Quit Smoking! You are choking the rest of us
Grandma Walton said something like, “If God intended people to smoke, He would have put chimney tops on our heads.” I don’t remember much about The Waltons, but I do remember that phrase, because...
View ArticleCough Me Up, Scottie!
I have never seen the opera La Boheme, but I hear the diva dies of tuberculosis. Does Mimi sing her final aria with coughing between high C’s: “La, la… cough, cough, laaaaaa-phlegm, laaaaaa, hack”? I...
View ArticleSMART Asthma Trial: Long acting beta agonists might cause trouble
“Okay, name this tune in four notes: “Da Da Daaaaaaaaaa-DUH!” (I need to ask my editor to work on making The Hook like one of those Hallmark cards that plays music when you open it.) A book of trivia...
View ArticleChantix: Quit Smoking!
My life is so not glamorous. Because I have such a small practice, I usually can’t afford to have outside help. But now we’re hiring a nurse practitioner, and we’ve been hauling things all over,...
View ArticlePulmonary Hypertension: Not a breath of fresh air
Dark Side of the Moon is my favorite album– though I hate saying something is my “favorite” because I have 1,000 favorites of everything. (I’m so open-minded!) I was discouraged from listening to...
View ArticleTuberculosis: TB or Not TB
Nicole Kidman is amazing in The Hours, the role that earned her an Academy Award. From the haunting music of Philip Glass to the fake nose on Kidman, Hours provides a powerful look into the day of a...
View ArticleAsthma
“Don’t hold your breath,” is something I hear a lot. Maybe people will do what’s right and forget any politics involved? Don’t hold your breath. Maybe the Olympics in Beijing will reduce human right...
View ArticleTuberculosis: TB or Not TB
Tuberculosis, TB, might become active two to five percent of people who “catch” TB. MDR-TB is of concern because it is a more deadly form of tuberculosis.
View ArticlePulmonary Hypertension
Pulmonary hypertension is when the blood pressure in the lungs is high. Pulmonary hypertension makes oxygen exchange difficult. Pulmonary hypertension from sleep apnea
View ArticleHigh Altitude Disease
Mountain biking is exhilarating, moving, and fun. I am also the world’s slowest mountain biker. Lance Armstrong should present me an award for this. While I believe in pushing myself physically, I...
View ArticlePulmonary Embolism | A Clot to the Lungs
“Scab” is such an interesting word. I remember the culture shock in third grade when we moved from the Big Apple to Nowhereland, Ohio– and the shock was more for them than us. They looked and talked...
View ArticlePea in a…LUNG! | Antibiotic Resistant E. Coli | Menstrual Cramp & The Brain
Pea and The Princess is one thing, but a pea in the lung is more than bizarre. Watch about the man in Cape Cod who had a pea plant found inside his lung. | NDM-1 gene is making E. Coli resistant to...
View ArticleAspiration | Going Down the Wrong Pipe
Choke? I used to choke in golf– 100% of the time. When I competed, when I tried out for the high school golf team, when I had an amazing score going into the 18th hole. “Wow, I’m doing great! I might...
View ArticleWhooping Cough | It’s Making a Whooping Again
Whooping in my day was as normal as apple pie. I’m not saying it was right or wrong. It just was. As adults, we still take whoopings– from life. “You’re now responsible for seven extras duties on top...
View ArticleChantix | Cure to Quit Smoking?
My life is so not glamorous. Because I have such a small practice (circa 2006), I usually can’t afford to have outside help. But now we’re hiring a nurse practitioner, and we’ve been hauling things...
View ArticleAsbestosis | Making it hard to breathe
Smoke makes most of us want to gag. Thank God people can’t smoke in airplanes anymore. In the pre-historic era, there were smoking and nonsmoking sections in planes. Gee, in a closed cabin without an...
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