Medical Examiner 3-19-21 by Daniel Pearson

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MARCH 19, 2021

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Best-selling author Michael Connelly’s books feature a homicide detective named Hieronymus Bosch who investigates murders using a simple philosophy: either everybody matters or nobody does. In other words, solving the murder of a homeless junkie or strung out hooker whose body is found in a filthy alley has to be just as important as finding the killer of some famous rich person whose body lies on the cool marble of a palatial mansion. If one doesn’t matter, then neither does the other. That seems like a sentiment most of us would readily agree with. Reality is a little different, however. As you’ve probably noticed, the planet is in the middle of a pandemic (well, hopefully well past the middle). Healthcare workers have been stressed to the breaking point and beyond for more than a year as they deal with unrelenting stress brought on by massive patient loads and more than half a million deaths from the virus alone. The past year has exacted a huge mental toll on these hard-working professionals. You might even think something is wrong with a frontline worker who isn’t emotionally affected by the pandemic. Doctors, however, are supposed to be immune from it all. In fact, if they report a mental health issue or ask for help, they can pay an enormous professional price. Their careers could end. Pamela Wible, an Oregon physician and friend of the Medical Examiner, has become an activist in the fight for physicians to be allowed to be human beings with actual feelings. She maintains a suicide prevention hotline for doctors and medical students, an especially important mission given the fact that doctors have the highest suicide rate of any profession, more than double the rate in the general population. Despite that sobering fact, many healthcare organizations penalize physicians who voice the need for help. As one doctor told Wible, “I drive 300 miles [away] to seek care and always pay cash. I am forced to lie on my state relicensing every year. There is no way in hell I would ever disclose this to the medical board—they are not our friends.” The flip side of this issue is where Meghan Markle comes in. She matches doctors in a key metric: what could they possibly be depressed about? Why would a beautiful, wealthy, entitled duchess want to end her life? Doctors suffer from a similar PR problem. They are members of one of the most respected professions in our society. M.D. after a name conveys an unspoken message of prestige, wealth and success. Earlier this month, Dr. Joe Stothert, the husband of Omaha, Nebraska’s, mayor commited suicide at the couple’s home. In response, Dr. Wible received the following comment: “All I feel is anger about what a stupid thing such a renowned, handsome, wealthy man with a mansion and gorgeous mayor for a wife did. Disgusting. I live on $800 a month, I’m seriously ill in my 70s living on public assistance. I have to live through hell.” Unfortunately, big houses and beautiful spouses do not prevent depression, anxiety, PTSD, or any other cause of mental stress — in England or America. Dr. Wible tells the story of a physician friend who witnessed 13 patients die in a

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THE FIRST 40 YEARS ARE ALWAYS THE HARDEST

MARCH 19, 2021

PART 1

PARENTHOOD by David W. Proefrock, PhD

Your 3-year-old daughter bites her own arm when she is frustrated or angry. She doesn’t break the skin, but she bites hard enough to leave marks. What do you do? A. Loudly tell her “No!” and swat her lightly on the arm when she bites herself. B. Ignore her. She’s just doing it to get attention. C. Give her what she wants or help her so she won’t hurt herself. D. Calmly tell her that it is not okay to bite herself and work with her to handle frustration in a better way. If you answered: A. This will probably make the situation worse. It will increase her anger and frustration. B. This reasoning is incorrect. She is expressing frustration, not looking for attention. Do what you can to help her to handle frustration more appropriately. C. If you do this, you are likely to end up with a spoiled child who is unable to deal with adversity. D. This is the best response. Don’t overreact, but work with her on better ways to deal with frustration. It is important for children to learn to handle adversity and 3 is not too early to start. Try teaching her to shake her fist, or stomp on the floor. There are plenty of things better than biting herself. + Dr. Proefrock is a retired clinical and forensic child psychologist.

Longtime Examiner readers fondly remember “Musings of a Distractable Mind,” the long-running Examiner column by local physician extraordinaire Rob Lamberts, M.D. He returns here with the first installment of a short series addressing COVID concerns, vaccine questions and more. I’m excited. In 3 weeks I will visit my elderly parents. I saw them briefly in September, but kept my contact to a minimum and got tested twice (with an oh-sodeep nasal swab) before going. But now I don’t have that worry because they have been vaccinated and so have I. So when I go I don’t have to worry that my presence might kill them. Yeah, it’s that simple. I may still annoy them, but I won’t kill them. It is hard for me to express how much less anxiety I have since getting vaccinated; I have much less fear of getting sick, having to quarantine, or (worst of all) harming people around me. For the past year we’ve all lived under the stress of a disease few had heard of prior to this pandemic. These vaccines are the only real way out from that stress, and I’m happy to see them embraced by the vast majority of my patients. But there are some who hesitate. Some people worry about how quickly the vaccines were developed, and what the long-term effects of a rapidly developed vaccine could be. Others still don’t fear the disease itself, and so don’t think using a new vaccine is worth the risk for them. Then there are those who have been jaded by how political this has become and so don’t trust anything pushed by the government at this point. So here is my best sales pitch for you to get vaccinated. I’ll try to address the fears and doubts about the vaccines you may have and hopefully get us all on the road to a life with concerts, sporting events, and no more masks. Myth 1: COVID is not all that bad So is COVID really that bad, or was it more a product of the press and the more liberal side of politics? As of today (March 8), there have been more

than 29 million cases of COVID reported and 538,571 deaths in the US. For those who question the legitimacy of these numbers, let me direct you to this link [https://ourworldindata. org/excess-mortality-covid] that focuses on an important statistic called excess mortality which describes the number of deaths from all causes above what is expected at any point in the year. The data is shown in the chart below. Notice the obvious: 2020 exceeded the previous 5 years every single week beginning in the middle of March, 2020 (the red line). Up in the upper left hand corner is the 2021 number, which is quite high as well. Now, these excess deaths are not all directly due to COVID-19. Many people avoided ERs during the worse times of the pandemic, so it’s very likely that people had heart attacks and stayed home, where in past years they would’ve sought care. The website explains: The raw death count helps give us a sense of scale: for example, the US suffered roughly 500,000 more deaths than the five-year average between 1 March and 27 December 2020, compared to 340,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths during that period. So either people died of things other than COVID (accounting for the difference) or some of the COVID deaths were unreported. This data also contradicts the idea that people dying from other illnesses were labeled as COVID (which, by the way, is NOT reimbursed better than non-COVID deaths). There would not be an excess mortality in that case, and the difference between 2020 and previous years is anything but subtle. +

by Dr. Rob Lamberts, Augusta GA

What’s Myth 2? Tune in next issue.

