Last Sunday, I woke up a little later than usual. I don’t go to the Y on Sundays — church day. I woke up shaking and shivering like crazy — I was freezing. And I had intense shooting pains in my right leg. Uh-oh, I said. The cellulitis is back. Damn. I got up, took a hot shower to try …
Hey friends, well, it’s been two months since I announced my cancer diagnosis on the eve of major surgery at Mayo Clinic. Since then, I’ve received a steady stream of cards, well-wishes, and prayers, and they’re working because I’m doing great. Thank you! I don’t plan to spend a lot of time in the future doing play-by-play on my recovery, …
A year into the modern pandemic era, it seems reasonable to ask, what have we learned? And what should we have learned? I found answers to those questions in a wide-ranging interview with Nicholas Christakis, the author of “Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.” Christakis is the Sterling Professor of Social and …
I have COVID. You can take all the right precautions, wear a mask at all times, socially distance, wash your hands, etc., and still get it. As luck would have it, I hadn’t left my house for more than 72 hours before showing symptoms, so no one else was exposed. That made contact testing much easier! I got tested after …
I’m sitting in front of my computer trying to arrange a flight home from West Virginia University for India. As I write, West Virginia is the only state in the union without a documented case of the Coronavirus, still things feel a little safer out here in our prairie isolation. It feels a little like it did in the days …
I wasn’t going to write about drug prices again because I like my pharmacist and don’t want to create any ill will toward him or Bismarck-Mandan pharmacists in general. Our pharmacists are not to blame for the outrageous behavior in the prescription drug business. They’re simply retailers, pawns in the big game of chess being played by the pharmaceutical and …
It’s odd how people will read this column or one of my posts on Facebook and conclude I don’t like folks at the local and state level. That couldn’t be further from the truth. On an individual basis, I like everyone on the Fargo City Commission. I have not met a state or county official I don’t personally like. At …
OMG! “What a difference a day makes ♪♫♫♪♪♫♫♪,♪♫♫♪,” as the Dinah Washington song goes. Went to Mayo Clinic on Wednesday and had cataract surgery on my left eye. It was a surprisingly easy procedure. The prep time actually took longer than the surgery. I’m now officially a “Patient Lens Implant Identification Card” carrier. The brand name is AcrySof out of Fort …
Just four short months after trading in Kenyan Socialism for Russian Communism with a dollop of South American Style Authoritarianism thrown in for good measure — more bananas, please — it’s time to assess just how super- duper great America has become again. And you slackers thought you were going to make it to Memorial Day without a test? Dream …
Invaluable. That’s the Real Answer, Mr. Commissioner; A Fusion of Smiles, Languages And Colors No matter how you slice it, surgery is no fun. More to the point, it’s no fun no matter how they need to slice you. Painful stuff. Recovery is no walk in the park, either. After nearly eight days in recovery at Sanford, I can say this with …
It’s not even a close call, so save the coin toss. Cramer takes North Dakotans for granted and assumes he’s in a safe district. Why, because he’s such a charmer? Guess again, smirk-boy. Smug-boy. Whatever. I’m older than the kid, so I can say that. Plus, I don’t care. I don’t feel any pleasantness oozing from my aura. After decades …
I’m exhausted from winning so much. America is so great again. Stop it already. My trophy case is full. Sure, a lot of people think the House of Representatives didn’t have the votes to pass health care reform last week, but when you factor in the Electoral Collage, it was a huge win. Yuuuge. You should have seen everyone coming …
I’ve had some bad weeks. One August, I lounged on the deck of a pontoon in the sun so long that my shins and feet were seriously burned. There was smoke — and not the medicinal kind. I was in pain for at least a week, and gentle I had to be, to get the old shoes on. The hair …
Do we have video? “Rushed.” By ambulance? Usually “rushed” in a headline suggests dire health issues. Which, I guess, dovetails with the topic of health care. Or do you see him in more of a sprint? Capitol to White House. That’s like a 2-mile run. I think the world record for the now-defunct 2-mile run is about 8 minutes. And …
I was on Medicaid. There, I admitted it. It’s not an easy thing to do for me. Even when I was on it, and I would go to the doctor, I handed the card to the person at the admittance desk with a furtive glance around to see if anyone saw me. And every time, I wanted to blurt out my …
“It’s not about the numbers.” That was the mantra heard daily — sometimes several times a day — from Dr. Bernard Quebral and some of the other 100-plus Minnesota volunteers on a medical mission last week to Mariveles District Hospital in the Philippines. It was heard Sunday after a “soft opening” that was meant to screen 300 patients who were there for surgeries that …
Out came the teeth, 12 in all. The extractions would at least temporarily stop the pain of one Filipino man, but it was emblematic of a nationwide crisis that yanked at the heart of an American dentist. “He’s 28. He has two children, and this was the first time he had been to a dentist,” said Dr. Kordie Reinhold, a Minneapolis dentist. “I …
As surgeons sliced a volleyball-sized tumor from the tummy of one anesthetized woman, another team of doctors about 10 feet across the room tied the tubes of another. In the room next door, teams fixed cleft palates on a pair of youngsters. Privacy, smivacy. Patients who have come to get help from the American doctors with the Philippine Minnesotan Medical Association are …
Jeff Turner calls it the happy station. There are no needles, no scalpels and no painful recoveries. The best part, though, is the almost instantaneous smiles that come with success. Turner is in charge of one of the busiest corners in an extremely busy Mariveles District Hospital in the Philippines. The new facility officially opened Monday, when a team of 100 Minnesota …
For some, Sunday was a very good day. For others, it was very hard. For all, it was historic. Under sunny skies with a cool sea breeze cutting the 90-degree heat, the new Mariveles District Hospital opened Sunday with Minnesota doctors screening about 300 Filipinos to determine who they could help via surgery in the week ahead. Three-year-old Bernard Fajrlo …
(A group of Minnesota volunteers is on the way to the Philippines to provide health care to thousands in an impoverished area. Since the group is out of touch for about 24 hours while traveling, here’s a little more background on Dr. Bernard Quebral, who is leading the group — and the trip itself.) It wasn’t unusual for little Bernie …