Fundraising with Ink
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The family of one of our patients just did a really cool thing to raise some money for cancer research. The patient challenged a local radio celebrity to get a tattoo, and when he accepted the challenge, so did her parents and several other members of their family. Last week they all went to a local tattoo parlor and got tattoos. When he found out about my patient, the artist refused to accept any money for his work. Instead, all of that money was donated to a lab to support cancer research! How wonderful is that?
Source: Doctor David's Blog - July 1, 2008 Tags: Fun Stuff
Recent Posts from Great Medical Blogs, Part 3
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School’s out for the summer! And as summer vacations begin, it’s time to review some recent posts from some of my favorite blogs.One of the best pediatrician voices on the web, Dr. Gwenn, offers some great advice to parents whose kids have the summer off. Parents today, and I’m certainly guilty of this, tend to overschedule their children. Dr. Gwenn reminds us of the importance of free time, for kids to do what they want in the moment and to just be kids.One of the highlights of summer vacation is Independence Day. Fireworks are an integral part of the celebration. When I was a pediatrics resident, I saw my share of ...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 30, 2008 Tags: A Few Good Blogs
When Benign Isn’t Better and Malignant is Preferred
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I take care of people with tumors. Often, I’m the one who tells them their diagnosis. Sometimes, it’s a disease they haven’t heard of, so one of the most common questions I get is, “Is it benign or malignant?” As you might imagine, everyone wants their tumor to be benign. Benign is better, right?Not always.At the moment, I’m struggling with a very difficult case. X is a teenager who has had a tumor for 5 years. In the beginning he had some pain and a lump on the side of his head. A biopsy was thought to show a lymphangioma (a benign collection of abnormal lymph vessels). The mass continued to grow, so he had su...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 28, 2008 Tags: Side Effects of Treatment Patient Stories
Diagnosed with prostate cancer?
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What an enigma. Perhaps the best argument against intelligent design is a man’s prostate gland. It hardly serves any useful function. And it is likely to become cancerous (nearly half of elderly men have cancer in their prostate gland at autopsy). And treating the cancer often causes impotence and incontinence.
I’m 70 years old and get my PSA done yearly. It tends to hover in the 4-6 range (anything above 4 is considered suggestive of cancer) and when it hit 6 a couple of years ago, I had a biopsy (not a fun experience but not as bad as I anticipated). Fortunately, no cancer.
Before the result came in, I spent hours...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - June 27, 2008
The Story of D
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It’s been a while since I’ve posted a patient story, and I’ve been working very closely with D recently, so I think I’ll share her story today. I think you’ll agree that she is truly an amazing young woman.D has been dealing with cancer her entire life. As an infant she developed retinoblastoma, cancer of the retina (the part of your eye that detects light). Her case was extensive, involving both eyes, and she was treated with radiation. The radiation left her legally blind (though she can still see a bit, can read, and – of course – can send text messages!). It also stunted the growth of the bones around her...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 26, 2008 Tags: Patient Stories
More on “chemobrain”
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Chemobrain has always been an orphan of the side effects of chemotherapy. I never see it mentioned in the list of toxic reactions to a new drug program for cancer. One reason is that many oncologists doubt its existence. A second is that it is hard to measure, and finally, it’s a kind of vague symptom.But it is real. In 2007, Hurricane Voices Breast Cancer Foundation did an online survey of people who had received chemotherapy, asking them about the effect of the chemotherapy on their thought processes. Most of the 470 respondents were women who received treatment for breast cancer. Almost all reported some problem. The ...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - June 21, 2008
Happy Anniversary (Well, Blogiversary)
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Today is the 1 year anniversary of Doctor David’s Blog. I want to thank everyone who has ever read my blog, whether you just stopped by once or twice, or you are a subscriber. A blog is nothing without readers.Honestly, I’m amazed at what has happened over the past year. I’m not sure I knew what would happen that day I sat down to make my first post. Certainly, I had no idea that I would have made 79 posts the first year and would have almost 100 people subscribing to my RSS feed! Even more exciting, though, are the connections I’ve made as a result of this blog. Some connections have been short-lived – a patient...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 18, 2008 Tags: Blogging Fun Stuff
2008 PMC Heavy Hitter Dinner Video
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2008 PMC Heavy Hitter Banquet Talk from Sam Blackman on Vimeo.
Source: Blog, MD - June 18, 2008 Authors: Sam Tags: Medicine
Hear Me on the Doctor Anonymous Show!
