Most of you have probably heard of the BRCA 1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, that can predispose patients with mutations of these genes to breast, ovarian and other cancers. BRCA1 and BRAC2 are proteins that play a key role in the repair of damage in the double stranded DNA of cells. When there is a ...
Category Archives: Cancer
How We Fail at End of Life Care
Sue Asher, a friend and the Executive Director of the Pierce County Medical Society, forwarded me this article in The New Yorker. It was a difficult read for me. My wife was diagnosed with stage 3C ovarian cancer 16 months ago, and her/our future is uncertain. But as I have come to understand all ...
Living With Cancer
This is a topic close to home. My wife was diagnosed with Stage 3C cancer of the ovary a bit over a year ago. She was a chemotherapy superstar, had few complications, and has been in remission since her treatment finished last October. Still we know her chances of a cure are fairly low. Understanding ...
What Would You Do if it Was Your Mother Doctor Pullen?
Substitute you, Father, Wife, Child, etc for Mother here, and this is a question I am commonly asked in the office. It’s also a question that I answer in different ways depending on the situation. Sometimes when the seems like a straight forward request for my opinion about the comeptance of a specialist or a treatment ...
Epididymitis: It’s a Real Pain in the B….
The epididymis is the organ on the back side of each male testis, where the thousands of tiny tubules that the sperm travel through in the testis come together to form the epididimis which then develops into a single tube called the vas deferens. (of ...
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Osteoradionecrosis
When I Hear My Mom Needs a Treatment I've Never Heard About I live a long ways from the rest of my family. I grew up in Oakland, Maine, a small town where my parents, brother, and many relatives still live. Puyallup, WA where I live is about as far away as is possible and ...
Colon Cancer Screening: The Rest of the Story
Colon cancer screening is recommended by the United States Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) for Americans age 50-75 years old, but less than 40% of those who should have screening actually get it done. Note that I say colon cancer screening is recommended, not that colonoscopy is recommended. It seems that colonoscopy has become ...
Peter Yarrow Croons about the Virtues of Colonoscopy
Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary teams up with CBS to make this very cool You Tube video called The Colonoscopy Song promoting colon cancer screening. I got no prize, just good news of a 10 year wait to do it again when I turned 50. I first saw this on KevinMD.com and ...
Oxycontin: What’s the big deal?
Oxycontin is an oral pain medication that contains the single active ingredient oxycodone. Oxycodone is one of the most potent of the oral opiates, and has more euphoric effect than many other opiate analgesics. Oxycontin is the most notorious prescription drug of abuse in the US, and for good reason. Though marketed as a sustained ...
Medical Marijuana – The Wrong Patients Want it.
I frequently have patients ask me about using medical marijuana. Unfortunately they are not the patients I think would benefit most from its use. I found a very good article in Psychiatric News that discussed the issue in detail and with good balance. The evidence is scant, but suggests some usefulness of medical marijuana ...