Surgery went well and I am home again. Getting used to the routines. Not gonna be easy, but it is something I cannot afford to fail at.

Link...

Chris Lowe has an incredible story about bravery and privacy regarding Chris Lofton and his private battle w/ testicular cancer that was diagnosed because of a random drug test mandated by the NCAA during the 2007 tournament. That kid may have been off his game this year, but he had more class than any one I know.

Plus, I have an aunt who works in the radiation department at UT, and she never hinted -- and we're a huge basketball family. I have more admiration for her too.

There's also a story at knoxnews.com, but it's much shorter and not as well written. Link...

Here's why I never order lemon with my tea or water and why I remove it if they serve it anyway. (And here's a follow up.) Paging Don Dare!

In fury and despair, patients harmed by Lasik eye surgery told federal health advisers Friday of severe eye pain, blurred vision and even a son's suicide. The advisers recommended that the government warn more clearly about the risks of the hugely popular operations.
...
And while the vast majority benefit — most see 20-20 or even better — about one in four people who seeks Lasik is not a good candidate. A small fraction, perhaps 1 percent or fewer, suffer serious, life-changing side effects: worse vision, severe dry eye, glare, inability to drive at night.

Eye surgery so I don't have to wear glasses sends chills up my spine, but then I'm not one to have ever worn contact lenses either.

Be careful out there. Don't be sold. Do your homework.

I've noticed lately that I'm getting a bunch of e-mails trying to sell me things to clean out my colon, complete with disgusting color photos of what appear to be 5-foot turds. They're peddling yogurts with "fiber" in them, too. Who wants laxative in their yogurt?

But today's e-mail took the cake, so to speak.

Your Voice Is Key to Improving Healthcare
The Tennessee Health Care Campaign (Link...) is holding a town hall meeting This Friday from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

Your Voice Is Key to Improving Healthcare
The Tennessee Health Care Campaign (Link...) is holding a town hall meeting This Friday from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. It will be held at the Cherokee Health Systems corporate office - 2018 Western Ave. Knoxville

Confirmed Legislators:
Sen. Tim Burchett, Rep. Stacy Campfield, Rep Doug Overby, Rep Harry Tindell.

Sen. Jamie Woodson had confirmed but is now stating she has can't attend.

From thcc:
Your Help is Needed NOW.

Sen. Jamie Woodson had confirmed several days ago that she would attend our forum.

Now she says another event has come up and she can’t come to our forum.

We want to respectfully ask her to keep her commitment to us.

Sen. Woodson needs to hear from YOU, her constituent.
Call her office in Nashville TODAY.
Toll-free:
1-800-449-8366, ext. 11648
It's OK to leave a message. Please make sure to state that you are her constituent.

In a respectful way, please do the following:

CALL Sen. Woodson and tell her – in your own words -- that you would like her to:
A) PLEASE keep her commitment to attend our Constituent Health Care Forum at Cherokee Health Systems Corp. Office in Knoxville on Friday, April 18th at 6:30 pm.

B) Help you and others avoid state policies that will create up to 200,000 new uninsured this year;

C) Help you and others increase the number of children who have health coverage;

Tell her that you and others have been looking forward to sharing your concerns and discussing solutions that she, as your elected representative, can help with.

Let her know that YOU and others are RELYING on her to care and help avoid another mass creation of uninsured. Together, we can avoid crisis.

Sen. Woodson needs to hear from you.
Call her office in Nashville TODAY: 1-800-449-8366, ext. 11648
It's OK to leave a message.

Visit Thcc2.org for more info.
I hope to see some of you there. I will be the nerdy guy with the unruly 5 year old.

The Knoxville Juggler's Club is meeting this Tuesday!

Jan Sanders Hall at Cokesbury United Methodist Church will be open to jugglers from 7 to 9 p.m. on the first Sunday and the third Tuesday of each month.

Jugglers and non-jugglers alike are welcome to attend. For the answers to "What type of people attend juggling clubs?" "Why juggle?" and "Who can juggle?" see Knoxville Juggling Club relauches. The answer to who can juggle is anyone! I have even seen a one handed man juggle 5 balls!

Don Dare's on the job. WATE reporting the Cracker Barrel at Park West Boulevard (Cedar Bluff) received a 55 (out of 100) on the health department inspection.

Man, I shouldn't read these reports. It makes you want to never go out to eat again. It's been a long time since I've worked in a restaurant, and I've never worked in the kitchen, but I do have to wonder how many restaurants just miss getting bad scores depending on the day and time of the health department visits.