Excess mortality during COVID;19; Number of US deaths from all causes compared to previous years

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MARCH 19, 2021

MEGHAN MATTERS… from page 1 single day, then had to deal with a resident physician’s suicide attempt. At that point she begged for help. She was told to leave town for any treatment she received, pay cash, and use a pseudonym. “Most patients seek health care without jeopardizing their careers,” says Wible, “yet doctors must report anxiety, PTSD, even postpartum depression, to medical boards and hospitals.” So how do doctors get help? Wible has compiled a list, only a portion of which is included here, of ways physicians access mental health care while remaining anonymous: • Use fake names or pseudonyms • Pay cash or crypto (not insurance) • Drive hundreds of miles to distant cities for care • Pay cash for drugs at multiple out-of-state pharmacies • Self-medicate with in-office drugs • Use Canadian pharmacies • Obtain psychiatric prescriptions by endocrinologist spouse, radiologist friend, orthopaedic surgeon colleague • Get drugs shipped from psychiatrist mom • Have non-physician family members feign mental illness to get psych drugs they divert to doctor • See psychiatrists who only use paper charts with fake names or initials locked in fingerprint safes • Choose psychiatrists who keep sparse or no medical records • Travel internationally to get psychiatric care and meds • See unlicensed healers who keep no documentation • Use physician business retreats for mental

health care • Call suicide helpline anonymously for routine care (sometimes weekly) • Meet psychiatrists at secret entrance to office (or in hotel, alley, or parking lot) • Share psych drugs with each other as medical trainees • Rely on spouse or pastor for mental health care All of these strategies of deception and disguise are in response to a healthcare system that has a disturbing tendency to turn its back on its own at their hour of greatest need — or to provide the care, but then deem the provider (now presumably cured, or at least on the way to a cure) as ill-suited for the job. It’s little wonder that of the ten worst professions for suicide risk, four of them are in the medical field. The standard suicide statistic in medicine is 300 to 400 per year, more than a doctor a day lost to self-inflicted death. And that was before the pandemic. It’s hard to imagine that the unprecedented year just endured would result in an improvement. The system is stacked against it. That’s where you have to admire Meghan Markle. It took tremendous courage to make the kind of admission she did on a global stage. She opened herself up to an avalanche of criticism. After all, what could she possibly be depressed about? She has everything. As it turns out she did not have the one thing she needed: appropriate health care. It’s the ultimate irony that the very people to whom she wanted to turn, a group with the very same needs, is a group that can’t even access its own product. How tragic that a physician who seeks help to prevent literal suicide could be committing career suicide. +

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Why are people having more reactions after the second vaccine? It might seem a bit puzzling, like eating a spoonful of the best ice cream you’ve ever tasted — but then the second spoonful tastes terrible and makes you sick. You might conclude there was something in that second helping that wasn’t in the first. With ice cream that could conceivably be true, but in the case of the vaccines currently being administered worldwide, one dose is the same as the next. That is, one Moderna dose is like any other Moderna dose, all Pfizers are alike, and so are all doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. If you’ve had your second dose and experienced side effects, or if your second dose is coming up and you’re apprehensive, relax. Enjoy. Side effects are a good thing. Say what? It’s true. And there’s a reason that side effects are more common after the second dose than the first. The first dose essentially alerts the posse that we hope will hunt down and capture any viral cells that show up in our system. It does so by circulating a molecular wanted poster throughout the body - “Wanted: COVID-19, Dead or Alive Except for the Alive Part.” The second dose, identical to the first, acts as a combination booster shot and trial run. It fortifies the initial dose and at the same time mimics a fake COVID invasion. That sets off a response that can feel like a mild case of exactly what is being battled, with resulting symptoms like chills and/or fever, body aches, headaches, and so on. These side effects should be welcomed because they are evidence that your immune system is alive and well, working as it is supposed to. That doesn’t mean that the absence of side effects means the vaccine was ineffective. In fact, as we age our immune systems aren’t quite as robust as they were in our younger years, so some older adults have milder side effects than younger people. Rest assured, though, the vaccines are effective. +

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MARCH 19, 2021

AUGUSTAMEDICALEXAMiNER

#135 IN A SERIES

Who is this? ON THE ROAD TO BETTER HEALTH A PATIENT’S PERSPECTIVE Editor’s note: Augusta writer Marcia Ribble, Ph.D., is a retired English and creative writing professor who offers her unique perspective as a patient. Contact her at marciaribble@hotmail.com

s you can plainly see, this physician and medical researcher was too busy inventing and innovating to pose for a decent portrait. So it’s pretty ironic that what he is most famous for inventing employs a camera. His name was Masaki Watanabe (1911-1995), and his medical career was fortunate to have been practiced in Japan. More about that in a moment. Japan aside for the time being, Watanabe’s career was built on the shoulders of another giant of innovation, Thomas Edison. His 1879 invention of the incandescent light bulb was followed less than a decade later by the first attempts by doctors to peer inside a patient’s body through a lighted tube. Hot light bulbs posed quite a problem, however, and when bulbs broke patients and their doctors had a whole new set of problems to deal with. Despite the drawbacks, by 1912 a Danish doctor had invented a new branch of medicine and a word to describe it: arthroscopy. But the discipline was severely limited by technical challenges. Lights in early arthroscopes were too large to be practical, and they were still, after all, incandescent. By definition, they were hot. And they still broke. One doctor in particular, Kenji Takagi, was determined to devise a workable scope of some kind to treat his patients in Japan, where squatting and kneeling are cultural staples — and very hard on knees. Takagi wanted to be able to examine his patients’ stiff knees and armed with that information, treat them more effectively. He spent 20 years designing, building and testing a series of arthroscopes. None of them were entirely satisfactory, but one of his students, yes, Masaki Watanabe, took up the challenge and by 1958 he had developed the world’s first useful and practical arthroscope, the 21st version of the original Takagi design. It was the 22nd version, revealed by Watanabe in 1967, that marked the giant leap that made arthroscopy widely useful. That version employed tiny fiber optic cables to deliver cold light into knee joints and other body parts. It didn’t matter if a hot and fragile light bulb was still the light source; it could be ten feet away now. Size was minimized too, with working scopes as small as coat hanger wire. With a truly useful tool finally in hand, it made sense to start developing optional features to make arthroscopes more useful. Initially they were diagnostic tools only: peek inside a knee to get the lay of the land, then immediately begin surgery. Over time, tiny tools were added to allow not just arthroscopic viewing but arthroscopic surgery. Surgeons can even place and tie sutures through their arthroscopes. Another innovation: tiny cameras, allowing everyone in the operating room to see what the surgeon is seeing, including the patient if he is awake. The value of arthroscopic procedures in accelerated recuperation time alone quicky transported this tool from the knee to locations all over the body. Millions have benefitted. +

