"WVMC Voices" by Zac Woodruff
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Friction Blisters & How to Care for Them
November 13, 2019So the other night I was cutting up a large carpet remnant for an area in my garage, when all of a sudden, I noticed I had developed a blister on my middle finger. The kind of blister that once you notice it, you realize, this hurts!I was using some heavy-duty shears to make cuts to the carpet and the repetitive motion of cutting through the carpet must have been the…
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Living with Fibromyalgia
November 13, 2019Recently, a dear friend of mine told me that they had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It wasn’t a great surprise to me because for years they had been talking about living with constant pain. For them, getting the “diagnosis” has really helped them take control of their situation, learn more about their illness, and discover treatment options.Chances…
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Could Wi-Fi Be Bad For Us?
November 13, 2019Recently, my son came home from one of his first days of middle school and he had an interesting question for me. “Dad, is Wi-Fi bad for us? One of my classmates was saying the wireless waves we can’t see could be damaging us way more than we realize,” he said.For a moment, I had to think about how to answer that question. The truth was, I had never…
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Healthy Pumpkins
November 13, 2019Welcome to October, the month of the pumpkin.Over the last few months, we have been growing our very own pumpkin patch in our garden, and as I’ve watched the pumpkins grow, I’ve often found myself wondering about how to properly eat a pumpkin and what are the health benefits of pumpkins.I mean, we all know about pumpkin pie and pumpkin being used as a…
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Yesterday my son told me he was going to live 10 years less than me
November 13, 2019With Halloween just two days away, the topic of conversation in our household has been candy, and how we don’t need to go crazy over sugar on Tuesday. Over the years, we’ve agreed to enjoy the fun of Halloween and let our kids indulge a few pieces of their favorite candy, but everything else they collect is getting put away in a jar or thrown out.My kids have…
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1st Degree Burns and More…
November 13, 2019We’ve all done it.Bumped the over door when you are taking out the pan of freshly baked cookies. Grabbed the curling iron that you thought wasn’t on. Splashed some boiling water on your hand when you were draining your pasta.I’m talking about unexpected burns. No matter how careful we are, these things happen.Just a few days ago, we decided to use the…
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It’s That Flu Shot Time of Year
November 13, 2019Every year around this time I write a blog about the flu shot.This is not a blog to try to convince you whether or not you need to get it. Most people have pretty firm beliefs on whether or not they chose to get vaccinated.This is just a blog to present you with some facts and information so that you can make an informed decision for you and your family.Tens of thousands…
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Disease Outbreak in Disneyland!?!?!
November 13, 2019Yesterday, we had just arrived to the airport after spending the last 3 days in Disneyland when my sister-in-law texted us to ask if we knew about the disease outbreak in Disneyland.What!?!?!?!?No, we hadn’t heard anything, but I immediately went to the news to find out what she was talking about. I googled Disneyland outbreak, and the first article to pop up was…
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1-800-273-8255, The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
November 13, 2019I don’t exactly know what to write down.Without getting into much detail, an extended family member, who looked out for me my entire life, took his own life a few days ago.I was in the car pulling into the driveway when my sister called and let me know what happened. I was really sad to hear the news. Damn. I just shook my head.I went inside feeling quite saddened…
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What’s up with this Ridiculous Eye Twitch!?!?
November 13, 2019Earlier this week I was in a meeting with some coworkers when one of them mentioned they had an eye twitch that wouldn’t go away. Then another friend said it was “eye twitch season” and that all her friends were getting them too!Immediately, I thought…. Perfect blog idea!So why do we get eye twitches?Well, it’s not entirely known why we get…
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Where Did My Voice Go?
November 13, 2019I woke up this morning and my voice was gone! Of course there is a reason why this happened, but this morning I’ve been wondering exactly what happens when we lose our voice and what’s the best way to get it back.So last night a bunch of us nurses and our spouses went to a Karaoke Bar and had a great time. We sang, we laughed, we partied pretty hard. It was…
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Start with 5 Pounds
November 13, 2019Happy New Year everyone!!!Every year on this day, many of us begin our new year’s resolutions. Whether it’s committing to a new diet, starting to exercise, or getting more organized, we all look for areas where we would like to improve our daily performance and set some new goals for the new year.I have a few thoughts and strategies I’d like to share…
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Pesky Spider Bite on Christmas
November 13, 2019This morning I woke up and immediately felt a bump on the back of my neck. Man oh man, some pesky spider must have got me in the middle of the night.Not only did that mean that a spider was in our bed last night (ew gross!), but it meant that I don’t know what bit me because I was asleep!Now I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all been bitten by spiders…
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Whoa Subconjunctival Hemorrhage!
November 13, 2019Friday morning I noticed the outside of my wife’s eye looked red. I mentioned it to her and she said she hadn’t noticed.Of course she went to the mirror and examined her eye. “Whoa!!!” she said, “What happened to my eye?!?!”I looked closer and it looked like there was a tiny moon shaped scratch on the white of her eye (sclera). She…
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When Your Throat Hurts
November 13, 2019Sore throats – sometimes they are caused by a simple cold, sometimes allergies, and other times dry air. They could be a symptom of the viral flu or even bacterial infection, like strep.Mine started to hurt on Tuesday morning. I woke up to the familiar, weird little tickle feeling in the back of my throat. You know the one. The feeling where you think to yourself,…
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Organ Donation Saves Lives
November 13, 2019Today, approximately 75,000 people in the United States are waiting for a life-saving organ. However, there are only around 8,000 deceased organ donors each year providing on average 3.5 organs. Living donors provide an average of around 6,000 organs per year (CDC, 2019).The most commonly donated organs are the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and intestines. One…
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Let’s Talk About Measles
November 13, 2019On Friday, January 18, a public health emergency was declared in Clark County related to 19 confirmed measles cases in Washington State. Additionally, there are also five more suspected cases waiting on test results.Of the 19 confirmed cases, 16 had not been vaccinated and it is unclear if the other three had been. A total of 15 children in these cases are aged 10 and…
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Dad, What’s Lupus?
November 13, 2019A couple of nights ago, we were all eating at the dinner table when out of nowhere my son says, “dad, what’s lupus?”I was surprised that he asked about lupus. “Why do you ask son, where did you hear about lupus?”One of his friends at school was telling him at lunch that his mom suffered from lupus and she was having a hard time with her…
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Tell Me About Pacemakers
November 13, 2019We do pacemakers all the time. It seems like every morning, somebody is heading off to the cath lab to get a pacemaker.In fact, every year in the United States, between 200,000 and 300,000 people end up getting pacemakers.Perhaps someone in your family has one? Or maybe even you do?Most people have heard of pacemakers, but quite often I find myself explaining to patients…
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Heart Valves & Surgery
November 13, 2019Earlier this week, Arnold Schwarzenegger had emergency heart valve surgery and also a dear member of our WVMC family underwent valve replacement surgery as well. Every year, about 5 million Americans are diagnosed with heart valve disease and over 100,000 heart valve surgeries take place in the United States.Many of these people experience no symptoms, but some people…
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