ENT medical trivia

Saliva!  Some of the coolest stuff the body produces (second only to mucus)! Almost entirely made of water, it does have some enzymes and electrolytes in the mix.  It's fantastic at any age from the early years of making spit balls :), to sharing it with that special someone, to wanting more production of it when we reach the "over the hill" age.  

On average, the human body produces .5 to 1.5 Liters of the stuff a day.  Congrats to you "good guessers" out there.  

Political post

Well, if the political games ceased, then heaven forbid, our country might get something accomplished.

Ear Candling

Well, being that I didn't know much about ear candling (the technique and theory behind it), I decided to do a little research. Thanks to the internet, I was able to quench that thirst.

Here are some reasons why people do it.

-Afraid to or costs too much to see their friendly neighborhood ENT specialist.

-Makes for a cheap date.

-Let's you start over again after your house burns down.

-Tradition...I've heard about those "vain traditions of their fathers" spoken of in some sort of ancient scripture. Sound familiar?

-A form of warming your ear.

-A good excuse to excite the pyromaniac inside of you.

-You're a homeopathic guru with too many crystals in your house.

I don't know...send me your thoughts of why. Anyway, here's the low down...

-The person lies on one side, the ear candle coated in wax is placed in the ear canal. The idea is that the heat creates a negative pressure to "suck out" the wax. Well, it is an old wives tale and it doesn't work. The remnant dark wax is just burnt paraffin resembling the color of wax. Click on the "why not?" link to see some more details on the matter.

Why not?

By the way, just to point something out here... the "ear wax" looking stuff is not at the tip of the funnel (where you would expect it to be), it is near the burnt region of the candle. To simplify, the brown wax is the paraffin coating on the paper funnel which has turned brown after exposure to heat.

All slap stick humor aside, use some natural olive oil or hydrogen peroxide twice a day for a week.. That is, unless you are allergic to olives or have bad sebhorreic dermatitis, or any other flaky skin disease like Psoriasis. Then I recommend you call me or leave a comment and we can discuss other options. It's a homeopathic remedy that's proven clinically to soften the wax so it can work it's way out. Remember, don't use Q-tips, that just shoves it back in. Like my father always preaches to his patients..."Never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear." By the way, the peroxide will also help dissolve scabs that form after you make your ear canal bleed from poking at it with say a Q tip, or bobby pin, or something.

Ear wax is actually made deep down in your ear and is a clear to white color. When it dries out, it becomes a darker orange color. If it's really dried out, then it's almost black. It's the darker color by the time you see it. In the clinic we can wash it out or take it out with instruments. We usually try washing first since it's more gentle. Don't use a pulsating "water pick". Those have been known to cause holes in your ear drum. We have a special syringe or injector with warm water. If that doesn't get it, we have little tools to gently scrape it out.

Wax is a good thing. It provides barrier against fungus and bacteria. If all the wax is gone... well, just try it.

For more info on Otitis externa, Wikipedia has some good info... just click here

And the award of The most liberal senator in the US senate goes to?

Barack Hussein Obama...

According to the National Journal in Washington, he is "The most liberal senator in the US senate. I tend to agree with this statement the more I learn about the guy who never votes present on bills unless they are to help him form a name for himself. For example... "Partial birth abortions". He's one of those guys that sounds really good on stage, but when you look for the meat and potatoes, they are under the table. You are offended by my statement? Well maybe you should do some homework. Let's start with Jill Stanek a nurse in Illinois. If you didn't already know, Barack Obama was/is a senator for this state. Well, Jill was a nurse of the hospital called Christ Hospital (feel the irony coming on here?) in the suburbs of Chicago. At this hospital, when a mother wanted to terminate her pregnancy in the 2nd or 3rd trimester, the psychotic doctors would give her drugs to make her birth the baby prematurely. Most babies died during the traumatic contractions and or birth. However, up to 20% of the babies would live from minutes to hours after the delivery. They would be put on a shelf in a utility disposal closet until they were as cold as the surrounding air (by this I mean "dead").  She was so appalled by this (as was I) she approached the attorney general of Illinois and told him to put an end to this. He basically said that the law needed to be changed in order to accept these live births as a person. So, the short of it was there were bills put forward for senators to vote on in order to get the law passed so these live births could have a chance at life. In 2001 it passed the state senate but died in the house. In 2003, when our "savior" of a candidate was in the senate as the chairman of health committee, he voted against the bill allowing these births to be considered human. Though he will deny it today, his voting record does not lie. He was one of the only senators who voted against it. Even when Barbara Boxer and even Hillary Clinton (F.Y.I. two very liberal women) voted for it.  For more details on this go to Mystery Man Barack Obama unveiled I haven't had a chance to pick up the book yet but sounds like an informative read. I'm not saying McCain is an ideal candidate. However, the less "left" our nation wanders the better our nation will be in sooooo many different ways.

