ONCE UPON TIME…
Before Facebook and Twitter and Google+, and long before the word “social media” became religion, something called the Medical Blogging made its appearance on the world-wide web.In those days, there was a small, close-knit community of medical bloggers ……..
There was a long period of time, almost a year, during which I never looked in a mirror. It wasn’t easy, for I’d never suspected just how omnipresent are our own images. I began by merely avoiding mirrors, but by the end of the year I found myself with an acute knowledge of the reflected image, …….Long-term plastic surgery is not like in the movies. There is no one single operation that will change everything, and there is certainly no slow unwrapping of the gauze in order to view the final, remarkable result………
Despite enormous complexity, full-face transplants can repair functional defects and improve major surface deficits that would otherwise take multiple reconstructive procedures if they were possible to do at all, researchers reported.That conclusion comes in a report, online in the New England Journal of Medicine, on three full-face procedures carried out this year at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston…….
The Problem
“They told me I had to get the information myself,” she said.
“What? Why?” I responded, annoyed.
“They said it wasn’t in their computer, and that I’d have to get it myself. They said since you’re a doctor here, you could easily check the computer yourself and get it from medical records,” my wife continued.
“That’s crazy! I’m not allowed to look at the computer records; I could lose my job! And it’s much easier for them to get the paper records than me! ” I was incensed.…………….
Why is it easier to talk about quality of life with patients who are dying? Why don’t we factor these considerations into the decision-making for patients with conditions that aren’t fatal?The presence of a terminal illness serves to focus everyone’s attentions. Widespread cancer metastases? Concerns about tight blood glucose control fade away. End-stage liver disease? Blood pressure control doesn’t matter so much any more. Bony pain from prostate cancer? Narcotic and sleeping pill addiction doesn’t even occur to anyone. …….
For people who are new to this concept "Grand Rounds is a weekly summary of the best health blog posts on the Internet. Each week a different blogger takes turns hosting Grand Rounds, and summarizing the best submissions for the week. The schedule for Grand Rounds is available at the Better Health Blog and at Blogborygmi.com. Both Dr. Val Jones and Dr. Nick Genes coordinate the schedule for Grand Rounds.” For people who are new to this concept "Grand Rounds is a weekly summary of the best health blog posts on the Internet. Each week a different blogger takes turns hosting Grand Rounds, and summarizing the best submissions for the week. The schedule for Grand Rounds is available at the Better Health Blog and at Blogborygmi.com. Both Dr. Val Jones and Dr. Nick Genes coordinate the schedule for Grand Rounds.” .............
My suggestion- we should all share each edition of grand rounds on our facebook pages as well as our blogs for more viewership. My thanks to all those who submitted to this edition and Grand Rounds Surely Rock. ………….
As doctors-in-training in the early 1990s, my friends and I became obsessed with the question of what we would do if we were pricked with an infected needle at work. We all had witnessed the inexorable, often painful march toward death of patients with hepatitis C and AIDS. We imagined the despair we would feel in that situation: the dashed hopes, the lost years of schooling and training. Many of us saw ourselves walking out of the hospital and not looking back. We couldn’t imagine throwing ourselves back into the fray.We had not met Dr. Douglas Dieterich. …..
The Grammy-winning singer Adele has canceled a series of U.S. tour dates due to a vocal-cord hemorrhage.As she wrote on her blog this week, she was first diagnosed with a hemorrhage in May, then rested and recovered. But recently, she was diagnosed with another hemorrhage. “My voice yet again went … it just switched off,” she wrote.That sort of “instantaneous hoarseness” is typical of hemorrhages of the vocal cords, which are also called vocal folds, says Kenneth Altman, an associate professor of otolaryngology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. …..
A cancer diagnosis can leave lasting psychological scars akin to those inflicted by war, with the impact in some cases lasting for years, U.S. researchers found in a study.
More than a decade after being told they had the disease, nearly four out of 10 cancer survivors said they were still plagued by symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD ……………SOURCE: bit.ly/n1pJMg
Even though the title is cliche and many of us hear it from time to time, I am going to guess that the majority of us don't actually do it. I know I don't or at least I haven't in the past. ……….
This is one of the best pictures I’ve ever seen. I’m almost totally a left brain… What about you?
Including this lovely one: Treasure Reef" by Eric Leon Freeman (2011) Oil on Linen, 48" x 72"
Here you can see the beaded flowers and stitching. 
Here is the back. 
About one in 11 teens reports being a victim of physical dating violence each year.1
About one in four teens reports verbal, physical, emotional, or sexual violence each year.2
About one in five high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.3
Each year, women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner related physical assaults and rapes. Men are the victims of about 2.9 million intimate partner related physical assaults.4
Intimate partner violence (IPV) resulted in 2,340 deaths in 2007. Of these deaths, 70% were females and 30% were males.5
The medical care, mental health services, and lost productivity (e.g., time away from work) cost of IPV was an estimated $5.8 billion in 1995. Updated to 2003 dollars, that's more than $8.3 billion.6, 7
Welcome to this week’s edition of Grand Rounds, the Cliff’s Notes of the medical blogosphere. Each week a different medblogger reads through peer submissions and summarizes/organizes them all into one blog post (using their own unique structure or theme). Instructions for participation (and hosting) are here.When I host Grand Rounds I like to organize the posts into emotion categories – kind of the way that movies are categorized into “drama, action, comedy, etc.” …... Judging from the volume of posts in each category, it seems that the majority of you are either surprised or outraged!I organized the submissions by emotion category, and then listed them in order of submission (the first one was submitted earliest within each category). I hope you enjoy meandering through the blog posts with this structure! .. ……
It was beautiful sunny early Spring day, a Saturday as I recall. Trips were made to various stores to purchase items for school, then a last minute dash to the electronics store so I could pick up another charger for my cell phone. I ran ahead, my daughter and wife lagged behind, weary from the day's outing - at least so I thought …….As I reflect of that experience ….., there was much to be learned from the experience of caring and offering compassion, one that mothers seem uniquely gifted at imparting to their children. Mothers are special that way. My mother showed me the importance of caring first-hand, never flinching even when the odds are stacked against you and your tiny aviary friend. …………….
