What Causes Breast Cancer? Reviewing the IOM Report on BC and the Environment

Earlier this month the IOM issued a big report on breast cancer and the environment. The thick analysis, commissioned and sponsored by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, was authored by an expert panel. Their task – to assess all available information on what causes BC, and make recommendations accordingly – was essentially impossible. […]

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Noting the Death of Christopher Hitchens from Esophageal Cancer

The author is saddened to learn that Christopher Hitchens died late yesterday evening at the age of 62, roughly a year and a half after receiving a diagnosis of esophageal cancer. He was a prolific and articulate man; I respected him for his words. His essays on the language and cancer might be of particular […]

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Why Should Physicians Blog or Use Twitter?

Is a question I ask myself almost every day. When I started this blog, it was partly a response to what I perceived an unbalanced attack on the value of breast cancer screening by the mainstream news outlets. Why it’s continued is, mainly, that I find it liberating and, in a strange way, fun. As […]

Posted in Blogs, Communication, Life as a Doctor, Patient-Doctor Relationship, Social MediaTagged , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments on Why Should Physicians Blog or Use Twitter?

Quote of the Day: On Death Panels and the Insurance Industry, From Dr. Donald Berwick

Dr. Donald Berwick left his position last week as head of CMS. He said this, as quoted in the WSJ’s Washington Wire, yesterday: “Maybe a real death panel is a group of people who tell health care insurers that is it OK to take insurance away from people because they are sick or are at […]

Posted in health care delivery, Medical Ethics, Medical News, Policy, Quote of the DayTagged , , , , , , , , 1 Comment on Quote of the Day: On Death Panels and the Insurance Industry, From Dr. Donald Berwick

Learning From the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, At a Distance

There’s a ton of BC and women’s health news this week. But yours truly is, among other things, not in San Antonio where is the 34th annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. NTW, quite a few major news outlets are covering this business closely and carefully, as are some bloggers I know. Upon reading the […]

Posted in Breast Cancer, cancer treatment, Medical News, Oncology (cancer)Tagged , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment on Learning From the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, At a Distance

The BC Sisterhood Takes on Sex After Cancer and What Oncologists Don’t Say

A hit in the women’s breast cancer Twitter league came my way from the Breast Cancer Sisterhood®. Brenda Coffee, a survivor and founder of the Survivorship Media Network, offers a serious post on What Your Oncologist Doesn’t Tell You About Sex. There’s a music video, Don’t Touch Me that’s annoying but depressingly right on how […]

Posted in Blogs, Breast Cancer, cancer survival, Oncology (cancer), Video, Wednesday Web Sighting, Women's HealthTagged , , , , , , Leave a Comment on The BC Sisterhood Takes on Sex After Cancer and What Oncologists Don’t Say

Thinking of Someone with MBC in the Hospital Now

My fingers stopped this morning for a while when I came upon a reference to @whymommy. Last thing I read about her condition, she was at home having a tough but cozy Thanksgiving at home. Now she’s in the hospital and in her words, OK. Susan is a woman in her 30s with metastatic breast […]

Posted in Blogs, Breast Cancer, cancer survival, Oncology (cancer), Social MediaTagged , , , , , 1 Comment on Thinking of Someone with MBC in the Hospital Now

A Good Personal Health Record is Hard to Find

Over the weekend I developed another bout of diverticulitis. Did the usual: fluids, antibiotics, rest, avoided going to the ER, cancelled travel plans. One of my doctors asked a very simple question: is this happening more frequently? The answer, we both knew, was yes. But I don’t have a Personal Health Record (PHR) that in […]

Posted in Empowered Patient, Essential Lessons, health care delivery, Health IT, Life as a PatientTagged , , , , , , 6 Comments on A Good Personal Health Record is Hard to Find

New Music from an Orchestra of Radioactive Isotopes

For the weekend – A tweet led me to a fantastically inventive kind of music. The Radioactive Orchestra comprises 3175 radioisotopes. From the website: “Melodies are created by simulating what happens in the atomic nucleus when it decays from its excited nuclear state…Every isotope has a unique set of possible excited states and decay patterns…” The project, […]

Posted in Music, Under the RadarTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments on New Music from an Orchestra of Radioactive Isotopes
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