A Post turtle

Here is some humor for you sent to me from my dear sister.  It pretty much sums up the democrat side of things...

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, who's hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his bid to be our president. The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle''. Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was. The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road on you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'. The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. 'You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb a__ put him up there to begin with'.  _,_.___

 

My hospital (OSU) at a glance

Here's the article...

St. Francis to take on OSU medical residents

By World Staff  9/5/2008  9:09 PM 

St. Francis Health System agreed Friday to take on Oklahoma State University’s medical residency program beginning July 1, 2009, to ensure the longevity of OSU’s osteopathic medical school. But the fate of its primary teaching hospital, OSU Medical Center, is unclear. “We are extremely pleased with this agreement,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “OSU will transition its graduate medical education programs from OSU to St. Francis, thereby making hospitals within the St. Francis Health System our new teaching sites for the majority of interns, residents and fellows.” He said certain programs within the teaching system would not transition to St. Francis, but those details would be announced at a later date. Rumors about the possible residency program move have been circulating for weeks. Opponents fear the move will mean the end for OSU Medical Center, an aging facility with a history of serving Tulsa’s indigent population. Five months ago, Ardent Health Services agreed to sell the hospital for a nominal $5 million to a public trust to be set up by Oklahoma State University by June 30, 2009. The hospital and all its equipment is valued between $140 million and $150 million. Under the plan, OSU was charged with finding a partner firm to manage the hospital but has been unable to do so. Hargis said the residents will begin their programs July 1, 2009, the day following expiration of an agreement with Ardent Health System. Nashville-based Ardent owns Hillcrest HealthCare System, which includes OSU Medical Center.

Ardent officials were unavailable for comment Friday.

With the comic, you get the gist of what's going on politically with my hospital.  Wow, I sure would like to thank the person who drew this. :)

Just say NO to Q-tips

Thank you Christy (my sister) who sent this to me. It's about time I get back to a serious post. I get this question all the time. Often in the office they don't tell me, but I pull out my otoscope, look in the ears and like a magician tell them to stop using Q-tips. They blush and say, how did you know (like I discovered some dark secret of theirs). Anyway, this article says it all.

Bad Q-tips

What it doesn't say is how to solve the problem...just let me know when you have finished reading the article... Okay, you done yet?

So, just let it come out. If it gets clogged, then use sweet oil or olive oil. A couple of drops a day will do ya. It softens the wax so the little hairs in your ears can sweep the stuff out. Send me an email if you want to know a good way to prevent swimmers ear (random thought).

So, don't forget to check out the video on that link too. It shows what happens when you play too much spider man on your X-box. Oh, and it makes you fat! Make your kids go out and play!

My list of objects I've pulled out of ears so far...and the moral of the story.

-pencil eraser x1 (don't fall asleep around your classmates)

-beans x1 (remind your child where his mouth is)

-beads x2 (stop beading around your children)

-rocks x3 (good luck)

-baby cockroach x1 (don't get drunk and fall asleep outside)

-dead ant (hmmm isn't that a pink panther song?)

-pounds of wax (again, back to the point of this post)

Good luck with those little experimenting children, and stop using Q-tips yourselves! Oh, wait. Am I putting myself out of business here? :)