Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017--all links removed as many no longer active. 

Gina (@geeners), Code Blog: Tales of a Nurse, is this week’s host of Grand Rounds. You can read this week’s twitter edition here.

How’d we get to Volume 8 already?! I think hosting this Grand Rounds finally ties me up with GruntDoc, who has hosted 7 times. Grand Rounds is the weekly round-up of blog posts by medical bloggers.

Whereas in the past the host would post nearly every link they received, it appears that we are now moving towards more curated content. I said in my previous post that I wasn’t going to institute a theme, but I was definitely more drawn to the personal-story type posts. Thanks to everyone that submitted! ……..

……………………….

Dr Rob is finally back blogging! His recent Musings Post explains: Plugging Back In.

This post is to announce two things:

1. I am back blogging again.


2. I am not blogging on this blog. I have a new blog called More Musings (of a Distractible Kind).

I also have a new project, Llamaricks, which is a blog that will hopefully draw audience participation. It’s a place for poetry; poetry by me and poetry submitted by my readers (assuming I have any). Hopefully there are people talented and/or shameless enough to submit their prose to me on that site.

OK, so I am already being untruthful. I really had three announcements. ……..

……………….

There’s a nice discussion going on over at doc2doc: Poll: Should doctors self prescribe? Various opinions. Here are a few:

Probably antibiotics for infections would be ok, and something like Voltaren for artritis, or celebrex, but no controlled substances, this is where the water gets muddied.

……..

Doctors should not self prescribe nor under any obligation prescribe any medication for a family member or friend without their own "clinical consent" in regard to the medical condition in question.

……..

Generally doctors should not prescribe for themselves and any narcotic prescribing for self or family is a definite No. There is a saying that 'the doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient' ….

………………………….

Then there’s this via @skepticscalpel: “Why internists shouldn’t operate MT @hhask @writeo After-hours surgery resulted in woman's death http://bit.ly/AA2DHL”

The link is to an article in The Oregonian by Nick Budnick: Oregon Medical Board sheds light on cosmetic surgery by Northeast Portland doctor that led to woman's death

For botching an after-hours cosmetic surgery that caused her friend's death, a Northeast Portland physician faces administrative charges and could lose her license.
Soraya Abbassian committed "gross or repeated" negligence while performing the Dec. 15, 2010 surgery, including administering what an autopsy found to be a fatal overdose of local anesthesia, according to a disciplinary complaint issued by the Oregon Medical Board on Thursday. ……….

………………………….

H/T to @scanman for the link to this letter written by John Steinbeck to his eldest son, Thom: Nothing good gets away

In November of 1958, John Steinbeck — the renowned author of, most notably, The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men — received a letter from his eldest son, Thom, who was attending boarding school. In it, the teenager spoke of Susan, a young girl with whom he believed he had fallen in love.

Steinbeck replied the same day. His beautiful letter of advice can be enjoyed below. …..

Dear Thom:
We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First—if you are in love—that’s a good thing—that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.…………..

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

…………………………

Jordan Grumet Interviews Himself on his blog In My Humble Opinion (twitter handle @jordangrumet)

…….

Q: Taken as a whole, what is your blog about? What are the major themes?
A: If you asked me this question a few years ago, I would have said that my blog is a love letter to my patients. As I grow wiser, I realize that it is more accurately a love letter to my father.

When my father (a prominent oncologist) died, I was seven years old. As silly as it sounds, I spent a great deal of my childhood and young adult years trying to forgive myself for his death. Even though I knew I wasn't responsible for his aneurysm, I struggled with issues of being worthy of love.

As I read my own writing, I'm struck by the parallels. I fight to be protect my patients and lead them through the dying process, much in the way I wish I could have done for my father. …………

……………………

Via Jackie-ES blog post: Join Patternfish and HeartStrings in Supporting WomenHeart (photo credit). I purchased the pattern, now to finish the projects I have started so I can knit this beautiful scarf.

Patternfish also launched a monthly charitable support initiative starting this month where the Designer of the Month picks a favorite charity and to which Patternfish will make a contribution. And I am the first to help kick off this initiative by choosing WomenHeart, the lifeblood organization devoted to improving the quality of life and the healthcare of women living with heart disease.

Patternfish will be donating $1.00 for each Thinking of You Scarf pattern sold during January to WomenHeart and I will match that dollar for dollar.

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017--photos and all links removed as many no longer active. 

Peggy (@tbtam), TBTAM, is this week’s host of Grand Rounds.  You can read this week’s twitter edition here. 

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 ……..

………………………..

