putting feeding tubes in the elderly demented? When did this happen?
During college, I worked as a nurses aide in a nursing home outside Philadelphia. For 20 hours a week (40 hours in the summer) for two years, I cared for patients in all stages of dementia, from the walking confused through to the end stage, stiffened victims confined to wheelchairs or beds. But in all that time, I never, ever saw anyone with a feeding tube. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*
August 13th, 2010 by AndrewSchorr in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: A Second Life, Andrew Schorr, Aortic Dissection, Cardiology, Dr. Alphonse DeLucia, Ed Dunifin, Patient Power, Patient Stories, Survival Story
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I had not been to Indiana for 42 years. But last week I found myself on a commuter train in Michigan City, Indiana, taking my family on the South Shore Line to Chicago for the day. We were vacationing not far away on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The train was crowded so my group of six spread out where there were vacant seats. I found myself sitting with two men, father and grown son, on the way to a day at Wrigley Field and a Chicago Cubs baseball game. Before long the chit-chat turned to my work, and my explanation of Patient Power sparked the telling of an incredible medical story from the older of the two men, a story of good luck and great medical care that has given him a second life. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
