by S. Russell Vester, MD
20. April 2010 09:23
When I started this blog, I mentioned that from time to time I would from comment on political issues that were related to healthcare. This is one of them. Healthcare politics is certainly one of the key topics of the moment.
As a third generation doctor, I have been, like it or not, a student ...
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by S. Russell Vester, MD
14. April 2010 11:29
Sorry about being a couple of days late with this entry. This is my ninth straight day of work without a break. And I don’t get paid extra for nights, weekends or emergencies. But this is not a whining session. I’m not looking for sympathy. I knew these kind of hours were going to pa...
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by S. Russell Vester, MD
5. April 2010 10:52
Having gotten past the unpleasant discussion about what you already know about your weight, what else did we learn from having your vital signs checked? Remember, these were checked when you were at rest. This means we are supposedly looking at a snapshot of how your vital signs are under an ideal c...
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by S. Russell Vester, MD
30. March 2010 11:45
Having calculated your BMI, where do you fit? What’s the bad news, Doc?
Well, brace yourself.
An ideal body weight is defined as a BMI of 18.5 to 25. North of 25 but below thirty 30 you are, to use a technical medical term, chunky. Thirty and above and you are obese. Right now one in...
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by S. Russell Vester, MD
22. March 2010 09:00
So now that we have had our basic dimensions measured and our vital signs taken, what have we learned? Let's start with our height and weight. Ouch! We all know that we can't do a thing about our height. We have grown as tall as our genes would let us. You are not responsible for your height. But ou...
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by S. Russell Vester, MD
15. March 2010 09:00
Having come to that important moment of self-awareness and realizing that the only person who is responsible for our health is ourselves, that our bodies need maintenance just like everything else in our lives that we would like to sustain, what do we do first? In the never-ending journey of good he...
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by S. Russell Vester, MD
8. March 2010 09:40
So what's the next step? What’s the first step we all need to take to be one of those "got things to do" ninety-plus years old folks?
The first step is to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for your own health.
Your doctor and other care-givers are there to help you with your health. They are not there to ...
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by S. Russell Vester, MD
1. March 2010 09:00
So how do you keep yourself from being considered "pre-op" by people like me? The ongoing answer to this question will be the subject of many future installments of this blog. It’s what we in the profession refer to as "risk factor modification." It’s what most people think of as prevent...
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by S. Russell Vester, MD
19. February 2010 09:25
Does it take the best cardiologist money can buy? Does it take regular CT scans to track your calcium score? (More on calcium scores in future blogs.) Does it take a special diet and a personal trainer only George Clooney could afford? What does it take, really?
At the risk of sounding hopelessly c...
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by S. Russell Vester, MD
15. February 2010 08:16
I am thrilled to have this opportunity to post a regular blog on YourCity.MD. This is my first. I am a cardiac surgeon. For more than a decade I have been the head of one of the country’s largest groups that performs virtually all procedures in the fields of heart, chest and vascular sur...
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