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2B Daily News – Saturday, December 14, 2013 FEATURES Living will speaks for you when you can't breathing stops, DEAR DOCCPR can be used TOR K: I'm drawto try to resusciing up a living tate you. CPR is a will, but I don't combination of understand many chest compresof the medical sions, artificial terms I'm encounrespiration and tering. Can you defibrillation. In help? DEAR READDr. K artificial respiration, air is ER: Many people, by Anthony L. certainly including Komaroff, M.D. squeezed through a mask placed me, have asked themselves how they over your mouth and nose would want to be cared for to move air in and out of if they became very sick your lungs. Defibrillation and unable to speak for delivers an electric shock themselves. The two most to your body. This can common ways of doing restart your heart if it has that are to designate one stopped beating. The next trusted person, such as step is advanced cardiac your spouse, who knows life support, including your wishes to make deci- mechanical ventilation. — Mechanical ventilasions for you — a health care proxy. Another is for tion. A ventilator or respirator pushes air into your you to write a living will. In a living will, you lungs if you cannot specify how you want to breathe on your own. A be cared for. Living wills tube attached to the can be the sole way you machine is inserted into make your wishes clear to your nose, mouth or neck the doctors who someday (through a small surgical may be in charge of your procedure). However the care. It also can be a tube enters your body, it is guideline for someone passed down into the trawho is your health care chea (windpipe). Mechanical ventilation can be proxy. A living will is used to used short-term as a bridge determine how aggressive to recovery, or long-term. — Organ-sustaining you would like your medical treatments to be as the treatment. This is a set of end of life nears. I'll drugs, medical procedures explain several terms that and machines that can you probably are seeing in keep you alive for an a draft living will. As you indefinite period of time. read, think about whether Mechanical ventilation is you would, or would not, one common example. want certain procedures or Another is kidney dialysis, a machine that cleans toxcare. — Artificial nutrition. ins out of your blood when When you are unable to your kidneys cannot do the swallow anything by job. Such treatments canmouth, nutrients and flu- not cure a terminal condiids can be supplied tion. I'm like most people: I through a tube inserted through your nose into didn't exactly look foryour stomach. Such a tube ward to drawing up a will can't be left in long-term or a living will. But I saw (beyond a few weeks). For the burden that not having longer-term use, a tube done so caused the famican be inserted directly lies of my friends and into your stomach. That patients. That convinced requires a minor surgical me to do it. procedure. Also for Dr. Komaroff is a longer-term use, a tube called a catheter can be physician and professor at placed into one of your Harvard Medical School. veins if your gut isn't To send questions, go to AskDoctorK.com, or write: working properly. — Cardiopulmonary Ask Doctor K, 10 Shattuck resuscitation (CPR) and St., Second Floor, Boston, advanced cardiac life sup- MA 02115. port. If your heart or Readers chime in on lack of intimacy makes all the difference. So, Dear Annie: ''Frustrated ''Frustrated,'' find different in South Dakota'' was conways to enjoy that intimacy cerned about the dearth of with your wife. — Learning sex in his marriage, saying Curve his wife has no sex drive. Dear Learning: We You rightfully suggested agree that there are many she talk to her doctor to see ways to show intimacy, but whether there is something it requires the cooperation they could do to remedy the problem. However, when Annie's of both partners. Our readers had a lot to say on this you write that ''intimacy is subject. Read on for more: important, but it isn't everyFrom New York: Perthing,'' I think you've by Kathy Mitchell missed the point about sex- and Marcy Sugar haps ''Frustrated'' could suggest to his wife that less marriage: It's entirely possible to be in a committed rela- one-way pleasure is a possible, if tionship without sex, but it's incred- occasional, solution to their misibly important to keep the intimacy matched libidos. If you love someone, you can enjoy giving pleasure alive in other ways. People sometimes identify the without expecting anything in act of sex as the only validation of return. Boston: My wife and I were love and caring between a couple, but there are other ''love acts'' that experiencing the lack of desire for have a bigger impact on a relation- frequent intimacy until we went to a ship, like hugging and touching and homeopathic practitioner and received supplements to her diet kissing. My husband's libido took a nose- that corrected some hormone levels. dive several years ago, and it was a Happily, one of the benefits was rough period for me because I am improved libido, and we are now 13 years younger and had just hit happy, happy, happy. Florida: ''Frustrated'' commy sexual prime. It took some adjusting of mindset, but when I plains that he has sex with his realized that the other ''good stuff'' extremely attractive wife ''maybe wasn't going out the window, things once every two weeks.'' I say: What suddenly