Posts in “hospital”
Take 6: On Life, Death, and Healthcare
By: Dr. Gaby Cora
Different Lives, Different Cultures, Different Experiences
Catherine and John Graves’s story describes the challenges of being the sole-caregiver to a spouse with a life-threatening disease: a glioblastoma, or brain tumor. This article describes how she struggled with his personality changes as the frontal lobe location of the tumor affected Graves’ affect, cognition, and judgment. Catherine describes becoming anxious, depressed, and with post-traumatic stress after his death. Caregiver burnout is not unusual in these cases. Instead of post-traumatic stress, this is a constant stress situation that tends to be under-recognized and under-treated.
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When the Disease of Stigma Kills More than the Disease Itself
Have you ever had the flu, chicken pox, or measles? Nobody ever asked to get infected with any of these viruses. Nobody has ever asked to get infected with the HIV virus either. One in five people in the US carries the HIV virus and doesn’t even know it. You can’t treat what you don’t know. If you are young and healthy and your friends look young and healthy, it would not even cross your mind that any of them may have the virus. Today is December, the month of HIV and AIDS awareness, as next year is the 30-year anniversary of AIDS awareness, and already celebrities and influential politicians are discussing how to move forward.
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