Yes, I know my readers mostly care about what I have to say about specific health concerns and the stories of memorable patients and providers I meet along the way. But I also enjoy telling you about stories that impact our ability to do what we do for you. And I have an amusing one [...]

Hollywood star Michael Douglas, 65

There’s news that Hollywood star Michael Douglas, 65, is undergoing treatment for throat cancer. Reporters say his doctors say he is expected to make a full recovery. But, believe me, when someone is diagnosed with any kind of head and neck cancer, as this is, it is not an easy go.
My [...]

Heart patient Ed Dunifin and his wife of 35 years, Karen.

I had not been to Indiana for 42 years. But last week I found myself on a commuter train in Michigan City, Indiana taking my family on the South Shore Line to Chicago for the day. We were vacationing not far away on the shores [...]

I have always heard that Northwestern Mutual Life (“The Quiet Company”) was a grade A company. And for years I have been happy to have a disability insurance policy and a term life one with them. I got those policies back in the early 1990’s and it was a good thing I did.
In 1996 my [...]

The news wasn’t good this week for women concerned about breast cancer.
First came the story that some women were diagnosed with breast cancer, very early stage, had treatment – including disfiguring surgery – and then found out they never had cancer in the first place. The pathologist goofed, maybe even a second pathologist also misread [...]

Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s cancer drug office
They have a tough job, those government doctors, scientists, and bureaucrats who are charged with assessing the safety and effectiveness of proposed new medical products. As you know, they rely largely on studies presented by the applicants.
The FDA has the power to not [...]

Why does one patient, like Mike Katz of New York City, live 20 years with multiple myeloma and is still doing well while a neighbor, Dale, with the same diagnosis, has been given just a short time to live after three years?
Why am I living well 10 years after treatment for leukemia when others, who [...]

The book publishing world, largely based in New York City, is in trouble. The fragmentation of the market by electronics large and small has chopped former readers into so many pieces. How can a publisher make a blockbuster buck anymore? The answer may come in translations of Swedish fiction from a newly found novelist, now [...]

Esther and I went away this past weekend for a much needed break from kids, the normal routine, and pets that can wake us up when daylight arrives here in the Pacific Northwest at 5 am.
We stayed at a quaint bed and breakfast called The Blue Goose in the small town of Coupeville, Washington [...]

What’s Old is New at ASCO from Patient Power® on Vimeo.