by Marcia Ribble The temperatures go up. The temperatures go down. Our eyes itch. We’re sneezing. We do not have Covid. We have spring in Georgia. That means a lot of different things, depending on how we are feeling. How we are feeling often correlates or is tied to the weather. On sunny days I feel great. I have loads of ambition to face and complete necessary tasks. On cloudy days, not so much. I’d rather tuck myself into my recliner and take a nap. The days are filled with my responses to the weather. Yesterday was sunny. I loaded the dishwasher and did the dishes. I took a box of cake mix, added two mushed bananas, a little cup of applesauce, and a whole lot of blueberries to make a delicious cake, more like a coffee cake than a dessert cake. I had a piece yesterday. I had a piece today. I put some on a little plate for my neighbor. I put three generous pieces into the freezer. I noticed that my refrigerator needs cleaning. Nothing too grody that needs immediate attention, just an accumulation of stickiness that renders the fridge less than perfectly clean. So today that is on my list, along with countertops and the stovetop. I also need to order groceries, think about what to cook for supper, and wash my hair. But today is in that intermediate state of weather. It isn’t sunny. It isn’t raining. It’s bright but overcast. That puts my energy level in the middle. Not too ambitious, not too zombie hardly walking at all. So we’ll see how much of my list gets accomplished. You might be thinking that I am writing this column, not working to shorten my

to-do list. That does not bode too well for a lot of physically demanding tasks. But it is encouraging to note that my body may be half asleep, but my mind is working fine. I did finish reading the newspaper before noon. I did manage breakfast, although I am still owed a cup of coffee. And I recall my occupational therapist, Justin, telling me to listen to my body and conserve my energy not to the point of being motionless, but remaining wise and choosing to use the amount of energy I have on any particular day. I remember the days of raising five children and the ceaseless moving required by that job. I remember getting five children up, fed, and dressed for school before 8 am. I remember getting up early in the summer to have the clothes washed, and on the clothesline, before it even thought about being 90 degrees out. I remember corralling those kids to go strawberry picking and raspberry picking and blueberry picking in the morning and having jars of jam cooling on the counter before suppertime. Or having big bowls of mashed strawberries ready to go on my homemade biscuits. I console my aging self with those reminders of how much energy I used to have and forgive myself for having less energy as I get close to 80 and remember wanting my floors to be so shiny I could use them as a mirror. It’s been a number of years since I washed and waxed floors on my hands and knees. Now if I got down on the floor I’d have to call 911 to have help getting back up. I’m pretty sure that this is exactly how it’s supposed to be at this stage of living. Just life in the slow lane now. +

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MARCH 19, 2021

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AUGUSTAMEDICALEXAMiNER

ADVENTURES IN

Middle Age BY J.B. COLLUM

cholesterol, allergies, and an occasional gout flare up. In a five-year span, I was diagnosed with several serious maladies and as I mentioned in my last column, I now have a medicine box the size of a small SUV. Ah, middle age, you’ve given me so much! It’s a good thing I got a

when she can’t really have normal conversations with her husband anymore, or when she has to put up with him thinking she is his mother or even his grandmother. It takes an emotional toll on her and on my wife and me too. When you add that pressure to the normal pressures of life, including managing a lot of people on a job, which I also do, it really adds up. My wife was diagnosed with hypertension a while back, so we already had the blood pressure monitor that has now become my almost constant companion. I didn’t know this, but if you call your doctor and tell them that your blood pressure is 177 over 123, they will tell you to go straight to the emergency room, don’t pass go, and don’t collect $200. Did I do that? No. I probably should have, but instead, I got away from the source of stress, sat down and took a lot of deep breaths. After a few minutes of that, I took a reading again and it had fallen enough to convince me to skip the trip to the ER. I ended up going to my doctor a few days later and we added the aforementioned new additions to my medicine family. We’re still working on getting my BP down, but I am going to have to examine some ways to reduce the stress in my life. It is sad that as you get older and want to do more to help others, your body has to step in and let you know that you can’t even do what you used to do, much less adding more stress on it. It has been a hard lesson to learn, but I am more cognizant of my limitations now than I have ever been and I am learning to be at peace with that. To paraphrase another Queen song title, I’ve got to keep myself alive. +

THE

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My family and I attended a concert last night. Online. Such is life under the threat of COVID-19. It wasn’t quite as much fun as attending a concert in person, but it did have its perks. No traffic jam around the venue for one thing. I didn’t need to find a parking place. No expensive food and drinks. We didn’t have to put up with rowdy people who sang along too loud or stood up in front of us all the time either. One of the more interesting benefits of an online concert is that we even got to request songs. I am happy to say that one of my requests was selected. It was a Collective Soul song, by the way. Along with the video, you could see the comments from the concert attendees. This is where they would offer their applause, other types of praise, and song requests. A few people wanted to hear the song Pressure by Queen. I did not. Fortunately, that request was not fulfilled. Besides it being perhaps my least favorite Queen song, I didn’t want to hear anything about pressure. Why not? Glad you asked. I’ll tell you. Even with all of my other maladies, I have never had high blood pressure. Heart disease? Yep. Diabetes? You bet. Arthritis? For sure. I won’t bore you with the rest. However, one thing that I had never had trouble with was high blood pressure (or hypertension if you prefer). On my checkups, it seemed as if the health professionals were even shocked that my blood pressure was normal. They would do a double-take. My reading was typically around 120ish over 70ish. I guess they were shocked because of my age, being slightly overweight (okay, not slightly, but give me a break. I’m working on it) and having so many other health issues, they thought it just would figure that I’d have hypertension also. Well, another one bites the dust! I couldn’t resist throwing another Queen song in there, but it fits. Another first for my health saga. Not that long ago, I just had high

{

Ah, middle-age. You’ve given me so much.

bigger box for my medicines, although we have now added three more in the last few weeks just to combat hypertension. Oh, and guess what? One of them makes me go to the bathroom even more than I already was. That’s fun. I had been thinking about remodeling the kitchen next, but since I’m in the bathroom so much more now, maybe I should put the bathroom remodel at the front of the line. Yeah, I think I will. Maybe I’ll even add a TV and a good sound system. I’ll have to see if I can convince my wife to put off her new kitchen. On second thought, if I did that I might not live to enjoy the new bathroom. The kitchen remodel will have to come first. Oh well. My newfound malady of hypertension is a weird one. It isn’t just physical. It’s also psychological. That’s my doctor’s opinion anyway. I’ll admit that I am under tremendous psychological pressure, as is my better half. Having my parents live with us and helping my mom take care of my father, who has advanced dementia, is more stressful than I thought it would be. That’s saying something because I wasn’t sure we could handle it even before we moved them in. Now almost two years later, as my father’s condition has further deteriorated, it is getting more and more difficult. It isn’t just having to deal with him either. It’s not easy seeing the effect it has on my mother

J.B. Collum is a local novelist, humorist and columnist who wants to be Mark Twain when he grows up. He may be reached at johnbcollum@gmail.com

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TRYTHISDISH MARCH 19, 2021

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by Kim Beavers, MS, RDN, CDCES Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Chef Coach, Author Follow Kim on Facebook: facebook.com/eatingwellwithkimb

