hospital — 2016 — The 21st Century Matriarch

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The past, present and future of the food we eat – Short…interesting…dystopian future from my perspective and one that a good number of people are trending counter to.

Open Parks Network – A collaboration between Clemson University and the National Park Service to digitize materials from our national parks, historic areas and other protected areas.

Learning in the Age of Digital Distraction – Thought provoking. Has our ancient food-foraging survival instinct evolved into an info-foraging obsession? An interview with neurologist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco that is one of the authors of a new book: The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High Tech World.

High hospital profits hurt medicine, expert argues – Yet another reason our medical costs are spiraling upward…and our healthcare not improving.

10 Weird Way You Could Be Spreading Invasive Species – The bolded text says ‘running shoes’ but the picture shows hiking boots…any outdoor gear needs to be cleaned after each outing…no weed seed hitch hiking allowed.

Interactive Periodic Table Reveals Exactly How We Use All Those Elements – A little chemistry lesson…at the elemental level!

Vibrant Maps Beautifully Visualize the Feather-like Flow of Rivers Across the World – Educational…and eye candy. Look how big the Mississippi river basin is!

How land use change affects water quality, aquatic life – Evidently static water levels in small lakes and impoundments…a goal of current approaches to dealing with excess water…fish production declines over time.

The Human Virome – Infographic. There are viruses almost everywhere in our body! Most of the time they help – just like the bacteria that we carry with us – but the can turn pathogenic.

One in six women diagnosed with breast cancer has a symptom other than a lump – That 17% - and some of these ‘symptoms’ were new to me. Why aren’t they publicized more?

I am past the stage in my life that I accept everything a doctor tells me without question. I’ve come to realize that they are specialized and trying to meet patient expectations that can vary considerably. There may be some patients that always want a medical procedure or drug to solve a perceived problem since that is what my doctor seems to expect of patients. My expectation is just opposite; I want to avoid drugs and medical procedures unless absolutely necessary - where it is very clear that the benefit to me is greater than the risk (both short and long term).

I like the standards of care but expect that they are tweaked with data from my particular test results. And I expect the doctor to be current on the recommendations from analysis of similar situations (i.e. the big data of medicine) and be able to clearly explain their rationale for me.

But it is hard to be a participatory patient…and hard on doctors to with new studies coming out all the time and not necessarily in their area of specialty.

The situation that started my thinking about this was a recommendation that I get an ultrasound guided needle biopsy on a thyroid nodule. I did a search and discovered that my nodule was the minimal size for this recommendation. When I met with the surgeon, I brought this up and he admitted that it was ‘low risk, low value’ but recommended that I go ahead and have the biopsy before the nodule got bigger. I acquiesced – but it was marginal.

The procedure was done and then the results came back via the surgeon’s office a few days later: the nodule is benign and I was told to have another thyroid ultrasound in 6 months. In checking the literature, I discovered that new guidelines re thyroid nodules came out from the American Thyroid Association in January of this year…and their recommendation after a ‘benign’ cytology from a biopsy is 12 months for a thyroid ultrasound.

The net of all this is - if I don’t challenge the doctor’s recommendation the ultrasounds will be done more frequently than the guideline and that increases the cost to me (both in $ and time) and to my insurance company.

Now I’m beginning to wonder about the timing of a lot of diagnostics and checks. It is hard being a participatory patient!