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This Thursday, June 19th, at 9PM EST, I will be a guest on Doctor Anonymous' popular Blog Talk Radio Show. You can listen in by clicking the icon.For thorough instructions on listening in, click here.I'd love to hear from you, so please call in ((646) 716-9514) with your questions or comments.
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 17, 2008 Tags: Blogging Announcements
Access to Experimental Drugs for Dying Patients
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Before I went to the ASCO meeting, I read a fascinating interview conducted by Dr. Val. She interviewed Dr. Emil J. Freireich, the director of the Adult Leukemia Research Program at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The discussion took place at a press conference announcing the introduction of the Access, Compassion, Care and Ethics for Seriously Ill Patients Act, which seeks to increase terminally ill patients’ access to promising investigational drugs. Dr. Freireich made some excellent points about the risk-averse nature of the FDA’s drug approval process, and how this process slows the development of new drugs.Dr. Freire...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 16, 2008 Tags: Hot Topics in Cancer Research
I'm on Facebook!
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Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm on Facebook. If you're there too, we could be friends!
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 15, 2008 Tags: Fun Stuff
Calling it quits.
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This may be the toughest issue I faced in all my practice. I saw this issue from both ends of the care spectrum, as a practicing oncologist and as medical director of a hospice program.Telling patients that their chemotherapy regimen was no longer working and that a new chemotherapy regimen would almost certainly not help was the same as telling them that they are going to die. Nothing more can be done to prolong their life. This isn’t easy to do. It is much easier (and more profitable for oncologists) to try something else. There is always another drug, although we oncologists know that after a patient’s cancer has gr...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - June 13, 2008
Calling it quits. When should chemotherapy stop?
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This may be the toughest issue I faced in all my practice. I saw this issue from both ends of the care spectrum, as a practicing oncologist and as medical director of a hospice program.Telling patients that their chemotherapy regimen was no longer working and that a new chemotherapy regimen would almost certainly not help was the same as telling them that they are going to die. Nothing more can be done to prolong their life. This isn’t easy to do. It is much easier (and more profitable for oncologists) to try something else. There is always another drug, although we oncologists know that after a patient’s cancer has gr...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - June 13, 2008
My Famous Blog Friend
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This morning, I opened up my local newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, and guess who I saw? Fellow medical blogger, Dr. Val! This is a great piece about Revolution Health, online support groups, and how accessible medical information has become online, so check it out here.
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 12, 2008 Tags: Blogging
More mastectomies these days
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When I first entered practice, many of the women I saw who had surgery for breast cancer were treated with radical mastectomies. This meant that not only were their cancerous breasts removed, but the surgeon also took off the underlying muscle. This left them with a thin sheet of skin covering their ribs. They also couldn’t fully use the arm on the breast surgery side because of the extensive surgery in their underarm area. The reason for this surgery stemmed from the work of a surgeon from Johns Hopkins, named Halstead. He worked around the turn of the 20th century. At that time, women didn’t seek help till their tumo...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - June 12, 2008
The Stomp Out Cancer Project
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Stomp Out Cancer! What a great idea. This is a terrific organization started by the friends and family of Steven Mackin, a young man who died of Ewing’s sarcoma. Ewing’s sarcoma is the second most common form of bone cancer, mostly striking children and young adults. This will be the second year that a group of musicians is putting together a compilation CD of indie music to raise funds for Ewing’s sarcoma research. Last year I posted some “guest doctor” posts on the Stomp Out Cancer blog. This year, I am their official Medical Advisor. It’s been an honor to be associated with this group, and I am very excited ...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 8, 2008 Tags: Fun Stuff Announcements Sarcomas
What’s New in Cancer Research?
