December 4th, 2009 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, True Stories
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The past few days have shown me some small pleasures of my practice. I spent about 20 minutes sewing together the hand and forehead of a sweet elderly lady who fell down while being evacuated from a nursing home fire. Her skin, like tissue, came together in fragile folds; my hands moved easily with the needle and thread thanks to so many years of practice, so many hundreds of feet of sutures placed. Although I must admit that my cataract-stricken right eye left my depth perception imperfect in a way that bonded me to her. (Sitting here, with no reading glasses, I can close my left eye and all I see is a hint of lines on the page, but no letters.)
My sweet little lady smiled at me, nervously, tentatively, but was comforted at the prospect of going back to her bed. Her son eased her fear with jokes, then took her home. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
March 19th, 2009 by Stacy Stryer, M.D. in Uncategorized
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It’s already March 19th and I don’t have any ideas for April Fool’s Day for my kids. I am desperate and need help. In previous years I have put gummy worms in their sandwiches, short-sheeted their beds, convinced them school was cancelled, given them mashed potatoes that looked like ice cream sundaes, and offered cookies with (fluoride-free, of course) toothpaste as the filling. Last year I tried to pretend I had broken my arm. While my adult friends believed me, my kids just rolled their eyes. So, as you can see, my ideas are not working anymore and I need something grand and convincing.
Humor has always been an important part of our family. When my children were younger, we used humor to convince them to do things they didn’t want to do. For instance, in order to get them to clean their rooms we would put shoes on our heads, walk to their rooms, and dump them in the closet. My older daughter’s favorite game was to dress up as Cinderella (in rags, of course) and have me shout orders at her — I was not allowed to say “please” because I was, obviously, the evil stepmother. It’s amazing how clean the playroom could become those days.
When my husband had a brain tumor, I used humor to temporarily destress an incredibly difficult time period. Those days it was not uncommon to see us eating jello through a straw, dessert before dinner, or ice cream without a spoon. One desperate day we all dressed up in our rain gear, with umbrellas, and took a shower together while singing, “I’m singing in the Rain.”
Last year my daughter had 2 friends spend the night before presenting a history project in a county contest. They had worked incredibly hard on this project while continuing their other demanding curriculum, and they were exhausted, nervous, and stressed. So I went to the store and bought shaving cream and whip cream. After dinner I sent them outside in old clothes and let them spray each other. They ran around for over an hour in the dark, laughing and playing. To this day they still talk about it.
Humor and laughter are an important part of our lives. They relieve tension, reduce stress, and provide us with a temporary distraction from unpleasant thoughts or lives. They allow people to forget about anxiety and pain, even if it’s momentary. Scientific studies that have even shown that humor improves overall health and, more specifically, the ability to fight off infections, decrease the risk of developing a heart attack, and improve blood sugar control . Psychologically, it has been related to decreased loneliness and depression, and improved self esteem and feelings of hopefulness . Laughter clubs and therapy have been developed and exist in and out of hospitals throughout the United States.
humor in our family (response to "smelly" fish)
So, now you understand why it is so important for me to find some new, more exciting April Fool’s Day gimmicks for my family – ones that will really make them laugh! I am willing to share my “Vanilla” Sundae recipe with you, which has been used by many extended family members and friends.
April Fool’s Day Ice Cream Sundaes
Ingredients:
1. Instant mashed potatoes
2. Chocolate sauce
3. Whip cream
4. Maraschino cherry
5. Vanilla ice cream
Make the mashed potatoes according to directions and let them cool. Use an ice cream scoop to put 2 scoops in a bowl. Top with chocolate sauce, whip cream and, of course, a cherry. Serve. Have real vanilla ice cream available to serve so the victim can actually enjoy dessert in the end.
November 1st, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Expert Interviews
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Tanya Altmann, MD
It’s been a little while since I had a “blonde moment” during an expert interview, but this one was pretty funny. I was in the middle of a podcast with Dr. Tanya Altmann, media personality and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, about vitamin D – when I thought I heard her say that there were now special formulas of vitamin D for incense.
I knew that Dr. Altmann practiced medicine in Southern California, so I wasn’t terribly surprised about this new method of vitamin delivery. However, I hadn’t heard about vitamin D inhalation previously, so I asked her to explain how this new incense formula worked.
She paused to gather her thoughts and then corrected me: “No, I was saying that there’s a new formula for INFANTS…”
Oh. My bad.
So here’s the rest of our delightful interview. You may want to listen to the podcast, though I did edit out the awkward “incense” section so as not to start a new cult. One doesn’t want to give others too many ideas on the Internet! I hope that Dr. Tanya won’t think less of me for that misunderstanding.
Dr. Val: What is vitamin D, and why do we need it?
Dr. Tanya: Vitamin D is an essential nutrient for your entire body. Although it’s called a vitamin it actually functions as more of a hormone, playing an important role in the immune system. Vitamin D can help to protect people against illness, diabetes, and even cancer, though its role in helping to build strong bones (and protect infants from rickets) is probably its best known attribute.
Dr. Val: Tell me about the new AAP guidelines for infants, children and adolescents. Why did they change?
Dr. Tanya: Based on data collected in several recent research studies, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued new guidelines last month which essentially doubled the recommended daily amount of vitamin D (from 200 to 400 IUs) for infants, children, and adolescents. Historically people were able to get sufficient amounts of vitamin D through sun exposure (the body can create vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight), but now that we need to protect kids from sun’s harmful rays due to future skin cancer risk, vitamin D levels have dropped significantly. Sunscreen, of course, blocks the sun from stimulating the creation of vitamin D in the skin. Read more »
October 27th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Health Policy
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Fascinating commentary on human nature. Thanks to Grace-Marie Turner at the Galen Institute (this excerpt is part of an article published in the NY Post today):
HAWAII just had a vivid les son in health-care economics, learning that if you offer people insurance for free – surprise, surprise – they’ll quickly drop other coverage to enroll.
As a result, Hawaii is ending the only state universal child health-care program in the country after just seven months.
The program, called the Keiki (Child) Care Plan, was designed to provide coverage to children whose parents can’t afford private insurance but who make too much to qualify for other public programs (such as Medicaid and Hawaii’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program). Keiki Care was free for these gap kids, except for a $7 office-visit fee.
But then state officials found that families were dropping private coverage to enroll their children in the plan. “People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free,” said Dr. Kenny Fink of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services.
In fact, 85 percent of the children in Keiki Care previously had been covered under a private, nonprofit plan that costs $55 a month.
When Gov. Linda Lingle saw the data, she pulled the plug on funding. With Hawaii facing budget shortfalls, she realized it was unwise to spend public money to replace private coverage that children already had.
Yet Lingle is facing a political firestorm in the state from critics who say that she’s denying children health insurance – notwithstanding the fact that children in Hawaiian families earning up to $73,000 a year are eligible for Medicaid…
The Hawaiian debacle should also be a caution to Barack Obama, who wants to mandate that all children have health insurance. This would plainly not only require penalties for those who didn’t comply but also new programs to help parents get their children covered. The risk of crowd-out will be great.
