Wednesday, December 21, 2016

WHAT HAPPENS IN A WAR WHEN A DOCTOR MUST SAVE THOSE WHO HATE HIM?



Sunrise Rounds brought another forgotten medical issue for this season: Please read it and tell one person about this courageous doctor and what his country has given him to fear.

Is anyone here willing to protect his family while he is protecting members of our families?

http://sunriserounds.com/an-american-muslim-physician-goes-to-war/

I wish you, doctors, and your loved ones in the service HEALTH


Tuesday, December 20, 2016

PHRASES EVEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN "HAPPY HOLIDAYS"


This wonderful lesson in courtesy and accuracy! was on twitter with credit to Dr. Pamela Wible, MD,  I hope she will forgive me for passing it on.

It caught my eye partly because this is a season when I remember a work friend who died by suicide. Some abuse was heaped on his memory due to that very concept ("commit") and the time (Christmas.).

The list also got me because the statement "patient is non-compliant" usually makes me want to throw something and/or scream even when the speaker is not pointing at me.







As for health professionals, I flinch when a receptionist asks "Who's your PHP?"






And of course, Health Professional takes a couple more syllables, but my two main doctors deserve far more respect and praise than PCP.  And so do the others who take care of me.


So I"ll be watching my mouth instead of going with the slang (much as I love slang in other situations.)

I wish you health.


VISUAL FROM




Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Is Prolia good news for cancer?

I was thinking of ways to get a vacation from Prolia.  I had come to it by a roundabout way - I can't take the osteoporosis pills due to a list of problems.  My oncologist offered to handle the Prolia shots. (I didn't like the bit in the Prolia leaflet about my immune system including:  "Stay away from sick people.")  Makes a person want to leave Starbucks when anyone coughs...

My tamoxifen appointment with him is Thursday (already had my mammo and bloodwork.)

Then I read on Twitter:



There's a pile of pages on bone loss in my medical file - full of "In the absence of estrogen" it seems RANK/RANKL destroy not only bones that need replacement, but eagerly move onto bones we're still using.  Siccing Prolia on the RANK/RANKL was the answer...

The study covered here says RANK/RANKL also work in "formation of a lactating mammary gland in pregnancy'"  And the authors say:

 "Based on their normal physiology, RANKL/RANK control the onset of hormone-induced breast cancer through the expansion of mammary progenitor cells." 

For some reason, the abstract seemed to gloss over that or over-simplify, and I don't have the complete test. 

 The abstract concludes: "we propose that anti-RANKL therapy could be a feasible preventive strategy for women carrying BRCA1 mutations, and by extension to other women with high risk of breast cancer.

I wonder what my oncologist will say about this...


Monday, December 5, 2016

"Immune System Unleashed...can attack"


nytimes.com

"Immune System, Unleashed by Cancer Therapies, Can Attack Organs"


Read the article. Google it.   I was unnerved by the points of view.  And I urge you to follow the links.  There may be more news on this later from NYT or more encouraging news.  Or not.
The weight of the findings there may be counteracted by different findings.  Or we may be feeling cheated by science's haste.

If I were known to be dying of cancer, (instead of crossing my fingers for my yearly diagnostic mammo,) I would probably be desperate.  If I were in horrible pain, I would be very desperate.    Maybe I would wish I hadn't read this article.  Maybe I would be grateful I did read it. 

Don't we all need to start asking A LOT MORE QUESTIONS?

Thursday, December 1, 2016

NOW WHAT WAS CRISPR AGAIN?


STAT news brings a very short and CLEAR beginners idea on CRISPR gene editing - how it works.

This video is cool.  Very well done.



https://vimeo.com/144876420 utm_content=buffer24d3c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

 Love it when somebody can clarify.

When I get out of Twitter, I have to use this whole link above to get the video.