December 14th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Humor, True Stories
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My sister Vicki lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with her husband, three children and
an alarmingly large and slobbery Saint Bernard named Gilbert. Several Christmases ago she decided to teach her then 5 year old son, Harrison, about Christmas tree decorating. She took him to a Christmas tree farm and helped him select a tree. They hauled it back to the house and my sister managed, with no help whatsoever from Gilbert, to set it up in a nice corner of the living room. The tip of the tree reached the ceiling and its full figured branches spread from icy window to window.
Vicki and Harrison spent hours and hours winding lights, tinsel, ornaments, paper angels and popcorn strings around the tree. Little Harrison couldn’t wait to see the final product, with glittering lights and a magical star to top off their fine work. They decorated into the early evening, and the living room grew dark as the sun set over the snow covered neighborhood. At last it was time to plug in the tree lights.
As Vicki plugged in the lights for the first time, Gilbert roused himself from his resting place in front of the fireplace and shook off his drowsiness. Harrison held his breath in eager anticipation of the twinkling display that he had helped to create. My sister turned off all the overhead lights.
As the plug entered the outlet, the tree lit up with thousands of tiny glittering lights. Harrison
marveled at his glorious creation. “Mom, it’s the most beautiful tree in the world!”
My sister sat down on the couch and hugged her son tightly in her lap as they relaxed and enjoyed the view. Suddenly, Harrison’s eyes fixated on one of the branches.
“Mom… look! There’s an icicle on the tree!!”
My sister squinted and followed the direction of Harrison’s pointing finger.
Sure enough, there was a glassy, 5 inch long, icicle-appearing object perched in a tree branch in the middle of the tree.
Harrison’s raised his voice with glee: “Mom! It’s a Christmas MIRACLE!!”
The little boy broke free of his mom’s grasp and ran up to the tree to inspect the icicle at close range. As he reached out his hand to clasp it, his look of amazement turned to horror. The icicle was in fact a long
string of dog drool that had flicked off of Gilbert when he shook himself out of his sleep.
“Ewww!!!” Harrison screamed. My sister slowly realized what had happened and started laughing
uncontrollably. Gilbert wanted to get in on the fun and began barking and running in circles. He became tangled up in the extension cord and pulled the tree right out of the tree stand. At that moment, Vicki’s husband returned from shopping with the other 2 children. As he turned on the lights he found my sister
trapped under an unraveling Christmas tree, a hysterical child frantically wiping his hands on paper towel, and a barking, drooling Gilbert in the midst.
“What happened here?!” he shouted, attempting to rescue Vicki from underneath the tree.
“It’s a Christmas miracle” was her muffled cry.
And this story will be in our family for a long time to come.
This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
December 12th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in True Stories
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A few months ago I wrote about my dear friend who was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer just after having her first baby. Her optimism and positive focus was inspirational to me, and I marveled at her ability to live life unencumbered by prognosis.
Today I am happy to report that she has completed her 7th round of chemotherapy (with avastin, oxaliplatin, 5FU, and leukovorin) and her liver tumors have already shrunk by two-thirds. She is bothered by neuropathy (burning sensations in her hands and feet – a known side effect of this drug regimen) and has lost the ability to taste food fully, but otherwise she is maintaining her weight and her blood counts are good. She told me that her plan is to complete 12 rounds of chemo and then meet with a liver surgeon to consider surgical removal of the remaining tumors. Miraculously, her doctors believe that she may be a candidate for liver resection and eventual cure.
This couldn’t be any better news and I am so pleased to be able to celebrate my friend’s success. I have learned a great deal myself about the journey, and about how many people are willing to reach out and help those who are struggling. As for my friend, she has greatly benefited from:
1. CarePages – an online gathering place where friends and family can find out the latest news about her progress, and leave well wishes and virtual gifts. CarePages is part of the Revolution Health family.
2. The Colon Cancer Alliance (CCA) – this wonderful non-profit organization linked my friend up with a mentor who has been through a similar treatment regimen and diagnosis and can speak to her about what to expect. The CEO of CCA has even taken time out of his busy schedule to make sure that my friend gets the best support available and has put her in touch with top liver surgeons.
3. Dr. Lenz’s Colon Cancer Blog – Dr. Lenz is a leading medical oncologist and Co-director of both the Colorectal Center and the Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology Program at USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles. He also prepares 3 fresh blog posts per week here at Revolution Health, to make sure that cancer patients have access to the latest research and information about colon cancer.
With incredible advances in evidence-based cancer therapies and these terrific online resources, colon cancer patients have a brighter future than ever before. I’m so pleased that my friend is doing well, and I’m grateful for the many people and organizations that have touched her life. Expect another update on her progress in March!This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
November 16th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Humor
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I had a special lunch event scheduled today, so I went to a stylist to give my hair a little more volume. (My hair is pin straight and rather fine, so it takes a fair amount of work to make it look substantially different than this.)
A coworker arrives in my office. He looks at me, tilts his head to one side and says,
“Have you been outside today? Your hair is usually very sleek, but today it’s really messy and ‘all over the place.'”
“Um, no, I actually paid someone to style my hair today. That’s what’s different.”
Blank stare.
New topic.
Dudes.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
November 2nd, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
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For those of you who missed the Blog Talk Radio interview last night, you may enjoy the audiocast at your convenience by going to Dr. Anonymous’ podcast archives and clicking on the Dr. Val show.
We talked about:
- How I got started with blogging
- How I came to Revolution Health
- What Revolution Health is and does
- Abnormal brain MRIs
- Kevin Everett’s spinal cord injury
- MRSA
- Cough medicine and kids
- Concierge medicine
- The Internet and the future of healthcare
- My Halloween SNAFU
Click here to enjoy the conversation (you should start the podcast at minute 8 since we had technical difficulties with the audio prior to that minute). Thanks for listening!This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
October 4th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
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Well, I had a great time at the Revolution Health booth at the AAFP meeting today. Hundreds of people stopped by for a chat and to get to know what Revolution Health is about. I handed out golf towels (well, they were little white hand towels that I used to give out as gym towels, but with the doctor audience I changed the pitch to golf. How cliche of me. Ha!) Some of the notable guests included:
Bob Rakel, MD – author of my most favorite medical textbook in the world: Saunders Manual of Medical Practice
David Rakel, MD – Bob’s son, and the author of my second most favorite medical textbook: Integrative Medicine
Len Fromer, MD – past president of the California Academy of Family Physicians. His wife is an actor – and we had a great chat about how we both miss New York City.
John Pfenninger, MD – author of the coolest book for outpatient medical procedures
Todd Dicus, JD – deputy executive VP of the AAFP and a really friendly lawyer.
Marianne Walters, MD – an urgent care physician in California who taught me that surfers’ wet suits are like Petri dishes for MRSA (a really nasty bacterium). Ew.
Allan Harmer, ThM – from the Christian Medical Association, who told me that the story of how he accidentally attended a medical conference about HIV and ended up involved in medical groups for the rest of his career (even with no previous medical training).
Joe Scherger, MD – the hardest working man on the Revolution Health expert team. He gave a lecture about how to use email and online help as an integral part of one’s medical practice – and the audience was riveted.
Tomorrow’s going to be fun, I can just tell. And the best part is that I can wear sneakers with my business suits – all the family physicians are doing it themselves! I’ve never seen more Birkenstocks in one place before… I think Michelle Au might have been right about family docs – see her cartoon.
See you tomorrow at Revolution Rounds.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
