Lori Adams 11/8/24 Lori Adams 11/8/24

Palliative Care

Palliative care focuses on easing symptoms like pain and nausea. They also can provide you and your family with extra support, including emotional and spiritual support if you're struggling with the mental toll of everything. Many providers are able to make home or telehealth to cut down on the amount of (often difficult) trips to a clinic or hospital. A relatives's provider will go to their house to collect samples for the lab or take simple x-rays.

Lori Adams 8/26/24 Lori Adams 8/26/24

PEG tube basics: usage

Feeding

Using a PEG tube may seem scary and intimidating at first, but it's easy once the anxiety goes away!

Most tubes have adapters with two or three ports; the balloon type has three, and the ones without a balloon have two. NEVER use the smaller port that goes to the balloon; only use the larger ports (they usually have a cap to close them.

Lori Adams 8/20/24 Lori Adams 8/20/24

PEG tube basics: types and placement

In order to get adequate fluids, nutrients, and medications, a feeding tube may be needed. Most “tubies” have some degree of dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), and may receive one or more types:

Lori Adams 10/17/23 Lori Adams 10/17/23

Ask Aunt Lori - allergic reaction first aid

Dear Aunt Lori,

My friend has a severe peanut allergy. I'm scared that she'll have an allergic reaction around me and I don't know what to do!

Concerned Friend

Lori Adams 10/14/23 Lori Adams 10/14/23

Anaphylaxis

Sniffling, sneezing, and itching are the worst that allergies can be - right? Unfortunately, they can be so much worse.

There's a whole spectrum of allergy symptoms, but the worst is anaphylaxis (also called anaphylactic shock). If untreated, anaphylaxis is fatal!

Lori Adams 9/30/23 Lori Adams 9/30/23

The Keyhole Craniotomy

The thought of performing a brain surgery through a hole the size of a penny sounds like science fiction - but it's possible! This surgery offers a lot of benefits over the traditional "open craniotomy". This isn't suitable for everyone and every type of surgery, but is a groundbreaking surgical technique.

Lori Adams 7/15/23 Lori Adams 7/15/23

Ask Aunt Lori - Tampons

Dear Aunt Lori,

I got my period while away at summer camp. We're going swimming tomorrow and I don't want to miss it, but I've never put a tampon in before..

Lori Adams 7/9/23 Lori Adams 7/9/23

Tick Diseases

Aside from being extremely annoying and covering you in the most itchy bites I've experienced, they carry a lot of diseases! These diseases are nasty; many cause lasting damage and are just sheer misery!

Lori Adams 6/30/23 Lori Adams 6/30/23

HIV Epidemic

The first cases of HIV/AIDS in the US were gay men and some of the opportunistic infections were nicknamed things like "Gay Man's Pneumonia" and Kaposi's Sarcoma, a type of cancer often seen in AIDS patients, was nicknamed "gay cancer".

Lori Adams 6/29/23 Lori Adams 6/29/23

Don't let bugs bug you: summer safety

Prevention is ALWAYS the best option when dealing with diseases. Thankfully there are several things that you can do to prevent bug bites

Lori Adams 5/25/23 Lori Adams 5/25/23

Ask Aunt Lori - “The Pill” and Antibiotics

Dear Aunt Lori,

I currently take birth control pills. If I get sick and take antibiotics, will my pills no longer work?

Birth Uncontrolled?

Lori Adams 5/23/23 Lori Adams 5/23/23

Ask Aunt Lori - Tubal Ligation

Dear Aunt Lori,

I've had all the kids I want and I don't want anymore! I love being a mom, but I can't have a whole circus! I want to get my tubes tied, can you tell me more about it?

Enough Babies

Lori Adams 5/15/23 Lori Adams 5/15/23

Ask Aunt Lori - Vasectomy

Dear Aunt Lori,

I don't want any more kids. I don't want my wife to go through a surgery, but I'm also scared of a vasectomy. Is it really painful and difficult? Will I have to take hormones afterwards?

No More Babies

Lori Adams 5/15/23 Lori Adams 5/15/23

Ask Aunt Lori - Why are you still wearing a mask?

Dear "Aunt Lori",

Covid is over; why are you still wearing a mask? Are you so afraid of a LITTLE virus that you're going to stop living life forever?

Sheep Eating Lion

Lori Adams 5/9/23 Lori Adams 5/9/23

Ask Aunt Lori - Birth Control

Dear Aunt Lori,

I want to start having sex, but I don't want to get pregnant. What are my options for birth control?

No Babies

Lori Adams 4/30/23 Lori Adams 4/30/23

Ask Aunt Lori - safe sex

Dear Aunt Lori,

I want to start having sex, but I want to do it safely. I DON'T want STIs!

Not Crabby

Lori Adams 7/24/22 Lori Adams 7/24/22

Classifying the spread of diseases

We’ve all heard the words “pandemic”, “epidemic”, and probably several more by now – but what do they mean? I’ll go over some of the most common terms used to classify the spread of an infectious disease

Lori Adams 7/23/22 Lori Adams 7/23/22

International Healthcare: United States of America

This is the healthcare system that I’m most familiar with – and still the most confused by. The majority of health insurance is through private companies (through an employer), but there are a few public options (Medicaid and Medicare, namely). Unfortunately, there is no universal healthcare.

Lori Adams 7/20/22 Lori Adams 7/20/22

International Healthcare Series

Upcoming series! I’ll be taking a look at a few healthcare systems in this upcoming series. In it, i’ll look at the country’s general system, and how it handled the COVID-19 pandemic.