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In this study, patients were randomly assigned to receive the same chemotherapy (cycles of vincristine/doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide alternating with cycles of ifosfamide/etoposide) every 3 weeks or every 2 weeks. The question was whether chemotherapy works better given closer together (time intensive), or whether there would be too many side effects. Well, the results are in, and time intensive chemotherapy works! The patients who received the chemotherapy every 2 weeks had a 78% 4-year event-free survival rate, compared with 70% for the patients treated at the standard 3 week interval. Although this improvement was limite...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - June 6, 2008 Tags: Hot Topics in Cancer Research Conferences Sarcomas
Ted Kennedy chooses surgery and his surgeon
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As I write this, Senator Kennedy is undergoing surgery for his brain tumor, not in Boston where he was first diagnosed, but at Duke University in North Carolina. Then he will receive his expected radiation and chemotherapy in Boston. Why this change in venues for his treatment?The answer is simple. Kennedy was looking for the best surgeon. Yes, there is a difference in surgeons. Several years ago when a family member needed gynecologic surgery, I asked a local surgeon who would be the best to do this. He recommended a local expert not because he was exceptionally smart, or had done great research but because he had “good...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - June 2, 2008
A new treatment for constipation, the curse of palliative care
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One medical myth that I often hear is that it is possible to treat a cancer patient’s pain with opioids like morphine so that they can be completely comfortable. Not true. Doctors or nurses always need to balance the relief of pain with the side effects of these drugs - sedation, dry mouth, and that most major malady, constipation.At several times in my career, I helped out at hospices, where I was a volunteer medical director. At the weekly meetings with the rest of the team, the most talked about subject was patients’ symptoms. Usually pain came first, followed closely by their constipation. Most of the patients had ...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - May 31, 2008
A Different Kind of Memorial Day
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This is Memorial Day weekend. Now, I know Memorial Day is a day to remember soldiers who gave their lives for our freedoms. But earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend a different kind of memorial.Every year the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center has a tribute service for children who have lost their lives while under our care. In recent years, this has been coordinated by the Harriet Lane Compassionate Care program, a group dedicated to enhancing end-of-life care at our hospital and to providing ongoing bereavement counseling and support to the families who have lost children.This is always a moving experience. ...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - May 25, 2008 Tags: Being a Pediatric Oncologist
What I would say to Ted Kennedy
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“Senator Kennedy, you have a malignant brain tumor called glioblastoma, which set off the seizures you had the other day. Although we can see a tumor on the MRI, there is more there than we can see. Along with the mass in the front of your brain, we know from years of experience in dealing with these that there are little fingers of cancer extending from this tumor into the rest of your brain.“How does this affect your treatment? Surgery cannot remove the cancer entirely. Although we can remove most of your tumor with surgery, we can’t cure you. Sometimes the surgery can help prevent some symptoms like headaches. But...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - May 23, 2008
Does Vitamin D Help Prevent Breast Cancer?
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This study was released in advance of the 2008 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which will be held at the end of the month in Chicago. The study has gotten a lot of media attention so far and as I will be at ASCO I will share what I learn.Check out the study abstract here.Related posts:Breast Cancer Risk & Alcohol: Isn’t Red Wine Good for You? Cancer Stem Cells and Familiar Risk of Breast CancerAn Advertisement That Supports Skin Cancer
Source: Doctor David's Blog - May 20, 2008 Tags: Hot Topics in Cancer Research Cancer Prevention Breast Cancer
I hate to preach, but….
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It’s time to follow the get-better guidelines. The American Cancer Society recommends that all cancer survivors take better care of themselves. This means eat well, exercise and stop smoking. Specifically they want survivors to eat at least five servings of fruits or vegetables each day, exercise moderately strenuously two and one-half hours a week or vigorously one hour a week. And, of course, stop smoking.You would think that cancer survivors would follow this simple prescription. After all, not following this simple recipe may be what got them into trouble in the first place. So many studies have shown that a healthy ...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - May 19, 2008
Mark Your Calendars - Doctor Anonymous Show
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On June 19th, at 9PM EST, yours truly will be on Doctor Anonymous' infamous blog talk radio show. Since that is over a month from now, check out some of his upcoming shows with other medical bloggers, and don't hesitate to call in ((646) 716-9514) with your questions or comments:5/22: Amy Tenderich5/29: Bruce Campbell6/5: Gwenn O'Keeffe6/12: DoctorsChannel
Source: Doctor David's Blog - May 17, 2008 Tags: Blogging
A promise unfulfilled.
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Judah Folkman died suddenly early this year. He was a super creative cancer researcher. His work promised a revolution in cancer treatment but it never happened.I first encountered him when I was training in Hematology at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. He presented his work at one of our research seminars. He had found that he could grow cancer cells within the eyes of rabbits. But they had to be planted on the iris. That allowed blood vessels to begin growing into the tiny tumors and once that happened the tumors took off. If the cancer cells were placed in the middle of the eye chamber without attachment to any eye ti...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - May 12, 2008
The Surreal Life
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It’s been a crazy 48 hours.In my blog’s first post, I wrote about what happens when people ask what I do for a living. I’ve been thinking more and more about the answer to that question. What DO I do for a living? How should I describe it?Over the past 2 days I:1) worked in our outpatient clinic and saw patients I have been treating for years, monitoring them now not for disease recurrence but for late effects of our treatments,2) went to the OR (operating room) and watched an endoscopic biopsy of a sinus tumor in a 19 year old patient of mine (we also collected some of his tumor to study in the lab),3) met a new pat...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - May 10, 2008 Tags: Being a Pediatric Oncologist Patient Stories
Jake quit.