GREEN BEAN AND POTATO SALAD This Tea Time at the Masters salad is delicious and a perfect match for any summer outing. Ingredients: • 2 lbs red skinned new potatoes cut into thick wedges • 3 cups of fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half • 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (Kim’s change: Use 4 Tbs. olive oil) • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar • 2 teaspoons crushed garlic • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1/2 teaspoon pepper • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard • 3 green onions, chopped • 1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves Instructions: Cook the potatoes and green beans separately in enough water to cover just until tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Drain and rinse, then combine in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, vinegar and garlic together. Whisk in the salt, pepper and Dijon mustard. Pour over the potatoes and beans. Add the green onions and basil and toss gently to

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mix. Cover and chill for 2 hours before serving. Yield: 8 Servings (Serving size: ¾ cup) Nutrition Breakdown: Calories 190, Fat 11g (1g saturated, 8g monounsaturated), Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 170mg, Carbohydrate 21g, Fiber 4g, Protein 3g, Potassium 657mg, 75mg. Percent Daily Value: 10% Vitamin A, 25% Vitamin C, 4%

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MARCH 19, 2021

WHO TOOK MY BEER? PART 2 by Ken Wilson Steppingstones to Recovery

To bring us up to speed in our story thus far (see also the Feb. 19 issue online at www. issuu.com/medicalexaminer), somewhere along the way Bubba starts having some pain as a result of his drinking, and he subconsciously leaves Precontemplation, Stage 1 of the sobriety journey, and enters the second stage of change, Contemplation. I assure you, this takes place without his conscious awareness. He is considering change, but he’s not ready yet. He wants to keep drinking more than he wants to stop, and is thinking of all the problems sobriety will bring. “After all these years of going home and relaxing in the recliner or stopping by the bar, what am I going to do after work if I stop drinking? I’m not sure if I can do this. I’m going to lose a lotta friends. If I go to rehab it’s going to cost money. I may have a little drinking problem but I’m not as bad as a lot of people. Maybe I need to change, I’m just not ready yet. I’ll quite someday.” I pinned a t-shirt to the wall in our group room that lists the days of the week, Sunday through Saturday. Then it ends with “See? There is no Someday.” There’s even a book about this sentiment titled I’ll Quit Tomorrow. Sadly, without proper intervention and guidance, some people spend a lifetime contemplating this second stage of change. In fact, each stage of change progresses faster with proper guidance

— which is not nagging, begging, crying, and whining. Keep your cool. It’s better not to speak at all than to speak in a manner that pushes your loved one back into a shell. A fine line to walk, right? At the contemplation stage, people are on a see-saw, up and down, bouncing up and then hitting the ground with all their thoughts about sobriety. They are all over the place with their thoughts and feelings. They are weighing upsides and downsides, and at first they see them as even. In time, if they progress to stage 3, they see the benefits of stopping as outweighing continuing to drink. This stage is not the time to try to think for them, but to let them come to their own conclusions…sometimes with you laying out consequences for continued drinking. One time. Low and slow. No haggling but no harangues either. Say what you mean and mean what you say. They are more ready to hear you now than in stage 1, Pre-Contemplation. At this stage of contemplation people are open to ideas and information as long as they are spoon fed and not force fed. Most of us prefer to drink water from a cup than from a fire hydrant. Also, realize that most people, most of the time, have to go through the stages of change one at a time. They cannot skip stages or go up the scale two steps at a time instead of one. Patience, patience. This is not the time to swat the wasp…you’ll probably miss and it could come back to bite you.

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN A monthly series by an Augusta drug treatment professional

I might suggest you view some movies about rehab and addiction, perhaps even with your loved one but not as a ploy…just for fun. You can do an internet search for them…I just found a list with 12-16 of them! Some you might recognize are: Clean and Sober, A Star is Born, Flight, 28 Days, Crazy Heart, and When a Man Loves a Woman. You may never completely understand why an alcoholic drinks, but perhaps you can connect with the struggle to stay clean and sober and these movies could help. It is too soon to watch the movie about the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous with your loved one, but you could watch it alone or with friends and learn a lot about the process of sobriety. Many people in this stage of change are planning on beginning new behaviors sometime within the next six months, although officially they are still on the fence about it. Until the next stage, that is. Which we’ll discuss next month. Until then, just don’t take their beer. Not yet. +

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DON’T LICK THE BEATERS Useful food facts from dietetic interns with the Augusta University MS-Dietetic Internship Program

THE FIBER FACT FILE

by Yasmine Boumenir Augusta University Dietetic Intern

Throughout the pandemic, many of us have had to adapt to studying and working from home, and while that’s a welcome relief to some, it also has brought a more sedentary lifestyle with it. A sedentary lifestyle is characterized by minimal movement and has far-reaching implications on our health. A troubling effect of a sedentary lifestyle is lower gut motility, or how long it takes food to make its transit through the digestive system. When you’re not enjoying regular physical activity or getting your recommended 10,000 steps a day, this can be an unpleasant problem, but not necessarily an unavoidable one. To date, research says one of the best ways to counter lower gut motility caused by inactivity is eating foods higher in soluble and insoluble fibers. While this may not be news to you, the newly released Dietary Guidelines of Americans for 2020-2025 reports that more than 97% of men and 90% of women do not meet their daily requirements for fiber. As noted in a 2019 Nutrients journal article, water-insoluble fibers act as bulking material in stool and increase gut motility. If you consciously reach for whole foods containing fiber, you may find yourself

satiated for a longer period of time, as noted in a clinical nutrition reviews. This is due to the filling effect insoluble

MEDITERRANEAN SWEET SNACK • 1 Apple (Fuji) • 1 Tb Carob Molasses • 1 Tb Tahini 1. Wash the apple and carefully cut into wedges. 2. In a small bowl, mix carob syrup or molasses with tahini (1-to-1 ratio). The end result should resemble a caramel-colored mix with the viscosity of yogurt. 3. Dip your apple or celery slices in and enjoy!

and soluble fibers have. The good news is that they are easily found across a wide range of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. The recommended daily allowances of fiber for men and women are 30 and 25 grams of fiber, respective-

ly. Unfortunately, only half of all Americans consume this much dietary fiber on a daily basis. Typically, people consume more in the range of 15-16 grams of fiber a day. So what is the difference between soluble and insoluble fibers? Insoluble fiber works to keep bulk in your stool while simultaneously feeding the microbiota in our gut. That’s right: insoluble fiber works as a prebiotic to prevent constipation, which means a happy and healthy gut. This kind of fiber isn’t absorbed by the intestines and can typically be found in vegetables and fruit. Then there is soluble fiber, the kind that absorbs water. This has direct benefits for you. Not only does soluble fiber help regulate blood sugar, but it also lowers “bad” cholesterol (LDL). Because it absorbs a lot of water, make sure to consume water regularly if your diet is high in soluble fiber. Practically speaking, there are any number of ways to increase fiber in your diet. Having a bowl of seasonal fruits that’s within reach is a common choice. Personally, I like to keep bowls of nuts around my sitting area to snack on regularly. Blending fruits and vegetables into smoothies is another great way to get extra fiber if you are on the go. You can also be sure to incorporate healthy amounts of fiber in main meals alongside healthy snacks and regular physical activity. Yes, walking from the couch to the refrigerator or bathroom counts, but the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend moving a little bit more, at least 150 minutes a week of moderate to intense aerobic activity, to be precise. If you prefer more vigorous activity, such as Please see FIBER page 11