H/T @jilltomlinson  for the link to this Lost Angeles, CA blog post which gives a great viewpoint on disfigurement, identity, perception & reconstructive surgery.  It is from December 2010 but worth the read:  MIRRORINGS: The late great Lucy Grealy on her face, tragedy, beauty and identity

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………

…………………….

Medpage Today’s article by Michael Smith, Face Transplants Offer High Yield With One Procedure:

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 NEJM article:  Pomahac B, et al "Three patients with full facial transplantation" N Engl J Med 2011.

………………….

H/T to @jordangrumet for the heads up on a new blog by @WilliamDale_MD.  The blog is entitled WilliamDaleMD.  His nice first post is Medical Health Record:  a Personal Journey Down the Rabbit Hole

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.…………….

………………………..

From DinoDoc, Musings of a Dinosaur , comes a thoughtful post:  In the Trenches: Quality of Life

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. …….

……………………….

H/T to @tbtam for this tweet:  “The year in street photography wp.me/p1Gna5-gh via @wordpressdotcom A young photographer hones her craft. I envy her.”  So do I.  Please check out her photography (better on a screen larger than your iPhone).

………………………….

A couple of weeks ago CBS Sunday Morning had a nice feature segment on the art of shopping bags.   Check this out:  The Museum of Bags

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links removed as many no longer active.


The Boerewors Emergency Medicine Chronicles has a great post which I think is worth your time:  On alzheimer's

…….....I think it is beautifully written and provides a real window into the difficulty of loving someone who has this disease.

“The thing with this sentence, this arrest of dementia, is that its greatest victims aren’t those who have it. That’s not to say that the diagnosis isn’t dreadful for the recipient, but there is a peculiar and particular hammering sadness for those that love and care for an Alzheimer’s spouse or parent.

It is a wearying and lonely obligation, but with the added cruelty that the person you’re looking after vanishes, escapes before your eyes. In the end, you’re caring for the case that someone came in………”

………………………………….

Check out this post from @JordanGrumet who blogs at In My Humble Opinion:  From Birth To Death

As luck would have it, she happened to die while I was in the room. I sat with her family as the last breath precariously left her lips. We waited for the next as if it was a forgone conclusion. It never came.
Walking toward the nursing station, my mind wandered back to medical school.
*
I tentatively followed behind the resident as we entered the birthing room. ………….

……………………………..

Asystole is the Most Stable Rhythm  (@doctorblackbear) tells us The Real Reason, On CBC Today

When I am asked the reason I chose medicine, I almost never tell the truth. I feel a little protective of the real reason and how it might be perceived by others, so I usually reveal some of my less sentimental and more cerebral motivations for becoming a doctor.

But, when given the opportunity to create a small radio piece about my grandad and how he continues to medically inspire me, I happily got to work……..

……………………………

Check out DinoDoc’s menorah’s
First Night of Hanukkah
Second Night of Hanukkah
Third Night of Hanukkah
Fourth Night of Hanukkah
Fifth Night of Hanukkah
Sixth Night of Hanukkah
Seventh Night of Hanukkah 

………………………………..

Moda Bake Shop has provided instructions for a Puzzle Box Quilt 

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017 -- photos and all links removed (except to my own posts) as many no longer active.


Better Health is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds. You can read this week’s myth buster’s edition here.

As regular readers of the Better Health blog already know, I am opposed to health misinformation. In fact, I started this very blog because of my disappointment with the sheer volume of false claims, misleading stories, and pseudoscience actively promoted to patients.

It was my hope that gathering together key medical blogger “voices of reason” would promote health sanity on Google. You could argue that we’re tilting at windmills, but tilt we must – and I’m proud to say that our membership now includes contributions from the CDC, the American College of Physicians, Harvard Health publications, Diario Medico (Spain’s premier MD website) and over 100 independent bloggers who are standing with us in an attempt to provide smart health commentary to patients and providers alike.

And with that, let us begin our terrific Grand Rounds tradition (now in its eighth year – which in blog years is about 120) of highlighting this week’s best of the medical blogosphere… (And yes, that’s me with Mythbuster’s TV host Adam Savage, circa 2009).………….

…………………….…

H/T to @MtnMD and @drmlb for the link to this:  Healing power of poetry which features the poem "Lumpectomy" by Joan Baranow

………Below is Joan’s poem.
Lumpectomy
by Joan Baranow
The moon is a little dented tonight
on the right side
where an arm would be
pressing,
and that’s natural
to the moon
as well as certain situations—………….

………………………………….

A heart warming story by MSNBC written by Linda Carroll:  Organ donor's family meet the man their father saved

……….“When we got the letter from the donor’s family, my wife and I just sat there and cried, because I didn’t expect it,” Watson, who received a life-saving heart, liver and kidney transplant, told TODAY. “I didn’t expect it to impact me as much as it did. But it was just emotional realizing that this person gave the last gift to me that he could, and it saved my life.”