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Smoking! He gave it up over a year ago.I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years. I noticed that he stayed in during the party. Usually, he would disappear for a smoke. Not this time. I asked him why and he told me he gave it up.Jake has every reason not to smoke. He is happily married, retired with lots of money and a big house on the ocean, loves to play golf, and as far as I know and he looked, in good health. So I always puzzled about why he continued this health-robbing habit.Actually I knew. He was addicted to nicotine. Cigarettes are drug delivery devices and the drug is nicotine. Nicotine is one of the most powerfu...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - May 8, 2008
Two Female Scientists Win the Prestigious Albany Medical Center Prize
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Photo CreditFor the first time since its inception, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research was awarded to two women (Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, and Dr. Joan Steitz of Yale University). Worth $500,000, the Albany Medical Center Prize is one of the largest financial prizes for medical research in the United States. The size of the award is second only to the Nobel Prize ($1.4million).Dr. Blackburn’s research focuses on telomeres, the ends of chromosomes. These special “caps” help maintain chromosome size as cells divide, and prevent chromosome sh...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - May 5, 2008 Tags: Hot Topics in Cancer Research Announcements
Jeremiah Wright and My Cancer Patient
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The controversy that the Reverend Wright is stirring up reminds me of an incident in my practice that remains with me 20 years later. Wright’s outrageous and perhaps paranoiac statements about the United States are especially telling when he questions whether the HIV virus, the cause of AIDS, is a man-made virus, perhaps created by the U.S. Government. Nuts, right? Well, a large number of African-Americans believe this according to a study published by Rand Corporation in 2005.Many African-Americans just don’t trust white doctors. This was brought home to me in that incident 20 year ago. I was treating a middle aged bl...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - May 2, 2008
What an Image!
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One of the highlights of every weekend is being able to read the new secrets on PostSecret. If you haven’t seen this site, I highly recommend it. People send in anonymous postcards, often hand-made or otherwise personalized, containing a secret about themselves. They are sometimes funny, sometimes, sad, often incredibly powerful. This past Sunday, someone sent in this one: Photo CreditI love it because it completely captures the spirit of NOT allowing a serious illness, like cancer, to control the patient’s life. I hope it helps us all to remember that people with an illness are just that – PEOPLE. We are not defined...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 28, 2008 Tags: Blogging Fun Stuff
Does your diet determine what sex your baby will be?
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This article, from a scientist in Germany shows that the hormonal environment can influence sex ratios in the offspring of mammals and of birds. It’s interesting to consider how these findings might all be related, and how it may or may not be adaptive for the species to alter sex ratio of newborns based on environmental conditions. Food for thought…Photo Credit
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 27, 2008 Tags: General Medicine Breaking News
Doctor David's Blog is Accredited!
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The Health On the Net (HON) Foundation has accredited this blog with their HONcode.The HONcode is 'the oldest and the most used ethical ... code for medical and health related information available on Internet'. It is displayed by many healthcare websites and medical bloggers who are compliant with HON's eight principles: authority, complementarity, confidentiality, attribution, justifiability, transparency, financial disclosure, advertising (as in, clearly distinguishing between advertising and editorial content).If you are curious to learn more about what HON accreditation is, check this out.My HONcode is on the lower ri...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 26, 2008 Tags: Blogging
Recent Posts from Medical Blogs, Part 2
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Last month, I began my own monthly roundup of posts I think are worth checking out. Unlike a Blog Carnival or a Grand Rounds, this is just one blogger’s thoughts about what my co-bloggers are saying. Please take a look. You’ll be glad you did.Basic ScienceOne of the enduring controversies regarding the development of cancer is whether your immune system protects you from cancer or not. This concept has been referred to as “Immune Surveillance.” Ian York has what I think might be the best name for a blog: Mystery Rays from Outer Space. In this post, he addresses the role Natural Killer Cells (another awesome name…...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 26, 2008 Tags: A Few Good Blogs
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Blame it on the cardiologistsYesterday, I read the obituary of Jerome Grossman M.D., a man I knew over 40 years ago. He was my intern on the Medical service at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. Jerry then left Montefiore for Boston after that year to pursue a career in computers and medicine and became well known, not only for computerizing medical care, but also as an expert in hospital administration. He died of kidney cancer.I have lost many close friends to cancer, perhaps a sign of my advancing age. Cancer is mainly a disease of older people and the leading cause of death for people under the age of 85. Over half of a...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - April 24, 2008
Cancer Treatment and Fertility, Part 2: What Can Be Done?
