Chief Complaint Brain Tumor

At 57 years old, John Kerastas thought he was the poster child for fifty-year old healthiness: he competed in triathlons, rode in 100 mile biking events and ate a healthy diet chock full of organic vegetables. Then he discovered that he had a brain tumor the size of his wife's fist. His memoir chronicles the first year he spent addressing tumor-related health issues: preparing for his first operation, discovering a dangerous skull infection, having the infected portion of his skull surgically removed, learning about his substantial vision and cognitive losses, undergoing rehab and radiation treatments, and learning to live with his "new normal." According to Kerastas, the phrase "new normal" is the medical community's code words for "You're alive, so quit complaining." As his health changed, so did his sense of humor. He writes that his humor started out superficially light-hearted prior to the first operation; transmogrified into gallows humor after several subsequent operations; and leveled out as somewhat wry-ish after radiation and rehab. This is a surprisingly upbeat and inspiring book for anybody interested in memoirs about people dealing with personal crises, for patients trudging through rehab, for caretakers helping victims of serious illnesses, or for anybody looking for an unexpected chuckle from an unlikely subject. JOHN KERASTAS has worked at a global advertising agency, at several technology start-up companies and as a free-lance writer. Now, in addition to non-profit and charitable work, he spends his time blogging, speaking and writing about brain health, brain tumors and rehab. You can follow his blog or view his presentations schedule at www.johnstumor.blogspot.com.

This book is a comprehensive and up-to-date compendium of all aspects of brain tumors in children. After introductory chapters on the epidemiology of brain tumors, the book will provide readers with state-of-the art chapters on the principals of radiation therapy, neurosurgery and neuroimaging. Subsequent chapters discuss the biology and treatment of specific types of brain tumors. The concluding chapters present critical information relevant to survivorship, neurocognitive and other late effects, and the global challenges to better diagnosis and treatment of brain tumors in children. This book is co-authored by experts in the treatment of pediatric brain tumors. All of the authors are internationally recognized authorities and they offer an evidence-based consensus on the biology and treatment of brain tumors. This handbook has far-reaching applicability to the clinical diagnosis and management of brain tumors in children and will prove valuable to specialists, generalists and trainees alike.

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provides disability compensation to veterans with a service-connected injury, and to receive disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a veteran must submit a claim or have a claim submitted on his or her behalf. Evaluation of the Disability Determination Process for Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans reviews the process by which the VA assesses impairments resulting from traumatic brain injury for purposes of awarding disability compensation. This report also provides recommendations for legislative or administrative action for improving the adjudication of veterans' claims seeking entitlement to compensation for all impairments arising from a traumatic brain injury.

Fully-updated edition of this award-winning textbook, arranged by presenting complaints with full-color images throughout. For students, residents, and emergency physicians.

No other quick reference comes close in covering the diagnosis and treatment of hundreds of diseases in dogs and cats. Etienne Cote's Clinical Veterinary Advisor: Dogs and Cats, 2nd Edition is like six books in one -- with concise topics within sections on diseases and disorders, procedures and techniques, differential diagnosis, laboratory tests, clinical algorithms, and a drug formulary. Revised from cover to cover, this edition includes dozens of new topics. It also includes free access to a fully searchable companion website featuring an electronic version of the text, all of the book's images, a searchable drug formulary, and 150 Client Education Sheets in both English and Spanish. Section I: Diseases and Disorders provides at-a-glance coverage of nearly 800 common medical problems, arranged alphabetically for immediate access. Entries include a definition, synonyms, epidemiology, clinical presentation, etiology and pathophysiology, differential diagnosis, workup, treatment, prognosis and outcome, plus pearls and considerations. Concise descriptions simplify diagnosis and treatment. Section II: Procedures and Techniques offers illustrated, step-by-step instructions for understanding and performing 111 important clinical procedures. Section III: Differential Diagnosis displays nearly every possible cause for 260 different clinical disorders. Section IV: Laboratory Tests summarizes essential information needed for interpreting more than 150 lab tests. Section V: Clinical Algorithms provides decision trees for the diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making processes involved in managing 91 of the most common clinical conditions/disorders. Section VI: Drug Formulary is a compilation of dosages and other relevant information for more than 300 new and current medications. 410 illustrations and photographs depict disease processes and related concepts. A companion website includes the complete text of the book in a fully searchable format, allowing quick access to information, and all of the book's images. It also includes 150 Client Education Sheets, each available in both English and Spanish. Clinical guidance added to diseases and disorders chapters helps you select appropriate tests and treatments for each case. 50 new client "how-to" handouts are added for a total of 150 client education sheets, helping to improve outcomes by informing clients. Technician Tips are inserted throughout nearly 800 diseases and disorders, providing specialized information for veterinary technicians. Enhanced electronic image collection on the companion website includes color images and additional figures not found in the text.