Read the letter: Click here to read the Jessica Lyngaas's letter to the Watsons

Organ recipients aren’t supposed to contact the families of donors - those are the rules.

But on rare occasions, when the donor family reaches out as Jessica Lyngaas did and the recipient is willing, institutions can give way. ……

…………………………………

Check out Dr. Wes’s post:   Smile! You're on Candid Camera!

They sat anxiously waiting for their loved one to enter the holding area after the procedure, one nervously clutching her purse, another today's paper, and a third, her cellphone. The air was tense as they awaited the news of how the procedure went. All the preparation, the concern, and the questioning come down to this moment when they learn if they made the right decision to go forward with the procedure. Will there be elation or despair?

So of course they want to videotape the moment.

The door opened, there was their loved one, looking no worse for wear, followed by the doctor. As he came forth to tell them the good news, the cellphone video recorder captured the discussion, ….. The doctor was caught completely off-guard.

In this case, the news was happy. All went well. But what should happen if the news weren't so good or even devastating? …….

……………………………….

Another nice piece from @jordangrumet who blogs at In My Humble Opinion: I Could

Adapted from the poem "I Could"
Cook County hospital 1998
Breast center
Who's next?

He calls to the residents, as if he is a bank teller waiting to accept his next deposit. He walks from room to room with the medical students trailing behind. He enters the cubicle without taking the time to introduce himself. He touches breast tissue with precision and tenderness. Yet to put his arm around the shoulder of a suffering patient would be considered to intimate.  …….

…………………………………

An article in the Chron.com by Melanie Warner Spencer:  Modernism emerges in quilting world

……….I believe I’ve discovered a quilting genre that appeals to my personal aesthetic.

The fast-growing modern quilt movement is inspired by modern art and architecture.

Modern quilters embrace the tenets of modernism, including simplicity, minimalism, clean lines, the use of negative space, experimentation and new ways of looking at old ideas……

Saddened

Updated 3/2017 -- all links removed (except to my own posts) as many no longer active.


This past Friday a twitter/blog friend @jabulani9 notified me that another of our twitter/blog friends @trilisakay had died the day before. 

I first began following Lisa when she blogged at The Tale of My Left Foot and more recently at Call Me Dr. Lisa.  She began the second blog as she put it (August 2009):

I have decided that The Tale of My Left Foot is done. 34 monthes ago, I had my first surgery on my ankle and 1 month later learned I had cancer. I have documented my journey, my triumphs, my failures, my fears and last weekend I completed a triathlon. So, now the "Tale" feels done. Thanks for travelling this road with me.

In January of this year she underwent a major surgery with reconstruction (a gracilis flap) when her cancer returned.  I answered some questions for her regarding the flap, etc.  I tried to encourage her as she recovered and began training again for another triathlon.  Truth is, she was encouraging to me as she remained more upbeat than not and pushed forward.  I would have loved to have known her in real life.

Her last blog post was October 26 and remains upbeat:  Taking my Training to the Pool

……I remain as committed as ever to complete my first half marathon just short of the one year anniversary of my surgery. I continue to feel incredibly fortunate to be on this journey with some of the most amazing and inspirational people I’ve ever met. I appreciate everyone’s support more than you know.

If you are so inclined you can still donate in her name to her TEAM.

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links removed (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active.

Jason Shafrin, PhD, Healthcare Economist, is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds. You can read this week’s edition here.

This is a great time to be the Healthcare Economist. Not only am I hosting Grand Rounds for the first time, but Wisconsin sports are enjoying a renaissance. The Milwaukee Brewers are in the NLCS, the Green Bay Packers are Super Bowl Champs and undefeated, and the Wisconsin Badgers also have not lost.

How does this relate to this week’s edition of Grand Rounds? I have no idea. But I know if you’ve made it this far, you might as well take a few more minutes to review the best medical posts on the blog-o-sphere during the past week. Enjoy! ………….

……………………………

The 2011 Charles Prize for Poetry Contest deadline for entries has passed. Now while we await the announcement of the winners I hope you will enjoy reading the many wonderful entries.

…………………………

TBTAM (@tbtam) has another nice blog post on mammograms: Mammograms – Reality Check

A well-written and balanced article on mammography from USA Today may help move the conversation about this screening test away from hype and a bit closer to reality. The title – “Mammogram is ‘terribly imperfect’, though recommended.” ...

………………………………….

H/T to @DrMarkham and @doctorblogs for this BMJ article by Prof Joseph Ana on this horrifying practice: Breast flattening, ironing, straightening, and pounding: a new form of violence against girls and women

Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard about the cultural barbarism of breast flattening, a native attempt to delay the development of a girl’s breasts so that they are not “attractive” to men and boys before they are ready for marriage.

