Articles are written by Stephanie Jewett, RN, MBA. I hope to provide input for patients, caregivers, other nurses and the general public. Thanks so much for stopping by; I hope you will consider linking to my site! Be sure to check out the RSS feed and Twitter buttons located on the upper portion of the sidebar.
Stomach cancer (also called gastric cancer) is the growth of cancer cells in the lining and wall of the stomach. These two terms most often refer to stomach cancer that begins in the mucus-producing cells on the inside
Early Gastric Cancer
lining of the stomach (adenocarcinoma). Adenocarcinoma is the most common type of stomach cancer. For information purposes, it might be helpful to know that the body is made up of many types of cells. Normally, cells grow, divide and then die. Sometimes, cells change and begin to grow and divide more quickly than normal cells. Rather than dying, these abnormal cells clump together to form tumors. If these tumors are malignant (cancerous), they can invade and kill your body’s healthy tissues. From these tumors, cancer cells can spread (metastasize) and form new tumors Read more…
I remember as a child, a friend of mine had a disorder called idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. It sounded so awful and I thought she was really sick. However, she had the acute form that disappeared and she was fine. The blood disorder, referred to most commonly as ITP, is characterized by an abnormal decrease in the number of platelets in the blood. Platelets are cells in the blood that help stop bleeding. So, an individual Read more…
Diverticulosis is a condition which affects your large intestine, more commonly referred to as the colon. Nutrition is digested and food is absorbed in the 20 feet of your small intestine – the long, thin portion of the bowel that begins at the stomach and ends in the right, lower abdomen. Following digestion, the liquid waste enters the 5 feet of the large intestine (colon) which ends in the rectum. Just above the rectum, there is an s-shaped portion of the colon called the sigmoid colon, and this is where diverticulosis usually occurs. A colon affected by diverticulosis has weak spots in the walls and these Read more…
If you’ve been considering a profession in medicine, but are reticent to spend the next decade of your life in school, you may want to look into nursing as an excellent outlet for both your desire to help others and your interest in the medical field. Not only are there several different degrees available for the profession (from certification to an associate’s degree to a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing, and beyond), there are also Read more…
The thymus gland is in the upper part of the mediastinum (chest) behind the sternum and extending upwards into the root of the neck. It is a small organ (reaching its maximum weight of about 1 ounce during puberty) that slowly decreases in size during adulthood and is gradually replaced by fat tissue. During fetal development and childhood, the thymus produces white blood cells, called lymphocytes, that travel to lymph nodes (bean-sized collections of immune system cells) throughout the body. There they help the Read more…
Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a disorder characterized by massive systemic activation of coagulation with consumption of platelets and coagulation proteins. Normally, when you are injured, certain proteins in the blood become activated and travel to the injury site to help stop bleeding. However, in persons with DIC, these proteins become abnormally active. The disorder presents in a very ill patient Read more…
Diabetic neuropathies are among the most frequent complication of long-term diabetes. It is estimated that 60% to 70% of diabetics have mild to severe forms of nervous system damage. The femoral nerve is commonly involved giving rise to symptoms in the legs and feet. Pain is the chief symptom and tends to worsen at night when the person is at rest. It is usually relieved by activity and aggravated by cold. Paraesthesias are a common accompaniment of the pain. Cramping, tenderness and muscle Read more…
Witnessing a seizure can be scary and it is important that you know what to do in case of the event. First, a seizure is normally caused by abnormal electrical discharges in the brain or by fainting (decrease in blood flow to the brain). The symptoms vary depending on the part of the brain involved, but often include unusual sensations, uncontrollable muscle spasms and Read more…
It is estimated that 10 million people over age 50 in the United States have osteoporosis, 80 percent of them women. Another 34 million people have osteopenia (low bone mass), which predisposes them to developing osteoporosis as they age. One in two women and about one in four men over age 50 will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture during their lifetime. The term osteoporosis actually means “porous bones” – a condition in which the bones Read more…
My oldest son always carries an EPI-pen (short for Epinephrine); as I have to give him three shots for his severe allergies to just about everything ‘green’. It is a life saving drug that is used for cardiac arrest, allergic reaction, asthma attacks and emphysema patients. Early this month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration put Epinephrine on its list of Read more…
