Last night, my son was reading a book that was required summer reading for 6th grade. This book was published over 30 years ago. When he got to a sentence that used the word “retard,” he stopped and innocently asked, “Mom, what does that word mean?”
At first, I was shocked that he did not know the meaning, but as I thought about it more, I realized this term was no …
Food allergies are frightening, not funny
On a daily basis, I am introduced to new people from all walks of life. Some sit on the board of directors, some are CEOs, some are presidents, some are middle managers and other administrators, some are investors, others are entrepreneurs, and some are physicians, nurses, case managers and even patients.
I listen to people talk about the big challenges in health care. It costs too much, we have a shortage …
Let’s change the mediocre status quo of health care
In 1996, I had an illness that nearly killed me. I was exhausted, felt awful, could barely stand up and had trouble remembering things. Yet, I somehow had to find the energy not only to take care of my newborn and 5 year old, coordinate our upcoming move, consult with doctors and other medical providers on my condition and treatment, and receive treatments that might or might not help me …
8 ways to be your own health advocate
At 3 1/2 years old, my son was the picture of health. I have an actual picture. He is in jammies, wearing my sunglasses, laughing and chalk coloring the driveway while the sun is shining on his blond hair. That picture frequently flashes in my mind. I posted it on Facebook, my happy, healthy boy. There was no warning and nothing to prepare me for the months ahead.
First, it was …
How Frozen saved my son in a way medicine couldn’t
The impact of the opioid crisis struck home within the Missouri physician community on Dec. 15, 2014. That’s the day when, just two months shy of his 30th birthday, Derek succumbed to an opioid overdose.
The news was devastating for his mother, Kelly O’Leary, a longtime volunteer with the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society Alliance, and her husband Timothy O’Leary, MD, a radiation …
Physician spouse speaks out against dangers of prescription opioids
From the wrong diagnosis to the incorrect medication, medical mistakes kill as many as 250,000 people annually in the United States — and injure thousands more. This figure could be much higher, considering there’s never been an actual count of how many patients experience preventable harm. We only have an approximate figure, which may indeed be very far off from the truth, considering the inaccuracies in …
We need a more comprehensive approach to investigating medical mistakes
“Doctors are not the problem. Patients are.”
Anyone who has ever thought the above statement is true has not tapped into the vast well of knowledge and intellect found in their own patients. Training patients to be better patients brings the joy of medicine back into your practice.
All of us, at one time or another, sat in a classroom. The teacher spent the first day going over the rules of the …
Are patients really the problem?
An open letter to doctors still prescribing opioid medication when necessary:
Thank you so much for standing up for us pain patients. My chronic pain comes from a genetic connective tissue disorder (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), so there is no treatment or cure for my slow, but relentless, physical deterioration as the collagen holding my body together falls apart.
I, like so many other pain patients, spent years (1982-1995) trying other therapies (yoga, acupuncture, …
Stop the war against patients with intractable pain
At the 8th Annual Patient Experience Summit, Adrienne Boissy, MD, MA, Chief Experience Officer at Cleveland Clinic Health System, encouraged conference attendees to “dream bigger.” So here goes. It’s time for you to invite patients to speak to promising young doctors during their time at your respective schools. You need to invite patients for regularly scheduled story sharing. Don’t roll your eyes at me just yet. It’s time to invest in …
Every medical student needs to hear patient and caregiver stories
After sixteen years of chronic illness and even after writing a book titled How to Be Sick, I still can feel sick of being sick. (When I use the word “sick,” I’m including chronic pain.) If you’re as intimately familiar as I am with sick of being sick, you know it how unpleasant it feels.
Here are ten strategies to help you through this difficult emotional time.
1. Start by acknowledging how …
10 strategies to try when you’re sick of being sick
We were brand new to the clinic, looking for a new doctor after our beloved pediatrician had retired. Our three living children are healthy as galloping horses — a simple fact made astonishing after the deaths of their two sick sisters. But they still need well-checks and vaccines and strep tests and a place to call about rashes and fevers and flu.
So here I was, hugely pregnant, waddling in the …
What one good doctor taught this mother about grief
I had my first outpatient surgical procedure when I was still in high school and needed a plantar wart removed from the sole of my foot. As the doctor injected the area with a local anesthetic, he explained he did these procedures all the time, and I wouldn’t feel a thing. After a short wait, he began to dig out the deeply embedded wart with a hooked scalpel.
With the first …
When impossible pain is, in fact, possible
Now more than ever, health insurance is a staple story in the 24-hour news cycle. Opinions vary widely on the issue, as do politician’s thoughts on the matter. Debates rage, tensions grow, and deeper divides are formed as our government wrestles with this colossal dispute. Nestled at the heart of it all though is a basic question:
Is health insurance a right or a privilege in the United States?
I’m alive today …
Having access to health care saved this patient’s life
When Lorie Duff was pregnant with her third child, she did what all good moms are supposed to do. She went to the OB/GYN clinic for prenatal care. But she fell behind on the clinic payments. She only made about $25,000 a year managing an auto parts store while her husband stayed home with their kids. The out-of-pocket expenses were outpacing her ability to pay.
That’s when she …
Unpaid medical bills are an invitation to negotiate
I sat in my car, anxiously watching the minutes tick by as I ruminated over and over the words, I had prepared for this crucial meeting. I had arrived much earlier than the appointed time, knowing I would need a few moments to calm my nerves before walking into a room to face a panel of eight legal, medical, and insurance professionals.
I was pregnant with my sixth baby and was …
Home births sometimes make sense for health insurers
SNF is the acronym we use in health care for “skilled nursing facility.” Fittingly, it is pronounced “sniff,” a fact that became fitting as I watched my father die in one this past week.
My parents, 86 and 89, bought into a beautiful retirement community 10 years ago. Included was a lovely apartment, full-service dining facility, gym and health center, the last of which included an SNF.
In the past three months, …
At this skilled nursing facility, the staff was skilled but not compassionate
Today, I am a 40-year old with type 2 diabetes. I have been on glyburide since I was diagnosed four years ago and am otherwise healthy, although my blood pressure today is 140/96. I don’t check my glucose levels at home because I don’t have a monitor. Typically, I avoid sweets, but my diet is high in natural sugars, carbohydrates and starches. The only exercise I get is walking around …
I’ve seen over 8,000 medical professionals. Here’s what I’ve learned.
“Why don’t you talk loud enough for the whole damn hospital to hear you?”
I’ve just greeted my eighty-four-year-old grandmother, and now this irascible voice has erupted from behind the curtain that separates us from whoever is sharing Grandma’s room.
The nursing assistant whfo showed me in glares across the curtain at the other inhabitant.
“You shut up,” she tells the person firmly, “or I’ll smack you with a bedpan.”
Then, she leaves us …
A hospice worker says goodbye to a loved one
Pacing refers to spacing out your activities during the day so that you’re able to stay within the limits of what your body can handle without exacerbating your symptoms. Another way to think of it is that pacing is a way to keep you inside your “energy envelope” — the envelope that contains your energy stores for any given day.
First, an admission: Even though pacing may be the single best …
5 effective strategies for pacing when you’re sick or in pain
I’m convinced this will be a year of reflection for our family — as we’ve witnessed so many transitions in the past year I find myself deep in thought. As I reflect, I’m full of appreciation for the journey we’re on. I’m full of gratitude for so many of the people who have helped us along the way — especially the amazing doctors who have become like family. This past …
To the doctor who saved our son’s life
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