Move along, nothing to see here.

| May 22, 2013

Hmm, perhaps we are alone in having to make significant changes in our health care coverage this year … not to mention paying more for less? “If you already have health insurance through your job … nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change your coverage or your doctor. Let me [...]

Spina Bifida lip dub effort at Lakota East #wewantellen

| May 20, 2013

My son mentioned a video produced by his alma mater, Lakota East High School, and after first thinking it was just another goofy video, I realized that the community and student body effort was a lot of work – I even watched it to the end as the music gets more appealing to those of [...]

Layman advice: Contemplating the options for knee pain

| March 26, 2013

Far be it from me to offer up medical advice … as I’m not a doctor nor do I play one on the Internet, but I have found a few solutions that seem to help Osteoarthritis (OA) and the associated stiffness and pain coming from my knee. A little bit of history: Ten years ago, [...]

Surprise! Medical residency programs need more money

| March 14, 2013

Shocking! [sarcasm] Hospitals need more taxpayer dollars to add residency spots in order to train the additional number of doctors the U.S. needs for Obamacare. So … more taxes or more borrowing? Socialized medicine *(lite -current plan – or full bore – where we are headed)* is not going to be cheap or offer a [...]

Contemplating real Social Security and Medicare fixes

| March 6, 2013

As the self-appoint nation’s problem solver [that’s worth a chuckle], I’ve been thinking about our underfunded Medicare and soon to be underfunded Social Security programs. For those needing a little primer, I will start by regurgitating some background information on these two taxpayer supported entitlements. Both Social Security and Medicare are supported by working citizens [...]

Promising additional drug treatment for Parkinson’s Disease

| February 26, 2013

While keeping an Internet-eye on research regarding medical conditions impacting friends and family, I came across a positive research article on an additional medication that is being looked at to treat Parkinson’s Disease. Northwestern University is planning another clinical test in hopes this new added drug treatment will slow the progression of the calcium build [...]

Your health care plan: Spouses may no longer be covered

| February 25, 2013

The negative implication of “big government’s Obamacare” is just beginning to be felt by those with health care coverage and businesses are squirming to adapt to the pages of new regulations. One of the latest money saving measures is that of “dropping spousal coverage” – I’m just guessing, but I suspect it will be unpopular? [...]

Presbyopia: my eyes are getting old. Well, the rest of me too!

| November 10, 2012

I had an eye appointment this week and decided to mention that reading, particularly in the evening, was becoming more of a challenge. I’ve been trying to fool myself into thinking that it was the lousy CFLs next to my chair or the added eyestrain of using computers, tablets and cellphones during the day, but [...]

My mom is not recovering from back surgery as we had hoped

| August 15, 2012

It has been a tough week so far running back and forth to Columbus and OSU Medical Center to check on my mom and doesn’t look as if the next week will be much better. She is back in the hospital after never really recovering from her back surgery in May. Rehab in a nursing [...]

BPAs … bisphenol A: Should we be concerned?

| July 26, 2012

I’ve been slow adjust to monitor the plastic containers, cookware and dishware and in particular the polycarbonate #7 plastics, but am a bit more conscious to put my water in a stainless steel thermos … but I do pour from a “plastic” Brita pitcher. Hmm? On that note, it is tough to know when to [...]

Advice: Laugh a little more each day for your own health

| July 24, 2012

If laughing helps a person live a long and healthy life, my friend Jeff will easily make it to a healthy 100 years! Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after. Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress [...]

Brush your teeth by chewing on Rolly

| July 17, 2012

Hmm … I kind of like this new Rolly product. I wonder if it will take off? Designed for those times when you’ve just had a meal but can’t sneak away to brush your teeth, the Rolly is a small rubber disc covered in 276 spiky bristles that promises to be as effective at cleaning [...]

UFC’s Dana White opens up about his Meniere’s Disease

| June 21, 2012

I appreciate high profile Meniere’s Disease sufferers commenting on how debilitating it is to deal with abrupt attacks and ongoing balance/sickness issues, especially when they are as tough as UFC’s Dana White. He commented that he is “not a normal patient” while in an interview about his struggle – although I don’t think he exhibits [...]

Meniere’s Warrior blog and van Gogh’s Starry Night

| June 13, 2012

Although I’ve been pretty successful in dealing with Meniere’s since my surgery in 2001 (same surgery as Astronaut Alan Shepard), I regularly check back in with a few forum, blogs and websites where sufferers post their thoughts, concerns and suggestions. Last year I had to deal with the symptoms once again, hopefully just due to [...]

Thinking about my mom’s declining health

| June 6, 2012

Many families face the inevitable fact that our parents will not be around forever. Unfortunately knowing the end is closer doesn’t make managing a parent’s declining health any easier. I now understand why my daughter’s medical training and rotations in “end of life care” were not attractive to her – pediatrics does sound as if [...]

