- Cancer Care, News & Press Releases, Plastic Surgery & Skin CareGeneral Page Tier 3BlogThe American Cancer Society estimates that there will be 255,180 patients diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States in 2017. In addition, hundreds of thousands of women who will deal with benign breast disease this year will require medical evaluation for treatment options. The Rebecca Fortney Breast Center at Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) is committed to offering patients every significant advantage in their battle against breast disease. Fortifying this commitment, AAMC’s breast center has been granted a three-year, full accreditation designation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), a program administered by the American College of Surgeons. As a NAPBC-accredited program, The Rebecca Fortney Breast Center demonstrates that it provides the highest quality evaluation and management of patients with breast disease. Receiving care at a NAPBC-accredited center ensures that a patient will have access to: Comprehensive care, including a full range of state-of-the-art services A multidisciplinary team approach to coordinate the best treatment options Information about ongoing clinical trials and new treatment options Quality breast care close to home “The Rebecca Fortney Breast Center meets the needs of patients by providing multidisciplinary, high-quality, patient-centered care,” said Dr. Lorraine Tafra, director of The Rebecca Fortney Breast Center. “In addition to comprehensive state-of-the-art care in the screening, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and breast disease, we are dedicated to providing a safe haven of kind and compassionate care. Our full accreditation is testament to the work we are committed to every day.” AAMC’s breast center met NAPBC proficiency standards for treating women who are diagnosed with the full spectrum of breast disease. Proficiency areas include center leadership, clinical management, research, community outreach, professional education, and quality improvement. With more than seven thousand visits per year, The Rebecca Fortney Breast Center is one of the largest in Maryland. The team includes specialists in medical and radiation oncology, surgery (including breast and plastics reconstruction), radiology, pathology, psychiatry, oncology nursing, rehabilitation/lymphedema, genetics, nutrition, clinical trials, tumor registry, genetics and social work. For more information about The Rebecca Fortney Breast Center at AAMC, visit www.askAAMC.org/breast.
- Cancer Care, Men's Health, Uncategorized, Heart CareGeneral Page Tier 3BlogIt wasn’t easy for Dwight Watkins to quit smoking. He’d been doing it for nearly 50 years. But he finally had enough. Dwight had been smoking since he was 12 years old, and he was up to a pack a day. It was hurting his body in major ways. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis made it hard to breathe. “I said, ‘I have to do this. I have to stop,’” says Dwight, who is 63. “And I started from there.” A Long Rough Road As any former smoker knows, the road to quitting can be a rough and long one. The nicotine found in tobacco products creates a sense of pleasure in your brain and causes you to crave more. That’s why it’s difficult to quit smoking. That was certainly the case for Dwight. Dwight’s primary care physician, Eman Al-Samrrai, MD, showed him the benefits if he quit smoking — and what could happen if he didn’t. “I told him, ‘You have the power in your hands,’” Dr. Al-Samrrai says. “It had to be his choice to quit.” She recommended that Dwight work with Tuesday Tynan, a tobacco treatment specialist and smoking cessation counselor at AAMC’s Morris Blum Community Clinic, where Dwight is a resident. AAMC offers a free program at Morris Blum that helps smokers quit for good. Dwight began working with Tuesday in January 2015. Since then, they’ve met nearly every week. “‘Dedicated’ is the word to describe Dwight,” Tuesday says. “I’ve never had anybody visit me every week for so long.” How You Can Quit Smoking AAMC offers a number of resources to help you quit smoking: Smoking cessation counselors One-on-one or group counseling sessions “Become Tobacco Free” classes Through AAMC’s smoking cessation program, tobacco treatment specialists, like Tuesday, and primary care doctors help patients quit smoking through counseling and creating a care plan. “We like to say that quitting tobacco is not an event but a journey. We are here to help people work through their specific barriers,” Tuesday says. When starting the program, each person receives a quit kit: a water bottle filled with cinnamon sticks, lollipops, coffee stirrers, stress balls, etc. The idea is for you to hold these items instead of a cigarette. The staff also gives patients over-the-counter nicotine replacement medications, such as patches, gum and lozenges. These replacements help satisfy the craving for nicotine and reduce the need to smoke. Nicotine replacement helped Dwight get down to about six cigarettes a week. But he still had trouble quitting completely. “There were a couple of times I got knocked down and got frustrated because I couldn’t do it,” Dwight says. “I’d stop for a day or two, then drift back and have another cigarette. It went on and on like that.” Dwight also faced a lot of peer pressure from friends and neighbors who would offer him cigarettes. “It was stressful because people didn’t understand why I didn’t want to smoke anymore,” he says. “I just told myself to hang in there.” The Benefits of Quitting Smoking 20 minutes after quitting: Your blood pressure and heart rate decrease. 