The second one was written by Movin Meat after he read Bongi’s post: The Graveyardthis is a difficult story to tell but if i am to be true to the complete experience of a surgeon, i do need to tell it.one of my seniors used to say that every surgeon has a graveyard hidden away somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind. he went on to say it was unfortunately normal, so long as you remember all the names engraved on the tombstones. at the time i thought he was being a bit melodramatic, ….. unfortunately i learned what he meant. ……
Bongi is an amazing writer, and if you haven't, I strongly urge you to read his latest post, titled "The Graveyard."I imagine that a huge number of doctors know exactly what he means. I remember being told by a surgeon, while I was in medical school, that "you're not a real doctor until you've killed someone." I thought at the time (and still think) that there was a puerile bravado behind that admonition, but there is also a grain of truth. I have my own graveyard. Curiously, not all of its inhabitants are dead. They are the cases where I screwed up, or, charitably, cases that went bad where I feel that maybe I could've/should've done things differently. .…………..
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There’s a lot of discussion of radiation from the Fukushima plants, along with comparisons to Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Radiation levels are often described as “<X> times the normal level” or “<Y>% over the legal limit,” which can be pretty confusing.Ellen, a friend ……suggested a chart might help put different amounts of radiation into perspective, and so with her help, I put one together. She also made one of her own; it has fewer colors, but contains more information about what radiation exposure consists of and how it affects the body.……I don’t include too much about the Fukushima reactor because the situation seems to be changing by the hour, but I hope the chart provides some helpful context.
Wilted Hardy Greens with Garlic
Note: If baby greens (with a 2- to 3-inch leaf) are not available, you may use larger greens (10- to 12-inch), but be sure to remove the tough center rib. Slice the leaves into 1/2-inch to 1-inch strips before cooking.
1 pound mixed baby greens (kale, swiss chard, mustard greens)
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons olive or sunflower oil
1 to 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons water, vegetable broth or white vermouth (optional)
Wash the greens and drain in a colander, leaving some moisture on the leaves. Heat a saute pan large enough to accommodate all of the greens over medium heat. Add oil, then the chopped garlic. Saute until softened, about 1 minute, stirring often to prevent the garlic from burning. Add the greens. Toss and saute them until they are wilted. Season with salt and pepper. If too dry, add more liquid. …………
……….Of course, it never occurred to me that the screw heads could be painted, that the evenly-spaced pegboard holes could be the basis for pixels, and that screws driven to different depths could be used to create depth perception. And that's why Andrew Myers is an artist and I am just a blogger who writes about artists. ……….
Hey all.
Welcome to another edition of Grand Rounds, a collection of writings from medical bloggers, the world-wide.
Here are this week's posts, collated into four chapters, with just a little commentary and a few selected images. ……….
………..Now if you believe that the ED is that bastion of neutrality, free of all political bias, I have a bridge in lower Manhattan that heads to Brooklyn that I’d like to sell you. The reality is that politics are everywhere. The question is, how do we rein them in so that we can give out reasonably competent care without letting our innate prejudices control us? ………….
One of my favorite writers has returned to the blogosphere! Intueri has relaunched as In White Ink -- The Unwritten Details! The early posts are promising, as one would expect of a long-time medblogger, and the site design is lovely, as one would expect from the beautiful, minimalist design of the old site.…….I've added it to my feed reader, and I'd recommend you do as well.
Welcome to Change of Shift!…….Now, let’s get started!Editors Pick of the Week and Dedicated to Raise Blood Pressure Post: A story of a frequent flyer who needs the flights, presented by NPs Save Lives at The Nurse Practitioner’s Place: He’s Gotta Ticket To Ride and The NP Says It’s Okay posted at The Nurse Practitioner’s Place.
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@Mtnmd RT @apjonas Sedentary Physiology Part 1 – Not Just The Lack of Physical Activity http://bit.ly/hlZrxq VERY interesting
Here are links to all 5 parts:Welcome to our 5-part series delving into the fascinating research being performed in the emerging field of sedentary physiology. Today, we’ll start with an introduction. For Part 2 in our series, click here.……., I’d like to give a bit of background.What is sedentary behaviour?
Sedentary behaviours are those characterized by very low energy expenditure – typically those requiring 1.5 METs or less.
…….About 17,000 U.S. babies are born every year with a serious heart defect. Nobody knows how many might benefit from the kind of fetal surgery Wells had. ……The root cause of HLHS, much of the time, is a partially blocked valve that regulates blood flow from the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, to the aorta, which carries blood to the entire body. …
The goal of fetal heart surgery is "to open the aortic valve at a point when the left ventricle is not quite beyond irreparable damage," says Dr. Wayne Tworetzky, a cardiologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. ….