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CRASH

COURSE

More Americans have died on US roads since 2000 than in World Wars I & II combined

There are reams of additional facts and figures we could fill up space with here, but pretty much everyone already knows teen drivers are more at risk than other groups. So let’s devote the rest of this column to ways they can be helped. If you gotta love ’em, exactly how do you show it? Start with the decision to not simply throw them the keys once they have a license. Parents should begin long before that, even before they get their learner’s permit, to help them understand the serious responsibilities that come with driving. Failing to acknowledge those can lead to hospitals, wheelchairs, jail cells and cemeteries. Enrolling in formal driver training is a great idea. The cost is well worth it (and might even result in significant insurance savings). Establishing and clearly communicating house rules about driving privileges is essential. Even matters as simple as not playing the radio while driving should be addressed, but texting while driving should be at the top of your Thou Shall Not list. Ditto for drinking and driving. Parents, don’t be naive enough to think your perfect little angel would never do such a thing. Make sure they remember that it is against your house rules and against the law. And it’s also stupid and reckless. Speaking of naiveté, let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that sitting Junior down for a rules of the road discussion will be the prevent-all and cure-all for any potential driving indiscretions. It would be nice, but that’s not the real world. Knowing that, many parents use an app called Life360. It’s free and can be upgraded to additional plans at low cost. It tracks things like location, speed, hard braking, rapid acceleration, texting while driving, and even collision detection and notification. The drawback is that your child has to have their cell phone with them. Oh wait, they have their cell phones 24/7/365. Problem solved! +

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o, you really do. You have to love them. And you have to show that love in concrete ways, because if you don’t, well, bad things can happen. Teenagers, bless their exuberant hearts, are rip-roaring ready to really live life. They are shiny new almost-adults, and they have wings they are dying to spread. But since they can’t literally fly, they drive. It’s the next best thing to flying. And all too often, teen driving includes a bit of flying (a euphemism for speeding, a favorite teen driving pastime). It is a sobering fact to consider that seven teenagers who woke up this morning full of life and energy will not live to see tomorrow. They will die today in traffic accidents, and hundreds more will be injured, some with lifelong consequences. Yes, that is one day’s statistics from the yearlong total (for 2018) of almost 2,500 teens in the United States aged 13–19 killed, and about 285,000 treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes. These tragedies are preventable because they are foreseeable. Parents know teen drivers are inexperienced (teen drivers themselves are not as aware of their own shortcomings). Various driving skills that might be automatic for older drivers are still being learned by teens. Accident data for 2016–2017 found that the crash rate per mile driven is about 1.5 times higher for 16-yearolds than for 18–19-year-olds. So the learning curve can be relatively short. Teens also have that sometimes endearing sense of invulnerability. Sadly, it proves to be a mirage all too often. Another relevant and revealing statistic: Among teen drivers and passengers 16–19 years of age who died in car crashes in 2018, nearly half were not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash. Even if they don’t get involved in a traffic accident, driver studies usually put teens at the very bottom of the barrel when it comes to seat belt compliance.

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Teenagers. You gotta love ‘em.

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MARCH 19, 2021 As we continue to plod through the pandemic and struggle to spend time with, oversee, and advocate for our clients and loved ones, the question of compassionate care visits for people who live in senior living facilities is critical. Please take a little time to research what CMS (Center for Medicare/ Medicaid Services) defines as a compassionate care visit for someone in a facility during the pandemic. Essentially, if someone is How can I visit my living in a facility and they are showing significant weight loved one during the loss, marked deterioration, are pandemic? struggling to adapt well, or exhibiting behaviors that need an extra layer of support, they by Amy Hane, a licensed Master might qualify for a compasSocial Worker in South Carolina sionate care visit. and Georgia, an Advanced Professional Aging Life Care Manager As a family member or and a Certified Advanced Social healthcare professional, you Work Case Manager. might be able to work with the facility to be allowed to visit, either inside the community or in a non-traditional way in order to meet the elderly person’s needs. For instance, the mother of one of our own staff members lives in a memory care community, and their family is allowed to visit with her outside or in a designated area inside the building while wearing a mask if the weather is inclement. Their visit does not have to be physically distanced because that is emotionally traumatic for their loved one. This family member has lost a significant amount of weight since entering Memory Care in June 2020, and therefore she meets one of the criteria for compassionate care visits. A staff member and her mother can be side by side while they walk around the building together and hold hands while wearing gloves. The idea is that their loved one cannot carry on a conversation, so there may seem to be limited benefit in sitting in awkward silence for 30 minutes during a socially distanced visit. Even so, regular companionship, even if brief, is beneficial, both to the person in a care facility and to the family. +

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MARCH 19, 2021

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The blog spot From the Bookshelf — posted by Michelle Housel, MD, on March 15, 2021 (edited for space)

DIET: CHEATING FOR THE WIN!

Keto, Mediterranean, Paleo, intermittent fasting. How many times have you or your patients been sucked into the latest diet trend only to crash and burn just a few weeks later? I have tried every diet in the books and every single time, draw the same conclusion: extreme dietary restrictions are not sustainable. So many of us lose weight with the newest trending diet only to gain it back months later. Many people say they can’t diet. We can. What we can’t figure out is how to cheat, and therein lies our dieting demise. As a physician, I do not advocate a specific diet program. Different nutrition methods work for different people. JAMA agrees: the best diet is the one you can actually stick to. I encourage a reimagined diet: one that mandates a cheat factor. Making healthy nutritional choices most of the time is the winning plan. Cheating is not bad; it is our friend — in the diet world at least! The problem is that the end result of cheating on our diet is often surrender. Surrender is not necessary, but cheating is! Surrendering from healthy lifestyle choices does not bring joy. It brings frustration and disappointment. We need to splurge on occasion to enjoy life. The importance of cheating is supported by numerous strategies for a “cheat factor” across many diets. Some allow for an entire day of unrestricted eating, while others confine the feast to a single meal. Another tactic is the 3-bite rule, which allows eating three bites of any bingeworthy food before stopping. The theory is that we savor the first three bites the most, so this rule helps maximize enjoyment and minimize remorse. Cheat factors are the key to making healthy eating sustainable by allowing us to satisfy cravings without derailing our progress. Of course, self-sabotage is always a possibility, so how do we splurge successfully? A good cheat factor is infrequent, limited, and 100 percent guilt-free. A successful cheat factor will require planning and preparation. Make compensation in advance. If we set limitations ahead of time, we will have a better shot at sticking to them and we set ourselves up for longterm healthy eating success. Cheat factors are like vacations. The joy of a vacation is not just the vacation itself. Have you ever found yourself sitting at your desk, daydreaming about your upcoming trip? Just as we anticipate and look forward to a well-deserved vacation, we can eat cucumbers and tomatoes with grilled chicken for lunch because a piece of dark chocolate awaits us after work. Our focus and determination are much improved when our brains have something pleasurable on the horizon. By definition, a cheat factor needs to be 100 percent guilt-free. Healthy eating is wonderful. It gives us energy and vitality with both physical and psychological benefits. But let’s be honest, sometimes we just want a scoop of ice cream or a drink with our pals. Skip the shame spiral and embrace the joy of living in the moment. A good diet absolutely allows for an evening with friends or an indulgent meal or dessert once in a while. Understand that when we spurge, it has purpose. Cheat factors, when planned and structured, help us savor life, so don’t skimp on them. Life is lived at the dinner table. We are social beings. We gather, eat, and drink as we celebrate friendships, milestones, and embrace life’s pits and peaks. A sustainable diet needs wiggle room to live. Plan a spurge, keep it in check, and skip the guilt. A good diet always allows for celebration. You deserve it! +