12 hours after quitting: The carbon monoxide level in your blood returns to normal. 2 weeks after quitting: Your circulation begins to improve. 1 year after quitting: Your risk of coronary heart disease is cut in half. 5 years after quitting: Your risk of stroke is similar to that of a nonsmoker. Source: The American Heart Association The Winning Recipe To finally ditch smoking, Dwight began using Chantix, a prescription medication. He also kept up his weekly meetings with Tuesday. He’s been smoke-free since April 2016. “I just kept my mind determined,” he says. Recently, Dwight received a surprise for his hard work and dedication. He won a $250 Target gift card through AAMC’s “Breathe More Moments” contest, which promotes early lung cancer screening for people 55 years and older with a long history of smoking. “I thought Tuesday was trying to pull my leg when she told me I had won,” says Dwight, laughing. “I had never won anything before.” Dwight has changed his life dramatically. He gave up smoking, he makes fewer trips to the clinic for chronic bronchitis, his breathing has improved, and he has more energy, says Dr. Al-Samrrai. Dwight has even inspired others from his apartment building to meet with Tuesday and try to quit smoking. “If it could help someone else, I would recommend the program to them,” Dwight says. “I wouldn’t be where I am without Tuesday.” As for Tuesday, Dwight’s dedication and perseverance impressed and inspired her time and again. “I am so proud of Dwight,” she says. “Quitting tobacco was not an easy journey for him. He just wouldn’t give up, and that’s the key.” Contributors Eman Al-Samrrai, MD, is a primary care physician at AAMC’s Morris Blum Community Clinic. Tuesday Tynan is a tobacco treatment specialist and smoking cessation counselor at AAMC.
- Heart CareGeneral Page Tier 3BlogIt’s not red meat or eggs that can make or break your heart health: It’s sugar and processed carbohydrates. Processed carbs are found in packaged foods with added sugar, like soda, cakes, cookies, ice cream and pie. They’re also found in packaged foods containing high-fructose corn syrup, including white bread and regular pasta. How Do Processed Carbs Affect Your Heart? “Your body breaks them down quickly, which can cause a quick rise in your blood sugar,” says Jonathan Altschuler, MD, a cardiologist at AAMC. “This leads to a spike in insulin production. High insulin can lead to high triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol, which can increase your chances of a stroke or heart disease.” Dr. Altschuler recommends avoiding processed carbs as much as possible. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop eating the foods you love. You just need to make a few smart swaps. For example: Substitute brown rice and brown rice pasta for white rice and pasta. Choose multigrain or whole wheat bread instead of white bread. Focus your diet on fruits and vegetables as much as you can. “There are many naturally sweet fruits you can add to your daily diet. And in terms of vegetables, you can really eat an unlimited amount,” Dr. Altschuler says. Find healthy recipes from our registered dietitians. Contributor Jonathan Altschuler, MD, is a cardiologist at AAMC.
- Women's Health, Uncategorized, Heart CareGeneral Page Tier 3BlogOn March 14, 2016, Kelly Huber suddenly felt strange. She had spent the day doing yard work when her symptoms hit: sore, tired arms and tight shoulders. “It wasn’t a normal hurt. It felt like I’d been hit by a truck,” says Kelly, who was just three days away from her 51st birthday. “My arms were exhausted. I could barely move them.” At first, Kelly tried to ignore the symptoms. She went inside and got her 8-year-old twin boys ready for bed. But she couldn’t get rid of the heavy feeling in her arms and shoulders, and began to feel extremely hot. She didn’t understand what was happening and became confused and concerned. Kelly’s husband insisted they go to AAMC’s emergency room near her home in Grasonville, Md. There, tests showed the last thing Kelly expected at her age: She was having a heart attack. Women and Heart Disease Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the U.S. Heart disease causes 1 in 3 women’s deaths every year. Source: The American Heart Association Heart Attack in the Making Kelly was no stranger to AAMC. When her twins were born three months early, she was by the boys’ side for seven long weeks in AAMC’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Teddy’s Place. Now it was her turn to be the patient. “The artery to the front of Kelly’s heart had a major blockage, which was causing her symptoms,” says Elizabeth Reineck, MD, interventional cardiologist with AAMC. Dr. Reineck reopened Kelly’s artery with a stent. To Kelly, the heart attack felt like it came out of nowhere. But in reality, it was years in the making. “If you looked at her 10-year risk of heart problems one month before she had her heart attack, it would have been very high,” says Kelley Sullivan, MD, Kelly’s post-operative cardiologist with AAMC. Kelly had high cholesterol and a family