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On April 1st, I wrote about the impact of cancer treatments on fertility. I discussed the many ways in which the way we treat cancer can affect the patient’s ability to have kids in the future. Fortunately, there are many things we can do to try to preserve fertility.Part 2: What can be done to preserve fertility?Some fertility preservation techniques are well-known. One option for boys who are old enough is sperm banking (freezing and storing their sperm for possible future use). Ideally, this should begin prior to treatment and multiple samples should be preserved. Unfortunately, in some cases this is not possible, due...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 22, 2008
Cancer Fears…. My Patients
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Cool Kids Campaign is a local group that raises money to help kids diagnosed with cancer (and their families). Sharon Perfetti, Executive Director and co-founder of the Cool Kids Campaign, thought the slogan “Cancer Sucks” might not sound so great coming out of the mouth of a 5 year old. She wanted to put a positive spin on such a negative diagnosis, and she came up with “Cancer Fears Me.” Read more about it, and check out the new line of Cancer Fears Me apparel here.
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 21, 2008 Tags: Patient Stories
HPV and Cancer Revisited
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This report is continuing to make news and was highlighted in an article published earlier this week in The Baltimore Sun.Why is this important? As I discussed previously, this finding raises the possibility that immunization of boys with the HPV vaccine might be helpful not only to break the cycle of sexually transmitted HPV causing cervical cancer, but also to protect the boys themselves from oral cancer.But the study has implications beyond that. Until recently, the major risk factors for oral cancer were age, alcohol consumption, and smoking. That profile is changing, though, as HPV is becoming a more important cause o...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 18, 2008 Tags: Hot Topics in Cancer Research Viruses and Cancer Breaking News
More is not necessarily better.
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Many oncologists believe that we can cure more patients’ cancers if we can just give the patients high enough doses of chemotherapy. For years, it has been a maxim in oncology that the more chemotherapy you give, the more cancer you kill. A colleague of mine, who didn’t believe this, compared this theory to the situation of a person in a foreign country trying to make himself understood by shouting instead of speaking the native’s language. This week’s Journal of the National Cancer Institute carried an article written by European investigators that confirmed my colleague’s skepticism. The researchers treated pat...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - April 16, 2008
Breast Cancer Risk & Alcohol: Isn’t Red Wine (in moderation) Good for You?
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We’ve all read the articles in the newspaper. Moderate consumption of red wine is good for you. It lowers the risk of heart disease, and helps you live longer.Doesn’t it?A report from this week’s meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research questions that. Yesterday, Dr. Jasmine Lew presented the results of a study of 184,000 women in the US looking at the relationship between alcohol consumption and breast cancer. What they found may surprise you.Dr. Lew’s group from the National Cancer Institute found that post-menopausal women who drank an average of 1-2 drinks a day were 32% more likely to develop ho...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 14, 2008 Tags: Hot Topics in Cancer Research Breaking News
We Have a Winner!
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Thank you to each and every one of you who entered the first ever Dr. David’s Blog Contest and made it a big success. There were many excellent entries, and the decision was very difficult.The first runner up, whose entry was truly hysterical (but not reprintable here), was Leigh M. But the winning entry was from Jaime H, from North Carolina. Here is her response:"If I could be a chemotherapy drug, which one would I be? After a brief period of consideration, I decided on Gleevec (imatinib). I chose this because it targets a specific thing and goes and kills it - it has a job to do, and concentrates on that task. It also ...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 12, 2008 Tags: Fun Stuff
Google Triplet Redux
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The damndest thing happened to me last week … somewhere I heard a repeat of an NPR story about Google Twins - people who share your name but who you have nothing else in common with. It reminded me of a piece that I wrote on this blog a while back about being a “Google Triplet” and how I’ve enjoyed “bumping into” the other Sam Blackman’s out there on the ‘net.
You can imagine, then, my utter surprise when a reporter from the New York Times dropped me an e-mail and asked to interview me for a story on this very subject. She apparently came across my blog entry.
The story ...
Source: Blog, MD - April 9, 2008 Authors: Sam Tags: Internet Media
Is it your personality that caused the breast cancer?
