What You Need to Know about Skin Cancer
Sponsored We are at the peak of the summer season, and it is more important than ever to keep your skin protected from the harsh summer sun. Recently, we went to Kaiser Permanente to speak with Dr. Hege Sarpa to find out everything that your family needs to know about skin cancer. Dr. Hege Sarpa started by explaining the three major types of skin cancer: The most common form of skin cancer is a basal cell carcinoma. The word carcinoma means that its a malignancy. Basal cell carcinoma is by far the most common and is 100% related to sun exposure. It is more common in fair skin patients, and people with chronic sun damage. The second most common is squamous cell carcinoma. This form can be a little tricky, especially in Caucasian males greater than 65 years of...
Read MoreMen’s Health: Tips for Managing Cholesterol
Sponsored As my parents have begun to age, one thing that my mom is always talking about is how challenging it is to manage my dad’s cholesterol. I started doing some research and learned how important it is for men to manage their cholesterol beginning at a young age. While doing my research, I had the pleasure of talking with Dr. Lucio Loza at Kaiser Permanente about what you need to know about cholesterol and tips for managing it. One thing that I didn’t realize before talking with Dr. Loza is that one of the most significant dangers of high cholesterol is cardiovascular disease. Most of the time, when you have high cholesterol, you don’t have any symptoms, and you won’t know you have it unless having it checked. Dr. Loza advised me that unfortunately, many people find out...
Read MoreHealthcare Tips for Caring for Aging Parents
Sponsored One of the hardest things about getting older is watching your parents start to age. As a child, I had always wished that my parents would live forever, but now that I am a parent, it is so hard to watch my parents grow old. The one thing I’ve realized is that I am not alone. A lot of my friends are experiencing the same pain, and some have started to have to care for their parents, and even watched some of them pass away from illnesses or old age. Since I have had so many questions about caring for my aging parents, I spoke with Dr. Melissa Rapp at Kaiser Permanente about what our generation needs to know about managing healthcare for our parents. I know there are so many privacy laws when it comes to healthcare,...
Read MorePuberty: What Parents Should Expect
Sponsored As children come of age, they begin to start puberty. It can be a confusing time for both the parents and the children, and every child experiences puberty differently. While raising three children, puberty has been very different for all three of them, and I have had to handle it differently with each of them. It is a topic that isn’t discussed as often as the baby and toddler stages, but it should, so I recently talked with Dr. Barbara Stefanides at Kaiser Permanente about what parents should expect about their children starting puberty. The biggest question that I had before my children became teenagers was, “When will they start going through puberty?” What I quickly learned was that my children started at different times from my friend’s children, and my one son was very late starting puberty....
Read MoreTaking Care of your Heart Health
Sponsored When it comes to heart disease, many people often think that it is a disease that mostly affects males. However, women are just as much at risk of heart disease. It is the #1 cause of death for women in the united states, and only 45% of women are aware of this. I was just a teenager when my father went out to walk the dog, and when he came home, he asked my mother to take him to the hospital. The next time that I saw my father, he was in a recovery room with tubes coming out of his chest as he was recovering from a bypass surgery. After his heart surgery, he has spent the rest of his life fighting to survive heart disease. Heart disease wasn’t new to me because as a child growing...
Read MoreIs it safe to travel with a kid who isn’t vaccinated?
Sponsored Vaccinations are a touchy subject to talk about with other moms. Some moms are very passionate about their position on vaccinations, and I’ve had many friends who have gotten into a heated debate when talking about whether or not they should be vaccinating their children. The fact is that we should have healthy discussions about the subject, educate each other, and make the best decisions for our children. While I am not anti-vaccinations, I do have a child who is not vaccinated. It isn’t something that I publicly talk about because I fear being shamed for it, but it isn’t by my personal choice. My two older children have been fully vaccinated, and are healthy growing teenagers, but vaccinations pose a life-threat to my youngest son who has neutropenia. Weeks after my son was born, he developed neutropenia....
Read MoreTips for Keeping Your Family Healthy During Cold and Flu Season
Sponsored Cold and Flu season are upon us, and while the flu hasn’t quite hit Orange County yet, there is still the potential of it coming to our community, and protecting your family from serious illness is vital. Some people think that mild cold symptoms are the flu, but the flu is much more serious. We talked with Doctor Wendy Coling at Kaiser Permanente Orange County about how your family can prevent getting the flu and got these great tips for keeping your family healthy during the cold and flu season. What is the best way to prevent getting the flu? The best way to prevent getting the flu is getting the flu vaccine. I recommend it for everyone unless you have a specific type of medical condition. Some of the guidelines have changed over the past year regarding...
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