New research suggests surgery to remove healthy ovaries gives a triple benefit to some women at high risk for cancer. It lowers their threat of breast and ovarian cancer, and boosts their chances of living longer.

The women in the study had BRCA gene mutations. They got counseling to help them decide between preventive surgery or more screening to watch for signs of cancer. The study is the largest to date to find advantages from surgery for these high-risk women.

The study appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Alzheimer’s Association asked me to be honorary chair for this year’s Memory Walk–which takes place Oct. 2 at Longbranch Park in Geddes–and I was honored to accept.

My Dad was diagnosed two years ago with a disease that is similar to Alzheimer’s, called frontotemporal dementia. In his honor, I have formed Team DementiAwareness, named for my blog, DementiAwareness.com. That is where I write about news and information related to Alzheimer’s and other dementias, but also reflections on my dad and what he, and we as his family, are going through.

I invite you to join my team, form your own, or ask your employer to sponsor a team.

Here’s why:

It wasn’t too long ago that cancer had such a stigma.

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Eating more heart-healthy omega-3 fats provided no additional benefit in a study of heart attack survivors who were already getting good care, Dutch researchers report.

After nearly 3 1/2 years, there was no difference in deaths, heart attacks and other heart problems between those who ate margarine with added omega-3 fatty acids and those who didn’t, the study found.

The results don’t mean that getting more of the essential nutrient has no value. Full Post…

My husband used to think that working in a Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) meant that I sat in a chair and watched people breathe during my entire shift. He now knows that after 12 years, there’s a bit more to being an SICU nurse than that.

I am sometimes a charge nurse of a 20-bed SICU where we take care of the most critical patients. I get people out of bed that haven’t been out of bed in five days. I am in charge of a bedside machine that checks your clotting time, and I make sure that the staff members are competent in its use, every year. I teach Basic Life Support to my colleagues. The Full Post…