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When I was starting out in medicine, I often heard people say about someone who developed cancer that she was a nice person and that’s why she was struck by this devastating disease. I’ve also heard other factors invoked as contributing, such as stress, anger, pessimism, or some other personality factor that could lead to cancer. In my experience, none of this held true. My practice consisted of nice people, rotten people (rare, I admit), passive people, aggressive people, optimists, pessimists – you get the picture. But I admit this isn’t a very scientific survey. Still I remained convinced that personality played...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - April 9, 2008
Upcoming Conference on the Medical Care of People with Lower Limb Amputations
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Discussion will focus on the issues facing medical professionals who take care of people who have had lower extremity amputations. It should be a valuable experience. For more information, take a look here and contact conferencesupport@tpti.com.
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 5, 2008 Tags: Conferences Announcements
The Latest Cancer Research Blog Carnival
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Hear ye, hear ye! Cancer Research Blog Carnival #8 is up on The Skeptical Alchemist. Steppenwolf did a great job assembling these posts and dividing them into sections: News, Diagnosis, Therapy, and Quackery. As usual, there are some fascinating posts, and it is an honor to be included among them.Go check it out. You'll be glad you did!
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 4, 2008 Tags: Hot Topics in Cancer Research Blogging Announcements
Top 100 Academic Medical Blogs
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I just found out that this blog was named one of the top 100 Academic Medical Blogs. Thanks to the Online Nursing Degree Directory for the honor. There are a number of incredible blogs on their list, so take a look.
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 4, 2008 Tags: Blogging Fun Stuff Announcements
The First Doctor David’s Blog Contest: Win Some Socks
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One of my jobs is to interview candidates for the residency program and for our fellowship program. Since this can be a nerve-wracking experience for the applicant, I try hard to make the experience as painless as possible. One of the ways I try to keep things light is to ask an offbeat question.Frequently, that question is “If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be, and why?” This past Tuesday, however, I decided to make it a bit sillier. I was interviewing a nice young woman who wants to train to become a pediatric hematologist/oncologist. I took advantage of this particular interest and as...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 3, 2008 Tags: Fun Stuff
An even shorter radiation method after breast cancer surgery – but wait!
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A few days ago I reported on a study of women who needed breast radiation after lumpectomy for breast cancer. The study found that 15 days of radiation was just as effective as the traditional 25 days, making it possible for women to get on with their lives earlier. But there is a technique that gets the treatment over with in 5 days. It is called brachytherapy (brachy from Greek meaning short). Several doctors used this approach when I was in practice. They would place thin tubes through the lumpectomy site and then fill the tubes with radioactive seeds. This would deliver radiation to the local area of the original tumor...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - April 3, 2008
Good news, bad news
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We argued for hours. Literally. The family had to call the Insurance Commissioner for the State of Maryland. Our Chief Administrator gave an override. But in the end, it was worth it. Today the letter authorizing the tandem transplant arrived.Delivering that news got me a hug and a kiss.My other patient is a young adult. He was diagnosed with widely metastatic osteosarcoma almost 5 years ago. Although his tumor did not respond well to the chemotherapy, after truly heroic surgery (removing almost 90 tumor nodules from his lungs), he achieved a remission. Through two relapses, his life fell apart. But he has been in remissio...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 3, 2008 Tags: Being a Pediatric Oncologist Patient Stories
Don’t sweat it
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One of the most challenging complaints from patients in my practice came from older women who had been treated for breast cancer. Their complaint; “Dr. Kattlove, I can’t stand these hot flashes anymore”. And I would say, “Well, you know, hormone replacement therapy isn’t recommended in women who have had breast cancer”.Not good enough. These women were miserable. And so, I, as well as some of my partners would slip these women their hormones. Sometimes I felt like a crack dealer. Still feeling a little guilty (although none of these women suffered any ill effects and were definitely grateful) even after leaving...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - April 2, 2008
Cancer and Fertility: How Can Treatment Impact Fertility? (Part 1)
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“Uh, doc…”“Yes?”“Uh… I was just wondering… Did the chemo make it so I won’t be able to have kids?”As my physician readers all know, it’s the question that is asked as the patient is walking out the door that often reflects what is most on his/her mind.This snippet happened as my 20 year old survivor of metastatic Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was leaving the clinic last week. It raises a very important point… now that pediatric oncologists are curing ¾ of our patients, we have to worry more and more about the harm we do in the process. One of the biggest concerns of my patients (those old enough to care or ...
Source: Doctor David's Blog - April 1, 2008 Tags: Side Effects of Treatment
