Inner Circle Women

Dealing with the end of life and the decisions that accompany it bring critical challenges for everyone involved-patients, families, friends and physicians. In fact, “managing” the progression toward death, particularly when a dire diagnosis has been made, can be a highly complex process. Each person involved is often challenged in a different way.

Communication is the first objective, and it should start with the physicians. In their role, physicians are often tasked to bridge the chasm between lifesaving and life-enhancing care; thus, they often struggle to balance hopefulness with truthfulness. Determining “how much information,” “within what space of time” and “with what degree of directness for this particular patient” requires a skillful commitment that matures with age and experience.

A physician’s guidance must be highly personalized and must consider prognosis, the risks and benefits of various interventions, the patient’s symptom burden, the timeline ahead, the age and stage of life of the patient, and the quality of the patient’s support system.

At the same time, it’s common for the patient and his or her loved ones to narrowly focus on life preservation, especially when a diagnosis is first made. They must also deal with shock, which can give way to a complex analysis that often intersects with guilt, regret and anger. Fear must be managed and channeled. This stage of confusion can last some time, but a sharp decline, results of diagnostic studies, or an internal awareness usually signals a transition and leads patients and loved ones to finally recognize and understand that death is approaching.

Once acceptance arrives, end-of-life decision-making naturally follows. Ongoing denial that death is approaching only compresses the timeline for these decisions, adds anxiety, and undermines the sense of control over one’s own destiny.

With acceptance, the ultimate objectives become quality of life and comfort for the remainder of days, weeks or months. Physicians, hospice, family and other caregivers can focus on assessing the patient’s physical symptoms, psychological and spiritual needs, and defining end-of-life goals. How important might it be for a patient to attend a granddaughter’s wedding or see one last Christmas, and are these realistic goals to pursue?

In order to plan a death with dignity, we need to acknowledge death as a part of life-an experience to be embraced rather than ignored when the time comes. Will you be ready?

Why should perfectly good hair begin falling down? When they do begin falling, we worry endlessly and try to find remedies. What are the reasons for hair fall?  Let us try and find out as many of them as we can and find out how to stop that.

Hair loss  -  some reasons
The main reason other than genetic or a disorder is mishandling of hair. When we have good hair, we want to experiment with that. We get it colored. Go for perming. Get other heat and chemical treatments done to look good. Every treatment that changes hair does it by hurting the cuticle. After many treatments the cuticle cannot take it and breaks down. The cortex (inner part of hair) also fails and hair breaks. If the chemicals reach the pore and destroy the follicle growth there, you lose the hair.

Chemotherapy in cancer makes one loose hair. That is temporary and because of the therapy. After sometime the hair grows back. Some medicines cause hair loss. If you are on medication and are suffering hair loss, please ask your doctor about possible connection. Diet is another reason. Low iron or proteins may cause hair loss. Women lose hair after pregnancy but get them back. Unless you are suffering from alopecia aerta or genetic hair loss, you can easily find out the reason and rectify that. Please talk to your doctor about any supplements that can help you have healthy hair. Also discuss possible reasons specific to you for your hair loss.

Maintaining your sterilizer is daily process. If you keep it maintained and follow the manufacturer’s recommendations it will prolong the life of the sterilizer. Most manufacturers recommend the following.

Daily : Wipe the sterilizer with a soft dry cloth, and if need with a damp cloth and mild soap. Also clean the door gasket and the inside of the door. Examine the door gasket for nicks and cuts. This could prevent proper sealing, and thus improper sterilization.

Weekly : You should clean the inside chamber and the trays on a weekly basis. Drain the water from the reservoir and refill with distilled water.

Monthly : You should flush the system monthly with a sterilizer cleaner. Mix according to the directions, drain the system and refill with the cleaning solution. Run a 30 minute cycle at 250 degrees F. Drain the cleaning solution, allow the unit to cool and remove the racks and trays. Wipe them off and replace them in the chamber. Refill the reservoir with distilled water. You can now use the sterilizer

Quarterly : You should remove and clean the door gasket every 3 months. Clean the gasket with a mild soap and inspect for cracks, or cuts. Replace if needed. Replace the gasket and run an empty load to insure proper operation of the sterilizer.

If you follow these simple procedures your sterilizer will not only perform better, it will also last longer.