A diet needs wiggle room to live.

Michelle Housel is an internal medicine physician

The world is full of thousands of freshly minted doctors, diplomas in hand, setting off to their first residencies and the wide world beyond. Each and every one of them knows first-hand how difficult it is to make it through all the hurdles med school represents. This book tells the story of one doctor who might well tell today’s new graduates, “You have no idea how easy you had it.” Yes, this doctor could really write the book on how hard medical school is. But he was too busy for that. Someone else had to tell his story, and this book is the result. You already know how this particular plot thickened: it’s right there in the title. Dr. Jacob Bolotin was blind from the moment he took his very first breath in January of 1888. How could someone who has never seen a human being become a master of the healing arts? He never saw an anatomy chart, never looked through a microscope, never saw the dial on a blood pressure cuff or took a reading from a thermometer. He didn’t even know what skin looks like.

FIBER… from page 9

He couldn’t take notes during professor’s lectures — and even if he could, how would be read them? Yet being blind was, if you can believe it, at times the very least of Bolotin’s obstacles. From the title of the book alone, you know how the story ends: the blind medical student does indeed become a doctor. Even so, the mine-strewn journey from his earliest determination to pursue medicine to the day he earned his diploma would scarcely be believable if it were a tale of fiction. At that point (graduation), the reader expects the many pages remaining in the book will be devoted to his illustrious career and amazing accomplishments.

running, about 75 minutes a week should suffice per the guideline. For more information on physical activity, visit www.health.gov/ PAGuidelines. Important disclaimer: If you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, or ulcerative colitis, it is best to talk to your doctor and dietitian to discuss healthy ways to include fiber in your diet to avoid any contraindications. Try the delicious Mediterranean apple snack recipe on page 9 to increase your fiber: it’s healthy and diabetes-friendly. Snacking on apple slices with a dip made of carob molasses mixed in with creamy tahini (a sesame seed paste) is healthy. The carob and tahini combine to make a rich, velvety dip with a low glycemic factor, which helps to avoid a high sugar spike and crash. Tahini is also

Not quite. As it happened, graduating from the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery (today part of Loyola University) was just the beginning of the hurdles he had to clear. Doors were slammed in his face; other doors never opened: in its first six months his practice cleared a grand total of two dollars. Yet by the time his life ended, he was Chair of Diagnosis at the Chicago School of Medicine, Lecturer on Diagnosis and Diseases of the Chest at Jenner Medical College (among other positions), and had treated more than 3,500 patients, only 50 of whom were said to know Dr. Bolotin was blind. News accounts of the day frequently compared him to Helen Keller, but today nearly 90 years after his death at age 36, Jacob Bolotin is nearly forgotten. He should not be. His accomplishments in the face of obstacles and adversities most of us can barely imagine is one truly inspiring tale. + The Blind Doctor; The Jacob Bolotin Story by Rosalind Perlman, 236 pages, published in 2007 by Blue Point Books

full of healthy fats, predominantly omega-6 fatty acids, as well as vitamins and minerals. Caution: tahini contains sesame, which is an allergen for some. + Sources: • Howarth, N. C., Saltzman, E., & Roberts, S. B. (2001). Dietary fiber and weight regulation. Nutrition reviews, 59(5), 129–139. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.2001.tb07001.x • Soliman G. A. (2019). Dietary Fiber, Atherosclerosis, and Cardiovascular Disease. Nutrients, 11(5), 1155. https://doi.org/10.3390/ nu11051155 • Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 • Executive Summary: Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, Second Edition. Department of Health and Human Services. USA. Feb 19, 2021 URL: Physical Activity | health.gov

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MARCH 19, 2021

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Right before I boarded I went to the restroom and my zipper broke. It just And for that you got Yeah. They put me completely came apart. bumped off the flight??? on a no fly list.

Not good. TSA wouldn’t let me board a plane, so What in the How was your trip? I had to take the bus. world happened?

PUZZLE ACROSS 1. _____ Gordon 6. Around prefix 10. Within prefix 14. Slow (in music) 15. Ready for business 16. Incline 17. ____ Flu 18. Infant mort. cause 19. It can be posted or jumped 20. Paine’s _______-Lambuth chapel 22. Post-mortem 24. ____ up, as with bread 25. Brag; boast 26. Of black & white ancestry (obsolete; offensive) 30. Little ball stand 31. Curved bone 34. One and all 36. Just an ordinary Joe 38. Sci-fi classic 39. Cinemas owner 42. Kelly on TV 43. Greek epic poem 45. Short joke 47. Metal container 48. Doctrine suffix 51. Single-celled adjective 52. Rectangular pier 53. Constrictor beginning 54. Telfair St museum name 57. Continuing 62. Parched 63. ______ history 65. Stomach woe 66. Stead 67. Flightless bird 68. Fragrant resin 69. Took a tumble 70. Management person (in short) 71. Radioactive gas, element no. 86

24 26

35 39 44

36 40

45 49

37 42

46 51

52 54

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E X A M I N E R

7 9 4 4 3 9 6 9 5 8 2 4 1 9

3 4 1 2 8 5 8 5 3 2 4 7 3 5

S U D O K U

DIRECTIONS: Every line, vertical and horizontal, and all nine 9-square boxes must each contain the numbers 1 though 9. Solution on page 14.