Just before a girl reaches puberty her mother will (sorry but please get yourself ready to soldier on with reading this sordid topic) pass a hot instrument, usually a hot wire into the victim’s breasts or pound the victim’s breast with a pestle without any form of anaesthesia or analgesic. …..

…………………………………

Runawaydoc (@runawaydoc) is a “newbie blog / pediatrician in training” who recent blog post introduces us to “the man with the golden heart.”

……As a doctor, I regret to accept that our medical system is also hijacked into this dark world. Every doctor, every lab, every pharmacist wants to extract an extra rupee. The feel of the notes satisfy more than the contentment of the patient. …….

However, in one of those social networking portals I came across a man called “Morpheus”. I was jarred with his conviction to clean the dirty waters of medicine where doctors happily waddle in. He told me that healing profession has to be cleaned, somebody has to make a move, and somebody has to start it. At the end of the day the patient should not suffer. …..

………………………….

Did you catch Radio Rounds interview of ZDoggMD? If not, you can listen to it here: Slightly Funnier Than Placebo

This week features the hottest hip hop hospitalist in the nation, ZDoggMD. When not making videos, ZDogg is a hospital physician working at a Bay Area academic hospital. Along with some of his fellow physicians he moonlights in medical satire writing and producing his own videos and songs, claiming to be slightly funnier than placebo. This episode is about the man behind the name as we delve deeper into the mind of ZDoggMD.

………………………………………….

My friend Methodical Madness uses her recent Mothers in Medicine post to encourage donation of blood products: Blood Bank Halloween.

The Blood Bank always has some pretty interesting Halloween decorations. Last year they had gel blood dripping from the top of the main door. This year I was excited to see a bloody hand at the Blood Bank blood product distribution window. The window is kind of like a fast food restaurant window - only it opens bottom to top instead of sliding sideways. I imagine it was designed in the 1960's. This morning when I went to take a photo of it for this blog that was marinating in my head, I was upset to find it missing. I wandered into the blood bank.

"Where is that bloody hand decoration that was in the window?" …………

……………………………….

H/T to @scanman for this tweet: Superb collection/selection >> RT @mankuthirai: The 50 Best Short Stories of All Time

The short story is sometimes an under-appreciated art form. Within the space of a few pages, an author must weave a story that’s compelling, create characters readers care about and drive the story to its ultimate conclusion — a feat that can be difficult to accomplish even with a great degree of savvy……….

………………………………………..

Thanks to @glevin1 who noticed this website on Google+ and know I’d appreciate it: LUKE Quilts. Luke’s website has three main sections – about, projects, and blog. His quilts are amazing! Check them out.

CraftGossip’s Fork and Talk Night

 Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links removed removed as many no longer active.

I was invited to attend this event (photo credit) by Scarlett (Quilting editor) who is one of the four local employees of this Australia-based network. The other three are Denise (needlework editor), Stacie (Jewelry Making editor) and Anne (Sewing editor). It was sponsored by CraftGossip.com and EKSuccess.

I enjoyed meeting other women who blog and love to make things with their hands. I sat next to Barbara Moore who is a gourd artist from Flippin, Arkansas who blogs at Mo(o)re Gourd Whimsies. Her work is exquisite! Here is a sample of it from her blog header:

After having a great lunch (food by Trio’s), we were split from our original tables. The new groups then decorated hats together. My group didn’t win, but I liked ours. Seen here, modeled by Suzanne who blogs at UnRuffled (sorry I can’t a link to her blog). She is a newly graduated respiratory therapist.

Then we were asked to try out this craft kit. The kit includes the needle and thread as well as the die-cut fabric pieces needed to create the bows. You then have a choice of it being a barrette or a pin. The hardware is included for each.
It was amazing the goodies we were given to take home. Not much in the way of fabric or yarn (my favorite mediums), but I love the acid-free pens and the scissors!
Here are some of the things I did bring home (I gave twice as much to a woman who puts craft kits together for the cystic fibrosis patients at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. I wish I had given her all of my stuff (well, not the pens and scissors).

This bead kits look wonderful for kids (which I don’t have). I think Methodical Madness’ will like them.
These stickers would be great for a scrap booker or maybe my teenage niece will like them.
These kits would be great fun to do with kids.
I did find some possible quilt inspiration in thumbing through the beading booklet.

Shout Outs

 Updated 3/2017--photos and all links removed (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active.

Health 3.0 Blog  is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds. You can read this week’s edition here.

Welcome to this week’s edition of Grand Rounds. You can find the medical blogosphere’s best next week at Covert Rationing.