As we move into the 21st century it is becoming increasingly difficult to offer appropriate introductory clinical experiences for medical students. Many schools offer clinical experiences in the first year of medical school, when the learner has little background in the traditions and origins of the doctor-patient interaction. Others begin this process in the second year, after a professional language base has been established, but concise educational materials are scarce that integrate the meaning of the privileged clinical encounter with the process and content of interviewing and examining patients. In the tertiary hospitals, where most medical schools are based, the educators must provide an orienta tion to the clinical encounter, an intensely personal experience, in the midst of glittering technological marvels that easily distract both the novice physician and the wizened teacher. Understanding the context and historical basis for the privilege of interviewing and examining another person about intimate matters relating to health and disease is essential to this process. Considering these factors, this textbook is written to assist medical educators and medical students involved in early clinical training. As the demand for "high-tech" medicine has accelerated, so has the public concern over the loss of "high-touch" or compassionate, humane interactions with physicians. Physicians are perceived as more concerned with readouts from machines and fiberoptic views of the patient than with understanding and car ing about the people we have labeled as patients.

How We Do Harm exposes the underbelly of healthcare today—the overtreatment of the rich, the under treatment of the poor, the financial conflicts of interest that determine the care that physicians' provide, insurance companies that don't demand the best (or even the least expensive) care, and pharmaceutical companies concerned with selling drugs, regardless of whether they improve health or do harm. Dr. Otis Brawley is the chief medical and scientific officer of The American Cancer Society, an oncologist with a dazzling clinical, research, and policy career. How We Do Harm pulls back the curtain on how medicine is really practiced in America. Brawley tells of doctors who select treatment based on payment they will receive, rather than on demonstrated scientific results; hospitals and pharmaceutical companies that seek out patients to treat even if they are not actually ill (but as long as their insurance will pay); a public primed to swallow the latest pill, no matter the cost; and rising healthcare costs for unnecessary—and often unproven—treatments that we all pay for. Brawley calls for rational healthcare, healthcare drawn from results-based, scientifically justifiable treatments, and not just the peddling of hot new drugs. Brawley's personal history – from a childhood in the gang-ridden streets of black Detroit, to the green hallways of Grady Memorial Hospital, the largest public hospital in the U.S., to the boardrooms of The American Cancer Society—results in a passionate view of medicine and the politics of illness in America - and a deep understanding of healthcare today. How We Do Harm is his well-reasoned manifesto for change.

Sohlberg and Mateer's landmark introductory text helped put cognitive rehabilitation on the map for a generation of clinicians, researchers, educators, and students. The second edition reflects advances in neuroscience and computer technology, coupled with changes in service delivery models. The authors describe a broad range of clinical interventions for assisting persons with acquired cognitive impairments--including deficits in attention, memory, executive functions, and communication--and for managing associated emotional and behavioral issues. For each approach, theoretical underpinnings are reviewed in depth and clinical protocols delineated. Difficult concepts are explained in a clear, straightforward fashion, with realistic case examples bringing the material to life. Also included are samples of relevant assessment instruments, rating scales, and patient handouts. Throughout, the volume emphasizes the need to work from a community perspective, providing a framework for forming collaborative partnerships with families and caregivers. It is an essential resource for professionals across a wide variety of rehabilitation specialties.