33. Get on 35. Self-esteem 37. Child’s bed 40. Steroids starter 41. Yellow citrus fruit 44. Take dinner 46. Word often following little and big 49. TIA as it’s more commonly known 50. Reeves movie 52. Arabic word meaning slave or servant 54. One of two equal parts 55. Great lake 56. Monetary unit of Cambodia 58. Earthen pot 59. Like most tea 60. Captain of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 61. Smile 64. Reverence; admiration

DOWN 1. Common type of stone 2. Son of Jacob and Leah 3. Indigo dye 4. Thrust with a knife 5. Integrity 6. Defer; delay 7. Upon or above prefix 8. Edit or censor, as a legal document 9. Cover with Nationwide 10. Type of grease? 11. Low tide 12. Raised platform 13. Solely 21. Rotating member 23. Lower digits 26. Corpsman 27. The throat’s “little grape” (Latin) 28. Russian Premier 1917-1924 29. Extent of space 31. Nose prefix 32. Louvre Pyramid architect

Simply unscramble the letters, then begin exploring our ads. When you find the correctly spelled word hidden in one of our ads — enter at AugustaRx.com

Solution p. 14

QUOTATIONPUZZLE O S E M W S O H O F E U A T R E O F I I W L I H O U B L S V I S T I T K T I L E E R U R T

8 6 5 1 7 9 4 3 O 1 2 6T 8 9L 5 3 4 2 7

— Kahlil Gibran

DIRECTIONS: Recreate a timeless nugget of wisdom by using the letters in each vertical column to fill the boxes above them. Once any letter is used, cross it out in the lower half of the puzzle. Letters may be used only once. Black squares indicate spaces between words, and words may extend onto a second line. Solution on page 14.

Use the letters provided at bottom to create words to solve the puzzle above. All the listed letters following #1 are the first letters of the various words; the letters following #2 are the second letters of each word, and so on. Try solving words with letter clues or numbers with minimal choices listed. A sample is shown. Solution on page 14.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 H A 1 2 3 1 2 3

S 1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

O 1 2

1 2 3 4

— Mark Twain

1.TTHOABLA 2.LOOFREHH 3.STELENS 4.TEST 5.S 6.T 7.Y

SAMPLE:

1. ILB 2. SLO 3. VI 4. NE 5. D =

L 1

O 2

V 3

E 4

I 1

S 2

B 1

L 2

I 3

N 4

D 5

WORDS NUMBER

THE MYSTERY WORD The Mystery Word for this issue: BEOVIRET

EXAMINER CROSSWORD

MARCH 19, 2021

3 2 4 5 9 7 8 1 6

5 7 6 1 3 4 2 8 9

2 9 3 6 8 5 1 7 4

4 8 1 2 7 9 6 5 3

MARCH 19, 2021

AUGUSTAMEDICALEXAMiNER

THEBESTMEDICINE ha... ha...

The

13 +

Advice Doctor

Moe: How can you tell if a fisherman is rich? Joe: Check his net income.

Moe: What is one of the worst things you could possibly hear in a Mexican prison? Joe: Jesus loves you.

horse walks into a bar and the bartender takes one look at him and asks, “Why the long face?” The horse sighs, rolls his eyes and says, “Joe, we’ve been over this.”

Moe: Well, this morning we had probably the last frost of the season. Joe: I know. I had trouble scraping the ice off my windshield. Moe: What did you use? Joe: I used an old discount card I found in my wallet, but I could only get 20% off. Farmers writing romance novels: As she reached for Jake, her luscious body tensed and quivered as she felt wave after wave surge through it. “I probably should have told her about the electric fence,” thought Jake. Moe: Hey, I’ve got a coronavirus joke for you. Joe: Fire away. Moe: What do you call the fear of public toilets? Joe: Common sense.

Moe: You know the only thing flat-earthers fear? Joe: What? Moe: Sphere itself. Moe: Spring training is in full swing. Joe: Don’t remind me. Moe: I thought you love baseball. Joe: I do. That’s my problem. My wife says my whole life revolves around baseball and she’s sick of it. She’s leaving me. Moe: That’s a shame. Joe: Tell me about it. We were together for seven seasons. Moe: Did you hear about the cannibalistic lion? Joe: No, what happened? Moe: He swallowed his pride. Tom Hanks, age 103, is on his deathbed. The doctor is at his bedside and tells his family, “There’s not much we can do at this point.” The family turns to Tom and asks, “What are your wishes for the funeral? Do you want burial or cremation?” Tom Hanks slowly lifts up a finger and points it towards his own body and utters his final words. “Urn this.” Moe: What do you call a group of introverts? Joe: An oxymoron. +

Why subscribe to theMEDICALEXAMINER? What do you mean?

Staring at my phone all day has had no Effect on ME!

Because try as they might, no one can stare at their phone all day.

Dear Advice Doctor, I’ve been seeing this guy for a few months. I really like him, but I hadn’t decided yet if he’s “the one.” But then the other day out of the blue there he is on one knee popping the question. Believe me, I was totally blind-sided. And the ring! OMG! It took my breath away! All of a sudden I’m no longer on the fence, but could it just be the ring? It’s stunning. — Should I Say Yes? Dear Should I, I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve helped someone with this problem. Actually, let me take that back. I usually end up billing several thousand dollars every time I help someone in your situation. That may seem like a lot, but in case you hadn’t noticed, breathing is pretty important to living. Sometimes it takes several tests and a little detective work to determine what has taken a person’s breath away. For something so important, there are dozens of things that can compromise our ability to breathe, and ironically, some of them aren’t even physical. Extreme nervousness and anxiety and resulting panic attacks can sometimes leave a person gasping for breath. The cause may be purely mental, but the results are definitely physical. On the other hand there are plenty of physical causes for breathing trouble. Some of them are true medical emergencies, others are potential emergencies, and still others are a serious inconvenience that needs to be addressed and monitored closely. In the inconvenience category are things like allergic reactions to dust when you’re cleaning the attic, or shortness of breath when youy just climbed three flights of stairs. Chronic conditions like asthma, emphysema, pneumonia, COPD and other respiratory issues can also take your breath away and should be matters that you and your doctor are addressing. Various heart conditions can also cause shortness of breath, and these too are matters that your doctor should be treating you for. No matter what the cause is, every breathing issue is feels serious to the person experiencing it. With something so vital, if there is any doubt about the severity of the problem or its potential to worsen, it’s always better to call 9-1-1 earlier than later. Thank you for writing. I hope I answered your question. + Do you have a question for The Advice Doctor about health, life, love, personal relationships, career, raising children, or any other important topic? Send it to News@AugustaRx.com. Replies will be provided only in the Examiner.

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THE MYSTERY SOLVED The Mystery Word in our last issue was: ALLERGY ...cleverly hidden on the wrap in the p. 15 ad for ROLY POLY

THE WINNER: ALESIA SOMERVILL! Want to find your name here next time? If it is, we’ll send you some cool swag from our goodie bag. The new Mystery Word is on page 12. Start looking!