We’ve taken a different approach this week to organizing Grand Rounds. You can find all the submissions below in this post. But, we’ve also selected quotes from each blog and highlighted those on the main page. Consistent with our themes, we’ve also tagged all the posts related to health, happiness, design or innovation. You can search for these tags to see how each theme plays out. We’ve also added bits of commentary to some of the individual quotes and summaries - especially when we’ve read something recently that relates to the general topic or idea………

……………………………

I was aware of this new children’s book "Maggie Goes on a Diet" (I haven’t gotten to read it, but title makes me feel focus is wrong. Should be focused on eating healthy diet.), but @LindaP_MD’s tweet alerted me to a nice interview @drclaire did with @BridgetBlythe on @NECN about the book:  Talking to kids about weight, obesity

…………………………

Did you see the interview Albert Schweitzer (@SchweitzerASF) did with @docgurley?  --“The Addictive Power of Spending One’s Days Doing Something Worthwhile”: Five Questions for a Fellow with Jan Gurley, MD

Since 1979, ASF’s Lambaréné Schweitzer Fellows Program has selected senior U.S. medical students to serve clinical rotations as junior physicians at the iconic Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon, Africa—the region’s primary source of health care since Dr. Albert Schweitzer founded it in 1913.

Jan Gurley, MD is one of those Fellows. ……….

…………………………………

Check out the interview of @drkt at OnSurg.com:  Featured Surgeon, late summer 2011

First-year surgery resident Dr Katie has been sharing her educational experience online since undergraduate school. OnSurg is grateful for her participation in our Q & A:

What’s your story?

I first knew I wanted to be a doctor my senior year of high school (was going to go into Forensics from 7th-12th), and was told I’d never make it and that I’d change my mind. I knew what I wanted and wanted to prove people wrong at the same time. It wasn’t until the summer after my junior year that I actually had the chance to be in the hospital. When that time came, I knew that medicine was right for me.  ………….

…………………………………………….

H/T to @DrSnit tweeting this:  “Monsters in the Dark by @chemo_babe bit.ly/reZDOi Parenting through cancer. "I don’t want to be the little boy whose mommy died.”   I hope you will go read the entire post.

…………….He grew earnest.
“But your heart will stop beating when you die. You can’t have love without a heart.”
“Love doesn’t just live in my heart. My love for you will continue on in your heart.”
Then he burst into tears and threw his arms around my neck.
“Mommy, I don’t want to be the little boy whose mommy died.”
I embraced him, stunned into silence. I looked for words of comfort. …………….

………………………………..

H/T to @sandnsurf for finding and posting these “highly inappropriate adverts”:  High quality adverts (photo credit) 

……………………………………………..

H/T to @BiteTheDust  for the link to this news article:   13 yr old designs breakthrough solar array based on Fibonacci sequence.

Plenty of us head into the woods to find inspiration. Aidan Dwyer, 13, went to the woods and had a eureka moment that could be a major breakthrough in solar panel design. ………

You can read Aidan’s award-winning essay here, which walks you through his experiment design and his results. But the short story is that his tree design generated much more electricity — especially during the winter solstice, when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky. At that point, the tree design generated 50 percent more power, without any adjustments to its declination angle. …………..

……………………………………..

The International Quilt Festival Summer 2011 Newsletter has a very nice tutorial for making a Patchwork/Purse Tote (pdf).  (photo credit)

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017:  all links removed as many no longer active and it was easier than checking each one.

David, Health Business Blog, is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds.  You can read this week’s edition here.

When I first hosted Grand Rounds six years ago, the iPhone, iPad and Twitter didn’t exist, and Facebook was not yet available to the general public. Barack Obama had not appeared on the scene and there was no discussion of the Affordable Care Act. Yet a lot of the topics in that edition would be familiar to today’s reader including firearms, RomneyCare, patient safety and Google. Two blogs (InsureBlog and Clinical Cases) that were featured in that early edition are featured here, too.. ……..

……………………………

Yesterday,  NPR ran this  article by Carrie Feibel:  Heart With No Beat Offers Hope Of New Lease On Life  (photo credit)

The search for the perfect artificial heart seems never-ending. After decades of trial and error, surgeons remain stymied in their quest for a machine that does not wear out, break down or cause clots and infections.

But Dr. Billy Cohn and Dr. Bud Frazier at the Texas Heart Institute say they have developed a machine that could avoid all that with simple whirling rotors — which means people may soon get a heart that has no beat.   ……….

………………………….

