Topic : 07/23 Ask the Doctors

I'll STILL be a cleaner, thank you! 

My daughter, and I, have been in healthcare for many years, and we KNOW how disgustingly filthy healthcare facilities are, in general.  You want to get sick?  Go to a hospital!   Want a swell case of MRSA?  Go visit a 'positive' patient who's been put in a double room, and NOT in isolation!  Sadly... it happens all the time.

Neither, my daughter, nor I, have had a cold, or flu... for YEARS!   We are MAJOR handwashers, and clean freaks!  When we come in the door, our clothes go in the washer... FIRST!  (Work clothes are washed separately from other things).  We wear gloves when handling ANY biologics, and... of course...wash our hands after peeling them off!  We stay away from sneezers, and runny-nosed little kids.  Sorry, if we offend you, but we're happy using OUR Kleenex to remove makeup!

Granted, there will always be germs everywhere, but we don't ADD a bunch of 'unknowns' to the brew.

Our homes are as clean as 'reasonably' possible:)

I have an 18 year old with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. Heather is seen in the pic with some of her friends at her high school semi formal dance. She has had 47 + surgeries and procedures. Many of them orthopedic.

When I saw Jayas legs on the show it reminded me of how my daughters legs looked. However, I would strongly oppose such a surgery. It was never given as an option, nor was it ever thought of by myself.

The two disabilities are greatly different I do realize that. That being said, Jayas legs are part of who he is.

I wish there way a way that Jayas mother could meet my daughter Heather. She gives me hope and faith. She gives me courage and strentgh. I love her unconditionally for who she is. She is a very independant person, with a big heart. She is always smiling.

I feel that her legs have never been an issue, primarily because we have never made them an issue. She has had third degree burns on her feet, made worse by her not feeling the pain of it, which caused delay in treatment. She has constantly scraped up her legs and feet, from crawling. BUT considering the risk of any surgery, I would not change the scrapes and gouges. They are no different in my eyes then if my youngest fell off a bike and scraped her knee. The only difference is Heather cannot feel the pain.

I have been there and seen my daughter on life support, almost dying from septic shock caused by infection post-surgery. This was not even an elective surgery. I have also seen Heather have a grand mal seizure that almost killed her after a surgery. It is scary, to think that your child will not wake up, and more scary to watch the situation unfold. It is so much easier to deal with the legs, then the thought of what could happen. To put a child in that situation, I would not do it. It is NOT worth the risk. In my opinion it is almost considered child abuse. It is elective and in my opinion it is very unnecessary.

My daughter has grown into a beautiful young woman. I do not see disability when I look at my daughter, only ability.

This mother needs to stop looking at Jayas legs as an inconvienence to her.

My love to Sick Kids in Toronto as well. They have saved Heathers life many times! Thank you just doesn't seem to cut it.............I owe them so much more.

Good Evening,

I had accident back in 2005 and my lumbar spine on my neck in the location around c4 c5 c6

had shown bulgin where my tendons are like twisted around going towards left some 45*

Now I also have herniated discs on my lumbar spine around location s1 s2 and i have every now and

then been back to work. (though my chiropractor back then had given me instructions that a sit down job

is better, i have placed myself back onto standing and walkind and stooping and NOT actually ahd any bad soar days........though my muscles have become stiff in the last several days this had made me concerned I d call the dr in charge and he told me just reduce the amount of physical ness in my job

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IS THEIR A REGIEM FOR ME TO LOK INTO WHERE THE COMMON AREAS CAN BE WORKED ON AND MY MUSCLES HAVE ROTUINE OF EXERCISE.......my boyfriend

exercise on regular basis but has been letting me know VITAMINS AND EXERCISE I NEED TO DO

IN ORDER TO BECOME STRONGER OR too help me deal with these issues I wanted to knwo what I can do in order to loose 25 lbs and would using weights hurt my condition..............................

I am watching a recorded show, but so far I can't believe that the lady who says she cleans so much her hands are bleeding wasn't told that working in a hospital with cracked and bleeding hands she is exposing herself to more serious germs than normal and will bring those serious germs and diseases home to her family. She is greatly increasing her exposure to germs  going to a hospital with open wounds.

A story for his mom:

My daughter, Augusta was born in 1990 with a medical condition.  After  2 1/2 years of Doctors appointments we were finally told what was wrong. I had to make several medical decissions with not allot of time to think about it.  I'll never know If I made the right ones because she passed away a couple months after she turned 3.  I think about all those decission allot but I can't change then now.  One year later I was watching the Seattle news and saw a procedure done successfully that was tried on my daughter unsuccessfully.  Time can make all the difference in the world,  Please think long and hard before you make this serous decission for your son because living with a decission that could turn out to be wrong is much harder.  My daughter passed away in my arms and that pain doesn't get less even after 15 years. 

I want to know if I am wrong for feeling the way I do.  My problem is I am a married female and have been seeing my ex boyfriend for the last past 7 years.  We see each other at least once a month.  We both have feelings for each other and love being with each other, but we have to stay in our marriages for our children.  Both our spouses do not want sex anymore and its been that way since and even before we met each other.  My boyfriend and I are totally sex compatable and love being together with each other in and out of the bedroom. His wife leaves him on weekends and she goes away by herself without even telling him sometimes.  I told him that he is crazy for letting her be that way but he says he does not care anymore.  Should we still goon seeing each other or am I heading for disaster?

It started 10 years ago.  I was having a successful career as a computer programmer, but found myself getting more and more fatigued.  Eventually I could not work any more.  I applied for disability with the Social Security Administration with the diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  Social Security accepted my application and I have been receiving SSDI benefits ever since.  The benefits are not much, and I had to spend a lot of my nest egg to see if I could get well and go back to work.  I have seen quite a few doctors, with no improvement.

The most helpful thing for me has been a regular exercise program.  But after a while even the exercise program seemed to have less of an effect.  I am trying to figure out what is happening with this.  All my tests are normal.

I know something is wrong.  I do not feel healthy.  So I have looked at alternative medicine to see if it could help.  Here’s where things get confusing.  Mainstream medicine states there is not evidence to support these techniques.  The alternative practitioners say there is evidence, but also admit more research is needed.  One explanation for the lack of research is that there is no money in finding out that a particular herb will help a condition.  You cannot patent something that already exists like an herb.  On the other hand if you develop a new drug, you can patent it and make lots of money.

As a patient, I feel cheated that the medical community is not open to looking at alternative medicine.  It is overlooking a whole list of therapies that could be beneficial.

Two of the books I have looked at are “From Fatigued to Fantastic” by Jacob Teitelbaum M.D.; and the “Complete Candida Yeast Guidebook” co-authored by Jeanne Marie Martin and Zoltan P. Rona M.D.

Maybe you can shed light on the two different camps out there: The traditional M.D. practitioners and the alternative oriented M.D. practitioners.  Who is right?  Maybe both sides have valid points.  Maybe insurance should be more willing to pay for alternative medicine.  It may actually be cheaper for them, I don’t know. 

In the meantime, I am having difficulty deciding what to do here.  I am having difficulty on who to believe.  The traditional M.D. practitioners and the alternative oriented practitioners both seem to be absolutely certain they are right. I see a lot of emotion in their arguing.  I do not see calm logical discussion.