weren't as bad as I are you complaining about? There are far too many of us on the oppothought. I do miss the incredible intimacy site end of the spectrum who would that sex brings, but I also love the gladly trade places with him. I'm fact that I get sweet, sometimes pas- 45, she's 43 and still hot, but it's sionate kisses. Then there's the been years since we've had sex. I've romantic act of hand-holding (even tried everything except couples in public!) and hugging. And that counseling (she won't go). I'm in Mailbox weight, and blood pressure. He or she will also calculate your body mass index, give you a simple vision test, and advise you on preventing disease and staying healthy. In addition, the Affordable Care Act provides a free annual wellness exam to people with Medicare. When you get this exam, your doctor will go over your medical and family history and develop or update a personalized prevention plan for you. Your doctor also will check for any cognitive impairment and risk factors for depression, and review your functional ability and level of safety. Medicare also covers shots for flu, pneumococcal disease (which can cause pneumonia and meningitis), and Hepatitis B. Flu, pneumococcal infections, and Hepatitis B can be life-threatening for older people, and we recommend that people over age 65 get flu and pneumococcal shots. Most people only need the pneumococcal vaccine once in their lifetime. And remember: Medicare beneficiaries can get these shots with no co-pays. Beneficiaries also can get screened for cardiovascular disease and different kinds of cancer, Annie's Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please email your questions to anniesmailboxcomcast.net, or write to: Annie's Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. Deadline for college applications Nov. 30 may have seemed like just another day to most of us, but for graduating seniors this was a very important date. In California, Nov. 30 is the deadline for students to apply for admission at any California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) campus, if they plan to enter as a freshman in the fall of 2014. During the months of October and November College Options advisors have been partnering with local high schools to make sure that students are given support during the application process. In addition to the university applications that are available College Options has worked with local community colleges including Butte, Shasta and College of the Siskiyous to make sure that students have a variety of colleges available to apply to. Typically, community colleges do not open their applications or incoming freshman until spring, so in the past, students who chose to attend In order to remove some of those community colleges were told, "you will have to apply later". barriers this year Mercy, Corning, Whether they are applying to Red Bluff, Salisbury and Los Molia trade school, community nos High Schools have each hosted a college application day college, or univerfor seniors. Typically sity we want students to understand Lauren staffed by counselors and College Options advisors there is help available the goal of the day is for and they can start the students to learn how to process now. complete a college appliSome may feel that students don't need help with the cation. "This process is completed process and that they should be able with the understanding that not to do it entirely on their own. How- every student will enroll in college ever, there are many places where next year, but we want them to students can run into difficulty. leave high school having learned "When I applied to college it was a how to apply to college if they piece of paper and I filled it out choose do to so in the future", says with a pencil", says Lauren Tingley, Stacey Garrett, College Options College Options advisor. "Now the advisor. "It was very comforting to have entire process is online and can be very confusing. Students and par- support on campus from people ents are often overwhelmed and who have helped hundreds of stuthey want to make sure they com- dents before us, since we are going plete the application accurately. through the process for the first Many students in our area do not time," said Garrett Ward, senior at have internet access at home and Red Bluff High School. that barrier alone makes in almost Lauren Tingley is a College impossible to apply to college on Options Advisor in Tehama County. their own." How Medicare helps you stay healthy You may have heard something lately about "preventive health care." What does that mean? At its most basic, preventive health care means living a healthy lifestyle. Eat a balanced diet. Exercise regularly. Maintain a healthy weight. And stop smoking. Like anyone else, people with Medicare can benefit from healthy living habits. And Medicare also covers a variety of screenings and tests to help detect preventable and chronic diseases early, when they're in their most treatable stages. One of the ways in which the Affordable Care Act strengthened Medicare was by eliminating co-pays for many of Medicare's preventive health services. The idea was to encourage people with Medicare to get more preventive screenings and counseling to help them lead healthier, longer lives. For example, you no longer face any out-ofpocket expenses when you get a "Welcome to Medicare" physical exam. This one-time exam is offered during the first 12 months after you've