THE PUZZLE SOLVED F L A G

L E V I

M E D I C

U V U L A

H A L F

E R I E

A N I L

S T A B

H O N E S L A T E R Y N E I A D N I A N R B E I D E U L L

R O T O R

P O S T P O N E

S T R O K E

M A T R I X

E R I P E N I D S A U C R T E E G A L O N E A M B O O N A L W I E C

E L B T O O W E S C R L I E B A G O U L E L R A

N E A P

D A I S

O N L Y

R H I N O

I M P E I

B O A R D

I C E D

N E M O

G R I N

SEVEN SIMPLE RULES: 1. Unscramble and find the designated word hidden within one of the ads in this issue. 2. Visit the Reader Contests page at www.AugustaRx.com. 3. Tell us what you found and where you found it. 4. If you’re right and you’re the one we pick at random, you win. (Winners within the past six months are ineligible.) 5. Prizes awarded to winners may vary from issue to issue. Limited sizes are available for shirt prize. 6. A photo ID may be required to claim some prizes. 7. Other entrants may win a lesser prize at the sole discretion of the publisher. 8. Deadline to enter is shown on page 12.

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2 4 5 9 7 8 1 6

Love to stare at your phone? Visit issuu.com/ medicalexaminer and stare away.

QuotatioN

QUOTATION PUZZLE SOLUTION: Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.”

— Kahlil Gibran

WORDS BY NUMBER Honesty: The best of all the lost arts.

SEE PAGE 12

The Celebrated TheSUDOKUsolution MYSTERY WORD CONTEST 8 6 3 5 2 4 9 1 7

...wherein we hide (with fiendish cleverness) a simple word. All you have to do is unscramble the word (found on page 12), then find it concealed within one of our ads. Click in to the contest link at www.AugustaRx.com and enter. If we pick you in our random drawing of correct entries, you’ll score our goodie package!

MARCH 19, 2021

AUGUSTAMEDICALEXAMiNER

7 6 1 3 4 2 8 9

9 3 6 8 5 1 7 4

8 1 2 7 9 6 5 3

3 2 7 5 1 4 6 8

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6 5 8 4 2 3 9 1

— Mark Twain

READ EVERY ISSUE ONLINE WWW.ISSUU.COM/ MEDICALEXAMINER

MARCH 19, 2021

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AUGUSTAMEDICALEXAMiNER

JEWELRY SURGEON

SPEND A HALF HOUR PER DAY EXERCISING AND THIS IS HOW MANY HOURS YOU STILL HAVE LEFT. SPEND THEM ANY WAY YOU WISH.

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the

• MODERN & ESTATE PIECES •

TRY US!

ROLLED SANDWICHES • SOUPS • SALADS

RESTORATION AND REPAIR ON GOLD & PLATINUM JEWELRY

WILD WING CAFE & SCRUBS OF EVANS They’re the prize sponsors of our Mystery Word Contest.

YOU’LL LIKE US!

CLOCK REPAIR

WE DELIVER

1254 AUGUSTA WEST PARKWAY INSIDE BARGAIN HUNTERS CALL AHEAD: (706) 284-0190

OR CHOOSE DINE IN OR CURBSIDE PICKUP

To view my work visit scscja.org. Click on resources, then merchandise. Click on the ring photo, then the PDF link.

3626 Walton Way Extension (Walton’s Corner)

WHEN SECONDS COUNT

Phone: 706.736.1099

EYEGLASSES REPAIRED

Fax: 706.736.4401

Welcome former Murphy & Robinson customers!

OrderRolyPoly.com

Read online: issuu.com/medicalexaminer

PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY +

ACUPUNCTURE

Dr. Eric Sherrell, DACM, LAC Augusta Acupuncture Clinic 4141 Columbia Road 706-888-0707 www.AcuClinicGA.com

ALLERGY Tesneem K. Chaudhary, MD Allergy & Asthma Center 3685 Wheeler Road, Suite 101 Augusta 30909 706-868-8555

CHIROPRACTIC Evans Chiropractic Health Center Dr. William M. Rice 108 SRP Drive, Suite A 706-860-4001 www.evanschiro.net

COUNSELING Resolution Counseling Professionals 3633 Wheeler Rd, Suite 365 Augusta 30909 706-432-6866 www.visitrcp.com

DENTISTRY

Jason H. Lee, DMD 116 Davis Road Augusta 30907 706-860-4048

IN-HOME CARE

Floss ‘em or lose ‘em!

Steven L. Wilson, DMD Family Dentistry 4059 Columbia Road Martinez 30907 706-863-9445

DERMATOLOGY

Everyday Elder Care LLC Certified Home Health/Caregiver 706-231-7001 everydayeldercare.com Zena Home Care Personal Care|Skilled Nursing|Companion 706-426-5967 www.zenahomecare.com

LONG TERM CARE

Georgia Dermatology & WOODY MERRY www.woodymerry.com Skin Cancer Center 2283 Wrightsboro Rd. (at Johns Road) Long-Term Care Planning I CAN HELP! Augusta 30904 (706) 733-3190 • 733-5525 (fax) 706-733-3373 SKIN CANCER CENTER www.GaDerm.com

DEVELOPMENTAL PEDIATRICS Karen L. Carter, MD 1303 D’Antignac St, Suite 2100 Augusta 30901 706-396-0600 www.augustadevelopmentalspecialists.com

DRUG REHAB Steppingstones to Recovery 2610 Commons Blvd. Augusta 30909 706-733-1935

PHARMACY Parks Pharmacy 437 Georgia Ave. ARKS HARMACY N. Augusta 29841 803-279-7450 www.parkspharmacy.com

SLEEP MEDICINE

Sleep Institute of Augusta Bashir Chaudhary, MD 3685 Wheeler Rd, Suite 101 Augusta 30909 706-868-8555

TRANSPORTATION AMBULANCE • STRETCHER • WHEELCHAIR

706-863-9800

VEIN CARE Vein Specialists of Augusta G. Lionel Zumbro, Jr., MD, FACS, RVT, RPVI 501 Blackburn Dr, Martinez 30907 706-854-8340 www.VeinsAugusta.com

YOUR LISTING HERE Your Practice And up to four additional lines of your choosing and, if desired, your logo. Keep your contact information in this convenient place seen by thousands of patients every month. Call (706) 860-5455 for all the details!

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AUGUSTAMEDICALEXAMiNER

MARCH 19, 2021

Remember: SALUBRIE

Michael Sharkey, MD Lauren Ploch, MD Caroline Wells, PA-C Chris Thompson, PA-C John Cook, MD, Emeritus GENERAL, SURGICAL & COSMETIC DERMATOLOGY

Augusta Office:

Aiken Office:

Can prevent not reading the Medical Examiner LIFE IS COMPLICATED Death doesn’t have to be. We know how to help.

Caskets & More

1944 WALTON WAY • AUGUSTA • (706) 738-2999 • WWW.CANDMAUGUSTA.COM

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GADERM.COM

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