history of heart problems. Her father had triple bypass surgery before age 50, and her mother was diagnosed with severe heart disease. On top of that, in the span of seven years, Kelly gave birth to her boys prematurely, which left one of them blind; lost her mother; and became separated from her husband. “It was a lot to handle,” she says. A New Lease on Life Kelly’s heart attack was the icing on a bitter cake. “I was scared to death. I prayed, ‘I have little boys. Please let me make it so I can be here for them,’” she says. Her prayers were answered when she left the hospital three days later on her birthday. That was just the beginning of Kelly’s recovery story. Post-operative care would be a partnership between Kelly and her doctors. “Even if we can open up the blocked artery, you have to take medications for the rest of your life and follow up with a cardiologist regularly,” says Dr. Reineck. “As doctors, we can only do so much. To be successful moving forward, patients need to make positive lifestyle changes, too.” Kelly was determined to do whatever it took to succeed. For her, that meant taking prescribed medications, improving her diet and exercising more often. Because she was terrified of another heart attack, exercising was especially hard. “You worry,” she says. “Every little ping and pain feels like it’s your heart.” Fortunately, three months of cardiac rehab at AAMC helped her recover physically and emotionally. “Kelly came to us scared and nervous. She was afraid for her kids,” says cardiac nurse Shannon Adkins. Her therapy with Kelly included nutritional counseling and supervised exercise, such as walking on a treadmill while connected to a heart monitor. “Our goal was to make her feel better about doing things so that when she went back into the real world, she would feel more confident.” Kelly’s twins were by her side at most of her appointments. They supported her a few steps away from where she’d first supported them at their birth. “My boys are my little advocates. They are my biggest motivation for getting healthy,” Kelly says. “I’ve changed everything so I can be here to watch them grow up.” Find out how you can help bring cardiac surgery to AAMC. Contributors Elizabeth Reineck, MD, is an interventional cardiologist with AAMC. Kelley Sullivan, MD, is a cardiologist with AAMC.
- UncategorizedGeneral Page Tier 3BlogPalliative care is often mistaken for hospice care. If you or your loved one is suffering from a serious illness, it’s important to know the difference and what is available to you. Hospice care is appropriate when medical treatments cannot offer a cure. Hospice professionals provide care to people who have an advanced illness and are in their last stages of life (prognosis of six months or less). Palliative care (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv), however, may be given at any time during a patient’s illness, from diagnosis on, regardless of life expectancy. Palliative care may also be provided along with curative (meaning lifesaving or life-prolonging) treatment. Most doctors are trained to focus on curing and treating your illness. But you may have symptoms that make it difficult to be as active as you want to be, or that impact your overall quality of life. This is where palliative care teams come into play. Teams are made up of specially trained doctors, nurses and other providers. They focus on treating and relieving your symptoms and side effects, such as shortness of breath, pain, lack of appetite and fatigue. They can also treat physical and mental stress caused by a serious illness—whatever your diagnosis. In fact, the word “palliative” itself comes from the word “palliate,” which means to make the effects of something less painful, harmful or harsh. Palliative care also emphasizes making sure you are informed. Teams help you understand the pros and cons of treatments and help you make decisions about treatment options. They also offer spiritual or religious support, and can help match your goals and values to your medical care. Palliative care teams work with you, your other doctors, and your family to coordinate all aspects of your care. They focus on you as a whole person, not just the part of you that is sick. Research shows that those with a serious or chronic illness who receive this extra layer of support see a number of benefits, like better symptom control, improved quality of life, satisfaction with care, fewer hospital and emergency room visits, and lower medical costs. So, where do you start? If you think palliative care could be right for you, the first step is to talk to your doctor. If costs concern you, you should know that services are covered by most private insurance plans as well as Medicare and Medicaid. Services are also flexible and based on your needs. Medical care can be confusing. Palliative care teams can help you and your family talk through what you want, and help you navigate a very complex system. You don’t have to cope with the day-to-day challenges of living with a serious illness alone. Palliative care can give you a better quality of life. Learn more about palliative care at www.askAAMC.org/palliative. Author Jeanette M. Abell, MD, MBA, is associate chair of Medicine and medical director of Hospitalists and Palliative Medicine at Anne Arundel Medical Center.
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