enrolled in Medicare Part B. During the exam, your doctor will record your medical history and check your height, decent physical shape, have a wellpaying job and do my share in taking care of the children and the house. However, all romance, intimacy, handholding, kissing and physical contact are initiated by me and are rebuffed too often for me to make further attempts. Apparently, watching 15 hours of television every week is more important to her than an hour of intimacy once a month. Texas: Agreed, intimacy isn't everything. However, I believe intimacy is the foundation of a marriage and should not be minimized. I feel his pain. My relationship with my wife of 30 years is very similar. My advice is: If this is a deal breaker, then divorce is the only real answer. Rejection from the wife you love and cherish is beyond painful. You can concentrate on the many other good qualities in your relationship, but the sad reality is, it can be empty and unfulfilling without intimacy. Intimacy starts at the kitchen table or maybe with a phone conversation. A connection must be made. Counting how many times in a month you have sex is not intimacy. including breast, or are at risk for diaprostate, cervical/vagi- betes, Medicare covers nal, and colorectal can- screenings, certain supplies, and self-managecer. ment training. Take colorecIf you need tal cancer, for help to stop example. This smoking, type of cancer Medicare pays is usually found for up to eight in people age face-to-face 50 and older counseling and the risk of sessions per getting it year with a increases with doctor or other age. Medicare-recMedicare ognized practicovers screentioner. ing tests to help David Medicare find pre-canceralso helps pay ous polyps, for tests for which are glaucoma, growths in the colon, so they can be HIV, and osteoporosis removed before they (brittleness that places turn cancerous. people at risk for broken Medicare will pay for a bones). People with Medicare fecal occult blood test, a flexible sigmoidoscopy, don't use preventive a screening health services as much colonoscopy, or a bari- as they should. But getting screened um enema. Medicare beneficia- can help you stay ries pay nothing for healthy and live longer fecal occult blood tests. – and save the governAnd they pay nothing ment billions in healthfor the flexible sigmoi- care costs. That's a classic windoscopy and the screening colonoscopy, if their win. doctor accepts the David Sayen is Medicare-approved payregional ment amount. (Note: If a Medicare's polyp or other tissue is administrator for Arizona, Hawaii, removed during a California, colonoscopy, you may Nevada, and the Pacific have to pay 20 percent Territories. You can get of the Medicare- answers to your Medicare approved amount for the questions by visiting or doctor's services and a www.Medicare.gov co-payment in a hospital calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). outpatient setting.) For people who have Sayen Tingley Fire safety urged with Christmas trees SACRAMENTO - Christmas trees are a popular holiday decoration this time of year, but fire officials warn that Californians must take several steps to ensure they don't become an increased fire hazard inside the home. In mere seconds, a fire can spark and quickly engulf a Christmas tree. "The holiday season brings an increase of hazards into the home," said State Fire Marshal Tonya Hoover, CalFire – Office of the State Fire Marshal. "The key to a safe Christmas tree is keeping it watered and away from heat sources." Christmas tree safety begins when you purchase your tree. When selecting a tree from a sales lot, do the "tap test", lift the tree up and tap it on the ground. If any needles fall off, it's already too dry and you should look for another tree. Cut trees can need as much as a gallon of water a day to help keep them from drying out too fast. Having your tree located too close to heat sources dries the tree quicker, making it a greater fire hazard. Here are some additional fire safety tips: · Choose a fresh tree with green needles. · Recut the trunk at least two inch above the old cut as soon as you get it home. This allows it to continue to pull moisture into its foliage. · Keep the trunk in water immediately after it is recut. Moisture is the key to keeping the tree fresh and thereby enhancing its fire resistance. If the tree will be kept outside for a few days, stand it in a bucket of water until you are ready to bring it indoors. · Check the water levels daily... Never let the water level go below the bottom of the trunk. Commercial floral preservatives can also be added to the water to help keep the tree fresh. · Locate any tree at least 3 feet away from sources of heat. Avoid placing any tree, live or artificial, near a heater outlet, wood stove or fireplace. If tree does dry out and become a hazard remove it from the home even if it's not yet Christmas. Its not worth the risk. · Never place tree where it blocks exits. · Use only UL approved and properly operating and maintained lights on trees. Don't overload outlets or light sets by connecting too many together. Use multi plug circuit type plug to prevent heat build up. · Remove the tree immediately after the holidays. Even a properly cared for live tree will eventually die. Take it to a recycle center or leave for your refuse collector. For more Christmas tree and holiday decoration fire safety tips visit the CalFire website at www.fire.ca.gov.