Nobody is in the hospital these days feeling good. Regulations have made it so sick people are hospitalized and not-so-sick people are usually outpatients. People who are horizontal are there to have procedures, take heavy duty meds, rest and, hopefully, get better.
Hospitals have increasingly put in sophisticated television systems so you can be in bed and distracted and entertained. But that is not restful for everyone. Here’s an example from this past weekend that stands out:
Mark Dantonio, the coach of the Big Ten’s Michigan State Spartan college football team, was diagnosed with a heart attack right after last week’s game. Boom. He was hospitalized. Boom. He had a stent put in to unblock at least one artery. This past Saturday he was still in the hospital resting and recovering, right? In the hospital, yes. Resting, no! Are you kidding? Keep the coach down during the big game against Wisconsin, a Big Ten rival? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
The old joke about psychological therapists is they are among the biggest consumers of therapy themselves. Lately, I have been noticing more and more how a significant portion of the people we meet wearing white lab coats have a very personal connection to the medical work they do. For them it is not a job, a meal ticket, or just putting their years of training into practice, it is a mission connected to something in their past, something in their own body, or the health of a loved one.
A recent example is Kaiten Kormanik. She is 23 and has had the genetic condition PKU since birth. She has to follow a strict low protein diet or otherwise risk severe negative effects on her brain. If you toured the labs of The Children’s Hospital of UPMC in Pittsburgh you might bump into her as she does research for her Ph.D. on, guess what?- genetic illnesses in children. And she often works alongside Dr. Gerald Vockley, the very expert physician who guides her care. As you can imagine, Kaitlen thinks about her own childhood and the faces of other children every day. You can hear her story on one of our recent programs.
Irl Hirsh, M.D., at the University of Washington, is one of America’s most famous diabetes doctors. He has diabetes himself and has all the challenges everyone with this disease has in managing it. You can hear his story on one of our earlier programs on diabetes. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
There’s news that Hollywood star Michael Douglas, 65, is undergoing treatment for throat cancer. Reporters say his doctors say he is expected to make a full recovery. But, believe me — when someone is diagnosed with any kind of head and neck cancer, as this is, it’s not an easy go.
My first encounter with it was with my friend Bob Moore, a former sales rep for a major pharmaceutical company. He was a positive, yet realistic guy. The disease and the toxic treatment a few years ago eventually took its toll and he passed on.
My dear friend Mike Piller, famous as writer and co-executive producer of the Star Trek television series, had a similar diagnosis. He did his research and traveled to the best centers. Surgery and radiation took away part of his jaw and his ability to taste and swallow. Of course his speech was affected. He was a trooper, but he never recovered.
In both cases the doctors did what they could to cut out or zap the cancerous tissue tucked away around a lot of critical structures. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
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*
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Nobody is in the hospital these days feeling good. Regulations have made it so sick people are hospitalized and not-so-sick people are usually outpatients. People who are horizontal are there to have procedures, take heavy duty meds, rest and, hopefully, get better.
There’s news that Hollywood star Michael Douglas, 65, is undergoing treatment for throat cancer. Reporters say his doctors say he is expected to make a full recovery. But, believe me — when someone is diagnosed with any kind of head and neck cancer, as this is, it’s not an easy go.