Clink Shrink, Shrink Rap, offers a thoughtful post on involuntary treatment:  Are We Not Thugs?  (read the discussion in the comments)

The voice at the other end of the line was angry and accusatory: "You didn't even talk to me! You never knew my son! You didn't talk to any of us!"
I explained to her that since she had never even met the defendant, there was no way she could have any information that would be relevant to the accused's state of mind at the time of the crime. The victim and the defendant were total strangers and there was no apparent reason for the killing, which made the crime even more tragic. Her son was dead in a random incident, in a crime that was unquestionably motivated only by the defendant's untreated psychiatric symptoms.    …….

………………………………..

Dr Val, Better Health, is now hosting a radio show called, "Healthy Vision with Dr. Val Jones."  It is currently available here on iTunes.  The show has three segments (one about the importance of regular eye exams, one about contact lens care, and one about UV protection for eyes). It's available as a full show (20 minutes) and as individual segments.

……………………………….

This essay (or article) from Stefany Anne Goldberg, The Smart Set, was in my local paper this past Sunday.  As that source is subscription only, I found it elsewhere to share with you.  The essay is Can You See Me Now? Welcome to Deaf-World

The 19th-century poet Laura Redden Searing, who happened to be Deaf, wrote a story about a lonely bird with crippled wings who comes upon the Realm of the Singing.    …..

What Deaf people have realized about themselves in the last century is that being Deaf opens up a new mode of experience. And ASL is the language of that experience. Deaf people were creating their own world. But it was a world they would have to defend.

•

The newly published The People of the Eye sets out to define the Deaf-World and to fight for it. Where Deaf activists have spent decades arguing that deafness is not a defect but a character trait — a benefit even — The People of the Eye goes a step further. It asserts that Deaf is an ethnicity.  …….

…………………………………….

A few responses to the NY Times article by Karen S. Sibert:  Don’t Quit This Day Job

@medrants:  Medrants: Women in medicine - different strokes for different folks
@palmd: From the Underground NYT: Women are ruining medicine

I've written before about many of the challenges faced by women in medicine.  As more and more women enter medicine, there is a cultural shift struggling to be born.  ……….

As a society and a profession, we have to decide to take the role of women seriously. If we demean women's role in our profession, we may be more likely to demean our female patients and family members.

Richard L. Reece, MD (Medinnovation):  Health Reform, Women Physicians, and the Doctor Shortage
@scutmonkey:  Psychology Today:  The Mommy Wars, Medical Edition

……………………………………………..

Leah, Free Motion Quilting, is one of the quilting blogs I follow.  She was recently listed as one of Quilter's Home Top 55!

Whoo Hoo! I was listed in the top 55 blogs by Quilter's Home Magazine!
Click here to read the magazine article and check out all the different blogs listed

This is crazy cool because one of the sort of kick butt moments of my life was when my Dad picked up a Quilter's Home magazine 2 years ago that had a similar blog and website list.

So is Barbara Brackman’s Material Culture blog.

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. 

ePatient Dave is the host for this week’s “TEDx Maastricht” issue of Grand Rounds! You can read this week’s edition here.

Welcome to Grand Rounds for May 10, 2011!
I have a confession: I’m new at this. My initial exposure to Grand Rounds a while back gave me a warped view, and as I worked on this project, I was a little bit graceless. (Those of you who wrote to me about it know what I mean. I meant well…)
This week’s theme is the TEDx Maastricht conference that happened April 4. But first -
These news highlights were submitted:

• Dr. Ed Pullen’s “Medical blog for the informed patient” is not thrilled about Vimovo, a new drug for osteoarthritis. Pullen believes in letting people know what’s going on behind the scenes. …

……………………………

Congratulations to fellow physician/blogger Dr. Chris Coppola (@chriscoppola) who shared this tweet recently:

Some exciting news! 'Coppla: A Pediatric Surgeon in Iraq' has won the 2011 Montaigne Medal, the Eric Hoffer award... http://fb.me/AE0vuaIA

Chris blogs at “Coppola: A Pediatric Surgeon in Iraq”

……………………………….

Shared on twitter by @EllenRichter “Wonderful way to end Nurses Week! What an honor! "First #Nurse Nominated as Army Surgeon General" http://goo.gl/IJq3A” (photo credit)

Maj. Gen. Patricia Horoho would become the first nurse and the first woman to serve as the Army Surgeon General if the Senate confirms her nomination and simultaneous promotion to lieutenant general, which were announced by Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday.

Horoho currently serves as Army deputy surgeon general and 23rd chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. …

…………………………….

