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When it comes to eye care, titles can be confusing as you try to understand your providers.
While both optometrists and ophthalmologists are commonly referred to as “eye doctors,” both sets of professionals have different expertise and often work together to ensure your child’s eye care needs are met.
An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor (MD) who leads the eye care team and treats eye conditions and diseases both medically and...
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While some societal stigmas and perceived taboos surrounding mental health still exist, it’s encouraging to see how quickly awareness is growing in our culture. One particular topic we're discussing more openly is eating disorders and their impact on adolescents and teenagers, so terms like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder are becoming broadly familiar.
The good news is we’re talking more about eating disorders, and we’re...
Image courtesy of Paul Kuntz
This is McKenna and her mother, Paula. McKenna, an asthmatic since the age of 5, is a 16-year-old high school student who nearly died last year from influenza. McKenna and Paula always knew asthma would put McKenna at higher risk for complications from the flu, but she never became seriously ill. This all changed last year.
Within a few days of developing flu-like symptoms, McKenna’s breathing became much more labored as her symptoms worsened. Paula rushed McKenna to Texas Children’s Hospital, where she was quickly admitted. McKenna’s medical team was unable to get her...
Images courtesy of Allen Kramer, Roger Dunaway
Charles “Charlie” Christopher Dunaway was born at 3:43 a.m. on Dec. 6, 2017, at Ochsner Baptist Medical Center in New Orleans. He weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces, and was 18.3 inches long. He is named in honor of my wife’s father, Charles “Chiggy” Rhodes, who passed away before her birth in 1976.
Charlie was diagnosed with a pair of congenital heart defects in-utero, including a rare defect called truncus arteriosus and a ventricular septal defect. The first occurs when the two large arteries leaving the heart (the aorta and pulmonary arteries) are combined...
Image courtesy of Allen Kramer
1. Cancer isn’t rare. Technically, childhood cancer is rare compared to adult cancer, but it’s not as rare as you think. Outside of my work, I can think of three people I know personally who had childhood cancer – a teammate on my high school basketball team, my sister-in-law and a high school debate teammate. My guess is you also know someone from church, a coworker’s kid or one of your kids’ classmates who was affected by this disease.
2. Curing cancer and preventing cancer aren’t the same thing. We do have a cure for the majority of...