Are You Surviving the First Blizzard of 2016? A Balance of Shoveling and Making Soup
I am fortunately in the comfort of my breakfast room looking out to the beautiful heavy snow. As you all know by now, wherever you might be, we are in the middle of a major blizzard in the mid-Atlantic part of the country. Did you forget your triple A batteries? Loaves of bread? More wine? IT’S…
Has CLL defined me?
Editor’s Note: Although Carol is writing about leukemia, those with other cancers in remission can relate to her thought process. I have CLL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the most common form of adult leukemia. Simply defined, it is a white blood cell disease. The white, infection-fighting blood cells run amok. They multiply at an abnormally fast…
A New Year’s Norovirus “Cleanse”
Thursday I tended to my mother who had what I presumed was norovirus. In the middle of the night she had developed diarrhea and later the next day vomiting. She had a low grade temperature of 100F and very little energy. I kept a safe distance but did empty her vomit pot (AKA emesis basin). …
Breast Cancer – A Patient Perspective
I usually write to you about exercise routines but this article shares my journey and experience with breast cancer. I am ten days out from my breast reconstruction surgery. All went very well, and marks the long and challenging six months since my initial diagnosis with breast cancer. In May, pathology reports confirmed DCIS (Ductal…
My New Year Resolution? I Need to Meditate!
I hope you all enjoyed the holiday time you spent with your families. On New Year’s Day, my husband David, a neighbor and I went for a walk to North Beach, half a mile from our house in Chesapeake Beach. We walked past the registration desk for the Polar Bear Plunge to take place at…
Social Connectedness: Journey With Others
Last weekend, one of the last weekends of 2015, was very hectic. By Sunday night, I realized how we didn’t have any dinner at home for three days! On Saturday, I attended a close friend’s 25th wedding anniversary in Reston, Virginia, while my husband and son went out with his family to a holiday dinner….
Can We Please Bring Back the Wild Things?
Twenty-five years ago when I started practicing ObGyn, I had to use my creativity to calm down the children who came with their mothers for their office visits. Some of them would have been perfectly cast for the characters in Maurice Sendak’s children’s book “ Where the Wild Things Are.” The wild things were in…
The Fear Factor
It sweeps in quietly & softly at first, or jolts like an electric arc. Its grip tightens and very soon, it’s almost all you can think about. How to loosen its hold, how to escape…Patients describing their fears are intensely descriptive about fear’s overwhelming grip. Families come in describing not only their own familial struggles,…
A Circle of Giving: A Tribute to My Friend Dr. Ann Tonnu
Last weekend, some friends and I attended an introductory lecture about the power of meditation on health and lowering stress. The instructor, a radiologist named Dr. Arnold Raizon, reminded us of the difference between empathy and compassion. When you feel empathic about a person’s circumstance, you are trying to “walk in their shoes.” Compassion, however,…
What’s New with Flu 2015-16?
What’s New with Flu (2015-2016) Once again it is time to have the discussion about the importance of the annual flu vaccine. As we all know, influenza is a highly contagious viral illness which can land people in the hospital and kills many each year. Add to that, the failure of last year’s vaccine and…