Did you every read “The House of God” by Samuel Shem, MD? Fellow blogger @inwhiteink shared a link on twitter to a wonderful essay by Shem: Fiction as Resistance (pdf)

I was a writer before I was a doctor. From an early age I was concerned with suffering and understanding, and I often turned to stories for solace. I loved stories long before I knew they were an essence of good doctoring—shared stories that bring solace, understanding, and healing to others. …... My early answers to the question, “What is healing?” came from these stories. I still have a piece of an envelope on which I copied part of a letter Chekhov wrote to an editor who had criticized his story “Ward Number Six”: “The best of writers are realistic and describe life as it is, but because each line is saturated with the consciousness of its goal, you feel life as it should be in addition to life as it is, and you are captivated by it” (1).

Life as it should be in addition to life as it is. Without
realizing it until many years later, this would become the motor of my writing. ……….

…………………….

This past Sunday I caught this interview by CBS Sunday Morning of Christy Turlington discussing her life and her new project “Every Mom Counts

Later the same morning, I saw this tweet from @DrJenGunter

RT “@CTurlington: Pls rd my @HuffingtonPost blog posting"Sacrifices of Motherhood" 4 #MothersDay huff.to/lVYMR4 @everymomcounts”

……………………………………………..

Ever wonder what type of tree you have encountered in the park or on a walk? Nick Genes, MD (@blogborygmi) tweeted about a new (free) iPhone app which identifies trees from photos of the leafs from on twitter: For The High-Tech Naturalist: LeafSnap Identifies Leaves Using Your iPhone’s Camera (photo credit)

I’d like an app like this for identify edible wild greens/foliage.

……………………………………..

Just How Dangerous Is Sitting All Day? [INFOGRAPHIC] (photo credit)  --  Remember to get up and move!

Arkansas Women Bloggers Meetup

Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links (except to my own posts) removed as many are no longer active and it was easier than checking each one.

The first ever Arkansas Women Bloggers Meetup Scheduled! (photo credit) was held today at the Museum of Discovery. 

I attended it with Methodical Madness, @gastromom (we’ll get her to actually blog and not just tweet someday), and @ksboulden.  

I met several of the approximately 40 attendees.  Lunch was provided by Petite Jean Meats.  Elaine provided cupcakes for dessert.  Elaine blogs at Cupcake Crazy Arkansas.

Two of the attendees gave short presentations.  La Tonya (40 Tude) gave one on finding your voice.  Kyran (Planting Dandelions) talked about how to measure your blog’s influence in more ways than just numbers (or stats from your sitemeter).

There were door prizes!  I won (or rather my dog Rusty did) this one, homemade dog bonz from Mac the Labradoodle.  Mac, Rusty definitely approves!

 

Others I met include Nikki (NikkMo PaperCrafts), Christie (Fancy Pants Foodie),Desmond (Arkansas Research), and Kat (Tie Dye Travels).

It was a good meetup!  I made sure Christie (Fancy Pants Foodie) and @gastromom met. 

Medical News of Arkansas Article

 Updated 3/2017-- all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. and it was easier than checking each one.

Steve Brawner interviewed me over a month ago for an article on medical bloggers in Arkansas. I received my copy of the Medical News of Arkansas with the article (pdf) this past week. The article is titled “Docs Online: Medical Bloggers Enjoy Pluses, Avoid Perils.”

He focuses on four bloggers from Arkansas. I knew of two of the others (R. W. Donnell, MD and Victoria Powell, RN). The other one is a female pathologist who lives here in Little Rock too. I am the forth blogger.

Here are the other three:

R. W. Donnell, MD is a hospitalist in NW Arkansas. His blog is called “Notes from Dr RW.” He has been blogging since July 2005. His blog “helps keep his reading current on clinical medical topics and public policy issues.”

Victoria Powell, RN is a nurse consultant in Benton, Arkansas. Her blog is “VP-Medical.” She began her blog in October 2007. As she puts it, “It allows me a commercial opportunity without shouting from the rooftop, ‘Hey, look what I can do’.”

Elizabeth Schneider, MD is a Baptist Health pathologist, Little Rock, Arkansas. Her blog is “Methodical Madness.” She began her blog on election day 2008. Her blog is mostly personal, “a way for her to release some creative energies after a day of looking through the microscope.”

I know of another physician blogger from Arkansas, but she wasn’t interviewed. Jen is a 2nd year radiology resident at UAMS. She began blogging in June 2006. Her blog used to be called “And Then Sum” but recently changed to “This I Write.” Her blog is mostly personal with a little medical.

I'm a mom to three rambunctious boys, a wife to a wonderful man, and a radiology resident. So, I basically write about my twisted world of medicine and motherhood.

And did you know that Paul Levy, Running a Hospital, has an Arkansas connection? That’s right, he used to live and work in Arkansas (Director, Arkansas Department of Energy).

Anyone know of any others? Physician, nurse, EMT, etc bloggers in Arkansas? I would love to know.

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017-- all links removed as many no longer active and it was easier than checking each one.