A few months ago, Knoxville was the site of a shocking event: hundreds of East Tennesseans and others from nearby areas flooded into downtown to seek medical care that had become unaffordable to them. A few months later, we learned that Baptist Hospital, one of the biggest and best of our fine local hospitals, was to be absorbed by the St. Mary's system.

Is it possible that these two events are related? Could it be that, if we had universal, single-payer health care, those hard-working Tennesseans who were reduced to begging for what in most civilized countries is a basic human right would have filled those unused beds at Baptist, thereby averting the closure of one of the best hospitals in the area?

Why have we chosen to enrich the private insurance companies, close our hospitals, and subject more and more of our citizens to ill health and bankruptcy? You always hear that "rationing" of health care is a result of socialized health care, but it's increasingly obvious that unrestrained capitalism is the real culprit.

Will we ever know the absolute truth?

According to an article in The Independent (UK):

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.

...

It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.

What is the truth anyway? We have selective truth. We have scientific truth. Some have religious truth.

We have never used our cellphones very much. We probably average 75 minutes or less a month for the two of us. I wonder what France, Germany, and the European Environment Agency consider reduced use.

Katie Allison Granju has an interesting post about the ongoing vaccination controversy:

Injecting a vaccine into a 15 pound human is serious business. It may be good medicine for most babies, and for a healthy population, but it’s serious enough business that the pediatrician overseeing it needs to look at that 15 pound human as an individual, with an individual health history, and not just as a tiny human pincushion whose parents aren’t allowed to ask any questions.

Are kids getting too many vaccinations, or too many all at once? Are they safe? More background here and here.

McDonald's, and just about every other server of coffee "cream", have gone over in the last few months to a new product marked "no refrigeration needed." According to the label, it contains milk, cream, datem, sodium phosphate, sodium polyphosphate, sodium citrate and carrageenan. Datem, which I assumed comes from dates, is an acronym for Di-Acetyl Tartrate Ester of Monoglyceride, an emulsifier. Sounds like something I want to avoid. Tomato Head, on the other hand, offers organic cream with their coffee.

A $22 price difference for a prescription. But I'm ahead of myself.

As I have stated here previously, I am a patient of Interfaith Clinic. Early in the week I was feeling fatigued and sick to my stomach, Wednesday I woke up well past the sort of, maybe state of being sick. I was afraid I might have the flu, so I called and got an appointment for that afternoon.

Long and short, no flu but there's also a nasty virus going around that has some of the same symptoms. We're going through the vitals check, and the doc listens to my lungs. She stops, and has the pre-med student who is making rounds listen. It was to demonstrate what asthma sounds like. I've never had asthma, but the doc says it's probably viral, since I've never had "attacks" and no one has ever expressed the possibility to me. The air comes in fine, but I'm wheezing when it goes out.

More on the jump.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was the founder of the Transcendental Meditation technique.

Check out the quote of the day at WhitesCreek.

Knoxville is the nation's asthma capital . . . again:

For the third time in five years, Knoxville has been ranked as the #1 Asthma Capital, a distinction it also had in the 2004 and 2005 rankings. The factors that have helped to lift Knoxville to the top spot again include higher than average annual pollen levels, high air pollution, lack of “100% smoke-free” laws, patient over-use of asthma rescue medications and other important factors.

It's good to be back on top.

This witty piece arrived in the NYT just in time for the Super Bowl game this weekend. Not many TV shows have inspired scientific research, but Seinfeld fans will enjoy this.

For none politicos who have no clue where the term "double-dipping" came from, it also sheds some light.

Link...

The Knoxville Asperger Support Group has a new location and date! Read more for details...

Tara Parker-Pope of the NYT health blog explores the popularity of statins and stirs some interesting comments.

"Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are among the most popular prescription drugs in the world. In addition to lowering cholesterol, they also lower the risk for heart attacks.

But as I report in my Well column for Tuesday’s Science Times, there is little, if any, data showing that statin drugs prolong life in the majority of people who take them."

Link...

Apparently it's hard work to provide safe medical products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced a nationwide recall of all lots of heparin and saline pre-filled flush syringes manufactured by AM2 PAT, Inc., of Angier, N.C. Two lots have been found to be contaminated with Serratia marcescens, a bacterium that can cause serious injury or death.

Patients are suing...

In December, doctors traced numerous infections to heparin-filled syringes used during home treatment for cancer and other ailments.

Be careful out there!

Not for the feint hearted. This article provides some astonishing facts about the latest plastic surgery fad: designer vaginas. See it rhymes. See it's cute. If only it wasn't true.
Link...

In my opinion we ought to use what Nature gave us, not try to find happiness through alterations, but through honest caring.

What the heck is wrong with these people?

