by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 6, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
“I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.” –Anne Frank It’s easy to think that one’s mood is determined by one’s circumstances, but Anne Frank didn’t believe that. Depression and despair, hope and happiness are the by-products...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 5, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
My wonderful nurse Jessica came up with the idea of a “Thankful Bulletin Board.” There are paper “leaves” available at the check-out desk so that patients can write down anything for which they are thankful, even if they are not yet healed....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 4, 2021 | COVID-19, Dr. Marissa Carter
I had to get a COVID test to go to an in-person meeting and it’s obvious that the testing requirements for travel, meetings, etc. are a confused quagmire. Dr. Marissa Carter has posted an understandable overview of SARS-COVID testing on her blog that will be useful...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 30, 2021 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Tales of the Medicare Disadvantaged, The Patient's Voice
Here’s a new post from our Patient Correspondent, Patricia Han, RN, about Medicare Drug Plans. She’s a retired nurse with many chronic health problems who used to be employed by a payer. I always learn something that a doctor ought to know from her real world examples...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 29, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight
This is the left foot of a 34-year-old African American woman who spent 21 days in the intensive care unit, hypotensive from sepsis and on vasopressors with disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC). She lost all the toes on her right foot from ischemic necrosis....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 28, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Shin Radiation Madness
If you have shin radiation wound cases you have treated (successfully or not), use the form below to tell your story and I will post them. Do NOT send protected health information, and that means no initials or dates in the photos! At the very least we can make a...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 28, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
An adult patient with severe cerebral palsy developed several pressure ulcers after hospital admission for pneumonia. This one has persisted for many months. While it’s possible that the trauma that initiated it was a pressure injury, this is pyoderma gangrenosum....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 27, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
39 y.o. woman with a non-healing left anterior shin ulcer which had been present for a year after minor trauma. Her father and her daughter have autoimmune diseases but she has no such diagnosis, nor does she have joint pain or bowel problems. The wound began as a red...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 24, 2021 | Pyoderma Gangrenosum, Uncategorized
I am going to post a series of patients with confirmed or presumed pyoderma gangrenosum, most of who’s biopsy findings did not confirm the diagnosis. However, their response to a trial of prednisone was dramatic and the wounds closed with prednisone (or in some cases,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 23, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
I have an entire clinic full of patients with pyoderma gangrenosum. Nearly all of them were missed at other wound centers. I am going to post a series of PG cases in hopes that the information will help clinicians and patients identify this disease which is not so...