 

Captain Atopic is this week's host of Grand Rounds. You can read it here.  He calls it the “Grand Rounds 5:45 - Le Tour de France Edition!”

Where Grand Rounds is the Grand Tour of Medical Blogging, the Grand tour of Cycling is undoubtedly Le Tour de France, which concluded on Sunday in Paris. After three weeks of cycling, nearly 3,500km at an average speed above 40km/h, the peleton will ride up Paris' Champs Elysee's to the finish. Throughout the race, certain riders and teams will have reached their goals, revealed their future potential and achieved great triumphs. This week's Grand Rounds features some sterling examples of writing, all capable of Stage Victories, and some, much more. Welcome to the Tour...

The latest edition of Change of Shift (Vol 4, No 2) is hosted by Ross at Nurse in Australia! You can find the schedule and the COS archives at Emergiblog. 

The beautiful sunshine coast in Queensland, Australia is where I call home, so I’ve themed this edition the Sunshine Coast Edition. So welcome, thanks again for visiting my corner of the world!

Close your eyes for a moment and take a deep breath of that coastal air, and get ready to invigorate yourselves with some great posts for this edition of change of shift

You can read Movin' Meat’s  interview of Dr. Nick Jouriles, President of ACEP, over at The Central Line.

• Interview with ACEP President Jouriles (Pt 1)
• Interview with ACEP President Dr Jouriles (Pt 2)

Several bloggers come to Dr Regina Benjamin’s defense.  I agree with them.  It is much more important to look at her impressive qualifications.

• Dr Rob – Stone Throwing
• KevinMD  -- We should not care about Regina Benjamin’s weight
• Emily Walke -- Critcism of Regina Benjamin's Weight Nothing But Sexism

I’d like to direct you to Buckeye Surgeon’s post “The Meaning of Life.”  Be sure you read the comments.

Our purpose, our meaning is driven by the concept of "life"--- making it better, richer, less intolerable. If we admit this, then we are obligated to define what we mean by "life", because that is the fulcrum upon which we operate. What is life? What is it exactly that we are trying to save, to alleviate, to improve?

H/T to @MedicalQuack who tweeted the following. 

Nice Mention of @GruntDoc in Houston Chronicle http://tinyurl.com/mvoymy

Interesting NPR interview of Michael Ruhlman on cooking and his new book, Ratio.

His new book, Ratio, is about learning basic ratios. For example: 3:2:1 — three parts flour, two parts fat (like butter) and one part water — makes a basic pie crust. Add a dash of salt, and it's a savory base for a quiche. Add some sugar, and you've got a shell for cherries, chocolate cream or fresh peaches.

Dr Rob is now doing podcast as the “House Call Doctor”  giving “quick and dirty tips” to help you take charge of your health.   You can find the list of his podcasts here.  Enjoy!     

I Registered!

Updated 3/2017--all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. and it was easier than checking each one. 

I have registered to attend the Blog World Expo.  At this time I am only registered for the Med Bloggers Panel on Thursday, but am looking forward to meeting all of you.  I have word from Dr Sid Schwab that he too is registered.  If his Visa comes through, then Bongi will be attending.  Those two alone should encourage the rest of you to attend.

Not enough.  Then check out the list of panelists from Dr Rob’s post, Blogworld Expo invaded by Medical Bloggers!!!

The following is a list of distinguished bloggers (and me) and the topics they are covering:
Panel #1 The State of the Health Blogosphere: We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby
Moderator: Kim McAllister, Emergiblog
Panelist: Kevin Pho, Kevin MD
Panelist: Nick Genes, Blogborygmi
Panelist: Kerri Sparling, SixUntilMe
Panel #2 Staying On The Good Side of HIPAA: Safe and Ethical Blogging Practices
Moderator: Mike Sevilla, Doctor Anonymous
Panelist: Rob Lamberts, Musings of a Distractible Mind
Panelist: Debra Farber, IBM
Panelist: Bob Coffield, Health Care Law Blog
Panel #3 Blogging For Change: How To Influence Healthcare Through Blogging
Moderator: Val Jones, Better Health
Panelist: Gary Schwitzer, Schwitzer Health News Blog
Panelist: Terri Polick, Nurse Ratched’s Place
Panelist: Gene Ostrovsky, Medgadget
Panel #4 The Value of Blogs To Hospitals, Industry, and News Organizations
Moderator: Gary Schwitzer, Health News Review
Panelist: Marc Monseau, Johnson & Johnson ’s JNJBTW Blog
Panelist: Bob Stern, MedPageToday
Panelist: Paul Levy, Running A Hospital

If you are a medical blogger, contact Kim (Emergiblog)  for information on registering.  You want to be sure you actually register for the Med Blog Panel.