Editor’s Note Dear Santa, have tried to be very good this year! I read a simple little book entitled Live and Learn and Pass It On and identified with many of the observations. I have learned that every person I have met and talked to had something to say that I found interesting or…
What to Say and What Not to Say! We bet you have heard many of the comments that are listed here. People mean well, but many times don’t understand what they are really saying to a person dealing with a chronic medical condition! Are you nodding your head in agreement as you read?…
What Exactly is Ebola? The American Association for Respiratory Care tells us the first case of Ebola outside of Africa was reported in Dallas, Texas earlier this year. Ebola is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with a strain of Ebola virus. The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history,…
Readmission Penalties More than 2,600 hospitals have been fined because too many Medicare patients being treated for heart failure, heart attack, pneu- monia, elective hip and knee replacement readmissions and chronic lung disease. As part of their Hospital Readmission Reduc- tion Program, Medicare reduced payments to hospitals that had high readmission rates. The…
Replacement Therapy Will the Real Stem Cell Please Stand Up Stem cell replacement (SCR) therapy for a wide variety of medical diseases has been a topic of discussion for many years now. The term “stem cell” first appeared in the scientific literature as far back as 1868. A German biologist named Ernst Haeckel used…
Back to Basics Clearing the Airways The body’s respiratory system has sev eral ways to keep itself clean. When you think about it, the lungs are the only internal organ to have contact with the outside world! Your nose is the first defense. As you breathe in, large particles are stopped in the hairs…
Fibrosis File Merry Christmas! Thanks to input from people dealing with the disease, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two new drugs, Nintedanib (tradename Ofev® from Boehringer Ingelheim-BI) and Pirfenidone (tradename Esbriet® from InterMune), to help Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). It is the first time the FDA has approved any treatment…
Give Ryan’s Give Ryan’s Oxygen Column a Title and win a free membership to The Pulmonary Paper! Join Ryan on the March 20, 2015 ten- day cruise to the Southern Caribbean on Holland America’s Westerdam, roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale. Call 1-866-673-3019 to book today! 4 LPM CF, making it the first commercially available…
In the Rear View and On the Horizon As December 31 approaches, we often reflect on the year that was and look ahead to the year that will be. 2014 saw some popular home oxygen sys- tems receive some notable upgrades as well as the release of new home oxygen products. Inogen…
Minimize Air Pollutants in the Home Winterize to Maintain Air Quality Many people are enjoying the fall weather with open windows but you want to min- imize the air pollutants in your home to maintain optimum air quality. Before the cold air arrives, be sure to have any open- ings fixed that allow…