About.com

Do As I Say and Not As I Do

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:11:49 +0000

I'm miserable, made worse by the fact that it's my own fault.

While I try to live my life according to the tenets and advice I give to you here at the About.com Patient Empowerment site, I must now confess that, sadly, I am not perfect.

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REAL Men, Dads Included, Are Smart Patients

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:35:24 +0000

Here's my annual Father's Day note to all men, dads included, about the importance of being smart patients, keeping themselves healthy - and some perspective.

This actually started in June 2010 as a Father's Day post when I called on men to take charge of their care, to recognize that, in particular when they are fathers, partners, sons and spouses, then their health is important not just to them, but to their loved ones, too. I wrote the piece in reaction to a report in the Wall Street Journal that men just don't step up to take care of their health and that early deaths or a substandard quality of life was the result.

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The Cost of CT Scans - Money, Cancer and Peace of Mind

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:37:54 +0000

You've probably heard the many news reports in the past few days about CT scans leading to cancer, especially in children. They are all based on a new report published in Pediatrics, a publication of the Journal of the American Medical Association. They show disturbing rates of cancer among children who had CT scans of different parts of their bodies.

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Chapter 4: Watchful Waiting for The Lump

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 11:57:09 +0000

For those of you following my lump journey, a new chapter has been posted.

A quick recap: My career as an expert in patient empowerment, and the reason I am the About.com Guide to such is based on a diagnosis in 2004 of a terminal form of lymphoma which was based on the biopsy of a lump that had been removed from my torso. That journey turned out to be a major misdiagnosis - I had no cancer at all. These 9 years later, another lump appeared, so I have been tracking my journey through the evidence that is being gathered, my diagnosis (we don't have one yet) and treatment recommendations to highlight the decisions I am making along the way, and my collaboration with my doctor(s).

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Medical Credit Cards Can Make You Sicker

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 08:18:24 +0000

If you have ever needed some sort of healthcare that was going to cost a small fortune, but wasn't covered well by health insurance, your provider might have offered you a way to pay for it - a special health-related credit card with NO INTEREST! Such a deal.

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The Roommate, the Reunion, the Diagnosis, and the Empowered Patient Advice

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:32:13 +0000

Last weekend was my college reunion. I won't share the number of decades since graduation but many of us were sharing photos of our grandkids, so that should tell you something. It was great fun to catch up with people who have been a part of my life, but only sporadically, for so very long....

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Battling "More"

Tue, 28 May 2013 09:23:43 +0000

I take no credit for these ideas. They belong to Dr. Rob Lamberts who I have featured previously in this blog, and who, perhaps better than any doctor I know, understands a patient point-of-view.

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Suspicion, Loss of Trust, Change of Venue

Sun, 26 May 2013 13:48:12 +0000

Last week I went for my annual mammogram to the testing center I have gone to for at least the last 10 years. I've always been impressed with how they manage the process, making it as noninvasive as possible, getting me in the door then out again in less than one hour, etc.

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Hospitals and Their Dirty Little Secrets

Thu, 23 May 2013 06:52:26 +0000

Just a heads up today on an informative, well-developed, interactive presentation put together by a combination of Frontline and Pro Publica...

Called Hazardous Hospitals, it's part video, part resource piece that allows you to learn about the (at least) six ways your assumptions about hospitals are probably untrue, with additional links to supporting information.

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Do You Take a Generic Drug? It May Be Fake or Adulterated

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:13:17 +0000

I've just finished reading an article in Fortune, written by Katherine Eban, that has curled my toenails and singed my eyebrows.

I first introduced you to Katherine Eban after reading her book Dangerous Doses a number of years ago. Dangerous Doses is about counterfeit drugs, how they work their way into our American drug supply, and how Americans are dying and getting sicker because of the FDA's total lack of teeth and ability to regulate or stop them. (Not that they haven't figured out some ways to stem the flow - but pharmaceutical companies have intentionally put roadblocks in the FDA's way to protect themselves instead. Follow the money, of course.)

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