You never know what the news will bring in an age of spy balloons and UFOs. However, on the medical front, healthcare problems have changed in the wake of the pandemic. Mental health and addiction issues have exploded. Depression and suicidal thoughts in children are higher than I’ve seen in my entire career. It appears […]
Wholly Healthy: Healthcare Prayer List
Our church has initiated a new plan for prayer. We will have an unofficial schedule during which we are advised to pray wherever we are three times daily. I like this idea. It seems an appropriate discipline in a time when the idea of spiritual discipline is often viewed as too rigid or antiquated. While […]
The Sanctity of Human Life: An Embryo from Conception to Birth
When we first learned basic reproductive science, giggling behind our hands in school, we learned that a vast number of tadpole-like sperm swim up to a round, floating egg somewhere in the mysterious geography of the female reproductive tract. Voila! An embryo is made, which (blah, blah, blah) becomes a person in roughly 40 weeks […]
Wholly Healthy: Diabetes and Weight Loss
Weight loss is a big deal and a big business. Turn on the television, cruise the internet, open a magazine and you’re bound to find something about how you can lose weight, and enrich someone else along the way. Not only is weight loss big business, it’s a critical health intervention in a nation plagued […]
Wholly Healthy: Diabetes Treatment
Diabetes, like so many diseases, is a complex disorder. When it comes to what we usually call type 1, or insulin dependent diabetes, we really aren’t sure how it begins. Some researchers believe it is genetic, others believe it begins with an infection that attacks the pancreas, thus causing insulin-producing cells to cease to function. […]
Wholly Healthy: What Should You Check Every Day?
I just saw a patient who had elevated blood pressure. He had a history of this and took appropriate medication. He had no symptoms or complaints, except that the number was up more than normal. His wife informed me, with a smile and a shake of her head, that he checked his blood pressure all […]
Wholly Healthy: Minor Wounds Can Be Big Problems
I’ve seen a lot of wounds over the course of my medical career — some of them from car crashes, others from assaults. Many of them have been work-related injuries or resulted from the use of tools around the home. Still others have been due to animal bites or stings. The injuries I listed above […]
Wholly Healthy: What Is an Ectopic Pregnancy?
I just saw a post on social media that proclaimed, “An ectopic pregnancy is not a real pregnancy.” This was, of course, in response to legal questions in the wake of Roe v. Wade. It was also wrong and confusing. As Christians, it is incumbent on us not to simply be people who scream slogans […]
Wholly Healthy: Becoming a Doctor
July is upon us, and it’s a big month in the world of medicine. July 1 is traditionally the day that medical school graduates start their residency training. It’s a time of anxiety for those physicians and also can be a time of confusion for people being seen and treated by them in hospitals and […]
Wholly Healthy: Drive Someone to the Doctor
The practice of medicine is complicated and requires very specific knowledge and skills. However, no matter how much we doctors know, there are things that limit the health and access of patients. The problem is, these things are inglorious and easily overlooked by an already overstressed and understaffed healthcare system. I’ve learned over the years […]