Never saw this in the local news, doesn't mean it wasn't reported. The Sweetwater Valley Farms recall was on Nov. 28th. I don't know if this is the type of cheese people buy ahead for Christmas. I do know a lot of folks like to buy Sweetwater cheese because it is local.

Sweetwater Valley Farms, Inc. of Philadelphia, TN is recalling its Tennessee Aged Southern Mild Cheddar Cheese (yellow) and Tennessee Aged Southern Sharp Cheddar Cheese (yellow) because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
...
These products were distributed between October 18, 2007 and November 26, 2007.

They had a recall just 7 days earlier for Southern Cheddar Jack Volunteer Special Cheese. Hope they get their act together.

Mmmm...sounds tasty, huh? The idea has some merit, but just the thought makes me cringe.

"On that Friday, the Orange County Water District will turn on what industry experts say is the world’s largest plant devoted to purifying sewer water to increase drinking water supplies. They and others hope it serves as a model for authorities worldwide facing persistent drought, predicted water shortages and projected growth." Link...

This is ridiculous. It's right out of a Joseph Heller novel. You can see the doctor. But only if you are well. And not for two weeks. If you are sick, you can't see the doctor. You must go somewhere else. Your doctor will only see you when you don't need to see him, and not today.

It doesn't matter how much gold-plated insurance you have or your credit rating or that you can afford treatment.

The first question they ask is "what kind of insurance do you have." One office, when told it would be self-pay, refused to make an appointment.

But your doctor's receptionist can pass along your symptoms, and later call you back to ask where you want a prescription filled. No one trained or licensed ever needs to speak with you about your symptoms. Just take these pills the receptionist talked to the nurse who talked to the doctor about. Not sure what they do, but they might help. When you are better the doctor can see you. He will tell you if they helped or not.

You'd almost swear Milo Minderbinder is in charge of America's health care system.

UPDATE: I should be thankful. It could be a lot worse. (And maybe someone from the "personal responsibility" crowd can explain how the couple is at fault for "not making good choices.")

In case you missed it, yesterday's KNS has this:

For health officials, the testing is a valuable tool in battling the growing spread of gonorrhea and chlamydia, especially among the juvenile population.

For some parents, the testing is the usurpation of their authority and obligation to make sound decisions concerning their children's health.

The irony part: the complaining parents had picked up their kid at juvenile detention. No comment regarding authority or sound decisions.

Some statistics from the article are disturbing. The voluntary testing at the juvenile detention center has revealed three cases of STD in 12 year olds. Six percent of 14 year olds tested positive, as did 9.2% of 16 year olds and 9% of 17 year olds.

This is hitting closer to home.

Federal officials say Southern Cheddar Jack Volunteer Special Cheese, produced by Sweetwater Valley Farms, Inc. of Philadelphia, has been ordered off shelves because it may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

WATE coverage here.

From the USDA:

CLASS I RECALL
HEALTH RISK: HIGH

American Foods Group, LLC, a Green Bay, Wisc., firm, is voluntarily recalling approximately 95,927 pounds of various coarse and fine ground beef products because they may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.

[..]

The ground beef products subject to recall were produced on Oct. 10, 2007, and were distributed to retail establishments and distributors in Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Virginia.

According to the press release, the products were distributed for repackaging and will not have the original identifying numbers on the new packages. The USDA says consumers can contact their retailers to ask if they received any of these products. More details here.

Sexually transmitted diseases are a big problem in Tennessee. Link...
Could this be because sex education in the schools or even good sex education by parents is lacking here?

There's always an uproar about teaching kids about sex. You could even say a total denial that many children are doing it long before their parents could even imagine. Obviously these statistics point to a failure on the part of teachers and parents in Tenn. to teach kids what the dangers are and how to protect themselves.

The current government insists that funding goes only to abstinence based sex eduction in the schools, though many school systems choose to teach comprehensive sex education, even without government funding. There is also concern that some of the government funded abstinence programs are conveying misinformation about abortion, gays, ways diseaes are transmitted, and teen pregnancy. Link...

While everyone feels heartbroken for couples who desperately want a baby and can't have one, there has to be some oversight on the lengths people will go to find babies. Lately there has been a lot of controversy over children from econmically disadvantaged countries, like Guatemala, being put up for adoption by parents who were never exactly aware of what that meant. Corrupt Guatemalan adoptions have put the spotlight on corrupt practices, so now there are far fewer children coming out of there. Now it is India, and it's recent growth in surrogate motherhood that is being scrutinized.

Link...

"Dr. Mohanlal Swarankar, chairman of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Jaipur and one of the leading fertility experts in India, is firmly opposed to the practice of surrogacy and wants what he called the "commercial sale of wombs and babies" to be outlawed."