Skin cancer is as easy as A-B-C . . . and D . . . and E
Melanoma
May is Skin Cancer Month and Monday, May 2 is “Melanoma Monday” so let’s talk about your skin. You probably have heard many times about many types of illness – “Catch it early and it is really treatable but catch it late and it’s pretty serious.” Well, that is really true for skin cancer, particularly the scary one – melanoma.
So knowing a bit about preventing and detecting skin cancer could quite literally save your life. I hope to give you some tools to do so here. When preparing for this topic, I found just an enormous amount of information floating around the Internet, most of it quite solid but some of it frankly dangerous in its inaccuracy. For instance, there are some cringe-worthy sites out there claiming you can cure skin cancer by applying some salve you bought on the Internet. (No, you can’t).
So I’ll try to limit this to the two key areas of prevention and detection. We’ll leave treatments and s
o forth to another time. To help, I’ll rely on two of my colleagues who joined me on the Healthy Matters broadcast this week and also point you toward reliable and easy-to-use interactive resources from some trustworthy sources. Click the logo at left to access the podcast from the radio broadcast. Maybe listen to it while you are reading this post!
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Medication questions? Ask a Pharmacist!
Every year or so I do an “Ask the Pharmacist” show on Healthy Matters. These are always popular shows with listeners and this week was no exception. Joining me in studio were two HCMC pharmacists, Laurie Wilhite and Erika Ridl. We answered questions from listeners about all kinds of medication topics.
To hear the Q&A from our pharmacy show you may want to listen to the podcast here.
I learned a ton on Sunday’s show but two of the take home messages are 1) you are not alone if you have medication questions and 2) your pharmacist is most definitely your friend.
Actually, I hope to educate folks about one thing in this post: MTM (or Medication Therapy Management). Ever heard of it? I didn’t think so. Read on, read on. read more…
Seasonal allergies and . . . ah-ah-ah-choo! . . . you.
I’ve had allergies for the past 49 years. Seriously. Started when I was two years old.
My big problem is congested sinuses and nose. Loud breathing at night – drives my wife crazy just as it probably drove my folks crazy in the 60s. Sneezing over and over and over until I think my eyeballs are going to pop out and fly across the yard and land in the bird bath.
Perhaps you can relate.
I was recently going through a box of old stuff from my childhood (my Mom was good at keeping records, I guess). I uncovered a gem of a letter from my pediatrician from when I was not yet three years old. Literally typed out probably on an old IBM Selectric in courier font. I remember the smell of his office in that donut-shaped building by Southdale in Edina. Proof-positive that I have been suffering from allergies since the winter of 1966. To bolster my street cred on this, I’ve included as Exhibit A that very letter that for some reason my Mom kept all these years.
Thanks for your outpouring of sympathy. read more…