Personal: An update on my mom …

| May 27, 2012

My mom would not like this personal post talking about her, but since I’m archiving partially for my own journaling I wanted to write down what was buzzing around in my head this past year. Between my dad, who is with mom almost all the time, my brother Ron (thankfully able get to Sidney regularly—he [...]

Dorothy Love: A nice place for rehab [edit]

| May 22, 2012

Everyone wants to head home after a hospital stay … and that includes my mom, but if rehab is called for and skilled nursing care required, I can’t think of a better place than the Dorothy Love community. It is just a few miles from my mom and dad’s house in Sidney Ohio and an [...]

Mom’s out of surgery but a bit groggy

| May 12, 2012

My mom’s surgery went semi-okay today. The surgeon indicated that he was able to relieve pressure on the spinal cord and nerves, but unfortunately with the infected tissue (and possibly bone) they were unable to “cement” the vertebrae fractures. Long term this will be a problem but can’t be repaired until infection is gone. She [...]

Spinal Decompression surgery and a few days on the boat

| May 12, 2012

I’ll start off with the stressful update that my mom will be going in for spinal decompression surgery at OSU Wexler Medical Center on Saturday … and that I won’t be there.  Her doctors are cautious, but confident that they will be able to relieve pain by eliminating pressure the nerve bundles and spinal cord [...]

Off to Columbus to settle mom into the hospital

| May 10, 2012

Posting a personal update today as we are dealing with doctoring issues for my mom. She has been suffering with a lot of pain and various testing  for several … way too many … months. On Monday, the OSU neurosurgeons reviewed my mom’s case,  consulted each other over last weeks CT scans of her spine [...]

My sailing friends know how to be thankful

| May 4, 2012

I received a needed lesson in blessings and being thankful today. My sailing friends Mark and Judy Handley have been sharing their daily lives online for many years while cruising around the world. Their circumnavigation ended over a year ago, but Judy continues to document their return to a “somewhat” more normal life. Unfortunately this [...]

Archive: Getting hit in the face is a good day to forget

| March 17, 2012

Friday was one of those days I would rather forget … and I know Taylor would say the same. For me, it was a day of running around to hospitals, dentists and doctors with my son … for Taylor it was a obviously more painful. He was Uptown in Oxford (Miami University-Ohio) on a Thursday [...]

How Doctors Die

| December 10, 2011

What treatments do doctors seek when they get sick? That’s the basis of an article my daughter read to me this week while we were heading out to dinner … it is sobering. Ken Murray’s article in Zócalo Public Square is something I found thought provoking when considering just how far “we” want doctors and [...]

Archive: Understanding retirement Part 1

| August 28, 2011

I’ve been thinking about the big entitlement (negatively charged word?) issue when it comes to how the U.S. structured our senior citizen’s healthcare and retirement living expenses. Having never really fully understood the cost … and inching closer towards that eventual day … I do recognize while looking at my own health and insurance costs [...]

Be careful of ‘bottle bombs’ when cleaning up the roadside

| July 9, 2011

My neighbor send me a link and an email (below) since we spend a few minutes each week cleaning up the ditch and roadside. The first 25 feet along the back of our property is usually scattered with cans, bottles, litter, etc and needs to be picked up before mowing. Kids are putting Drain-o, tin [...]

New drugs improve skin cancer survival

| June 5, 2011

Postive advancements for those of us baby-boomers who may spend too much time in the sun. For patients with advanced melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer, a vaccine combined with an immune-boosting drug is showing promise in a large clinical trial. Therapeutic cancer vaccines, unlike typical vaccines that prevent infections, are meant to [...]

Cellphones possibly linked to cancer according to WHO

| May 31, 2011

The World Health Organization is now classifying cellphones in category 2B – possibly carcinogenic to humans. An international panel of experts evaluated hundreds of scientific articles focusing on electromagnetic radiation, which emanates from radar, microwaves and cellphones (mobile phones). Category 2B includes gasoline engine exhaust, glass wool, styrene, lead and DDT. In a communiqué, WHO [...]

Congratulations Dr. Katelyn Corbett, MD – You are a physician!

| May 22, 2011

The day arrived and disappeared in an instant … with a wonderful ceremony, I might add! On Saturday, May 21st my daughter Katelyn officially became Dr. Katelyn Corbett, M.D. She was presented the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the commencement ceremony from NEOUCOM (now NEOMED – Northeast Ohio Medical University). We had a perfect [...]

The nations’ unfunded promises are the primary budget busters

| April 5, 2011

It looks to me as if grappling with how to pay for health care is going to be the biggest hurdle when dealing with our deficit spending in the future (as if it isn’t bad enough now). It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about current private insurance plans, Obama’s national health care law, Medicaid for [...]

Mercy Ships–a medical charity worthy of support

| December 28, 2010

Over the years, I’ve encouraged several friends to consider supporting the MercyShips.org medical charity, partially because I like it’s efficient and effective self-contained hospital ships. Besides that, it is also is a well managed and long running humanitarian charity (1978) which has a solid structure and experience board. As 2010 draws to a close, I [...]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.