Last month, I mentioned in the Medivizor newsletter that I had lost a family member. This loved one feared seeking medical attention for a serious condition because of the risk of catching COVID-19 at a hospital or doctor’s office. Now, a dear friend’s parents received notification that they were exposed to the SARS-2 coronavirus by a...
Read MoreHow Would You Create a Picture of Your Health Experience?
Katie McCurdy has myasthenia gravis, a rare autoimmune condition that she acquired when she was 13. This conditions affects the muscles of the body, but especially those that control eyes and eyelids, facial expression, swallowing and sometimes breathing. It’s been an ordeal for her, from diagnosis to now when she goes to the doctor and tries to...
Read MoreThe Unappreciated Sense of Smell
The homey aroma of fresh baked bread, the mouth-watering fragrance of chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven, the loamy scent of autumnal leaves raked into high piles: cells in our noses snatch chemicals in the air which fire neurons in a part of the brain called the olfactory bulb. From the bulb information zips to other areas of the brain. The...
Read MoreAvoiding Healthcare Due to COVID-19
In June the CDC asked almost 10,000 respondents in the US the question, “Have you delayed or avoided medical care due to concerns related to COVID-19?” The survey question found that 41 percent answered yes to this statement. Twelve percent avoided urgent or emergency care and another 32 percent stated they had avoided routine care. Some of...
Read MoreBlood Cancer Awareness Month: CLL
CLL or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia results from a mutation in B lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that develops in the bone marrow. B-cells produce antibodies, an important part of the immune system. CLL can be slow growing, with small slow changes in the blood counts over years or fast growing, where cancerous B-lymphocytes crowd out the bone...
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