Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/7842
Saturday, March 13, 2010 – Daily News – 5A 796 Lay Ave, Red Bluff CA 96080 530-527-1243 Chago Satellite Check out our website: www.csdishonlinetoday.com 3/31/10 THANK YOU The Tehama County Public Health Advisory Board Dental Committee and the Northern Valley Indian Health Dental Clinic would like to personally extend a "BIG THANK YOU" to all the businesses, individuals, organizations and agencies for their donations to help make Tehama County children's smiles brighter. Without your support, the 5th Annual "Give Kids A Smile" Day would not have been possible. Special Thanks to: Northern Valley Indian Health, the Red Bluff State Theater, the First 5/NVIH Mobile Dental Clinic and Dr. Ron Clark for use of their facilities. Tehama County Health Services Agency, Public Health, Tehama County Department of Education and First 5 Tehama. Organization and Promotion NCCDI-Tehama County Head Start ~ Latino Outreach of Tehama County ~ Children's SMILES Program Northern California Dental Society ~ Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians ~ Shasta Dental Hygienist's Society Equipment and Supplies American Dental Association ~ Biotrol ~ Crosstex ~ Dentsply ~ Discount Disposables ~ Greenville Rancheria ~ GC America ~ Ismile ~ Ivoclar Vivadent ~ Kerr ~ Kerr-OSHA Dept. ~Kurrarray ~ 3M ~ Microflex ~ Patterson Dental ~ Septodont ~ Sunstar ~ Ultradent Food and Beverage Donations Red Bluff: Applebee's ~ Carlitos ~ Casa Ramos ~ Dominos Pizza ~ Dutch Brothers ~ Francisco's Pronto Market ~ Thomas Lewis, DDS ~ Little Caesars ~ Los Amigos Market ~ Los Mariachis ~ Luigi's Pizza ~ Pactiv ~ Raley's ~ Ramos Donuts ~ Round Table Pizza ~ Sugar Shack ~ Wal Mart ~ Redding: Mt. Shasta Spring Water ~ Pepsi Our Thoughtful Volunteers Richard Ahlfeld, DDS - Redding ~ Roger Barber, DDS - Redding ~ Cynthia Carter, DDS - Chico ~ Ron Clark, DDS - Red Bluff ~ Todd Gandy, DDS – Redding ~ Christine Gibson, DDS - Greenville ~ Tom Lewis, DDS - Red Bluff ~ Loyal Miner, DDS - Chico ~ Alfred Nandino, DDS - Red Bluff ~ Monica Nandino, DDS - Red Bluff ~ Chris Nelson, DDS -Redding ~ Mike Nelson, DDS – Redding ~ Charmaine Ng, DDS – Willows ~ Clint T. Parm, DDS- Red Bluff ~ Gus Petras, DDS – Redding ~ Melvin Sage, DDS- Willows ~ Robert Shoff, DDS – Redding ~ KC Whitaker, DDS – Orland ~ Judy Church, RDH ~ Carrie Jones, RDH ~ Mary Jacobson, RDH, BS ~ Brenda Meamber, RDH ~ Rosa Miele, RDH ~ Kerri Mitchell, RDH ~ Nancy Read, BS, RDH ~ Gabrielle Rector, RDH ~ Linda Sigler, RDH ~ Kelsey Uhalde, RDH ~ Stacy Wobbe, RDH ~ Jennifer Jacobson, RDAEFII ~ Laura Kirker, RDAEF ~ Tony Beaven, RDA ~ Kristy Eilts, RDA ~ Jennifer Foote, RDA ~ Iwan Gonczeruk, RDA ~ Stephanie Hatting, RDA ~ Lara Holmes, RDA ~ Carleen Kirby, RDA~ Cathleen MacLean, RDA ~ Julie McElroy, RDA ~ Tamy Molarius, RDA ~ Trudi Morris, RDA ~ Michah Mojica, RDA ~ Tiffini Olney, RDA ~ Kelly Onn, RDA ~ Amanda Romero, RDA ~ Kaitlin Schori, RDA ~ Julie Stacy, RDA ~ Andrea Strieff, RDA ~ Amanda Sudberry, RDA ~ Amanda Wright, RDA ~ Kimberly Goss, DA ~ Ariana Zepeda, DA ~ Rose Cardenas ~ Paula Cherveny Alma Clements ~ Lydia Clements ~ Maru Drum ~ Heidi Garcia ~ Freddy ~ Brian Iberra Marcelina Lee ~ Lupe Massie ~ Veronica Miranda ~ Yvonne Pasillas ~ Maria Plascencia ~ Annaly Ramirez ~ Karina Ramirez ~ Tomas Rosas ~ Nora Valera ~ Robin Brownfield ~ Jolynn Delgado ~ Clark Fitzgerald ~ Kirby Humphreys ~ Lorena Rodriguez ~ Kyla Zubia ~Terry Cabral-Alvara ~ Patricia Esparza ~ Herxilia Leon ~ Laura Martinez ~ Amy Travis ~ Laura Marquez ~ Melissa Heffley ~ Rhonda Meadows ~ Denise Snider ~ Paige Davison ~ Irene De Lao ~ Diana Rodrigues ~ Beneralda Galvan ~ Cynthia Banister ~Debi Barnwell ~ Reba Barnwell ~ Emilee Bickert ~Kerry Defonte ~Ellen Freeman ~ Vi Gilbertlbert ~ Lia DiMillo Grey~ Mildred Johnstone, RN ~ Hiliary Lindauer ~ Yeji Mun ~ Caroline Norton ~ Venita Philbrick ~ Jean Shackelford ~ Linda Small ~ Nancy Stratton, RN, PHN ~ Barbara Thomas ~ Emily Umberger ~ Shasta College Dental Hygiene students: Sean Agy ~ Dominic Walker ~ Butte ROP Dental Assisting students: Director Pam Baldwin ~ Jayme Armstrong ~ Michele Figueroa ~ Michele Fox~ Marina Gomez ~ Vanessa Llamas ~ Amanda Maginnis ~ Devin Rezendes ~ Red Bluff High School ROP students: Director Karrie Roth ~ Alexandra Brown ~ Sarah Brown ~ Yesenia Garagarza ~ Alayna Hudgens ~ JeriLynn Purcell ~ Maricela Reyes ~ Emily Richards ~ Kim Stone ~ Friday Night Live: Coordinator Tina Zastrow ~ Alec Hardy ~ Claudia Oliver ~ Miles Leyva ~ Heather Winn ~ Garret Woodward Dear Annie: My sister died seven years ago, and within six months, my b r o t h e r - i n - l a w was dating. ''John'' stays in touch with my 9 6 - y e a r - o l d mother and gives her news of the g r a n d c h i l d r e n , now in their 20s. John and I never had a good relationship, and our contact consists mostly of his children's upcoming milestones. This past summer, John flew his new girl- friend into town to meet my mom. I felt that was insensitive. Then, at Christmas, he set up a system so his children can e-mail their grandmother and she will receive it via the regular postal system. It was a nice idea, but most of the letters have been from John, contain- ing news of his engage- ment (replete with photos of the ring) and, most recently, information about his upcoming mar- riage and the extensive remodel of the house he shared with my sister. These letters were clearly upsetting to my mom. For the 25 years my sister was married to John, she lived quite mod- estly. They couldn't afford much. She often wore my hand-me-downs. John was never very sen- sitive to my sister's needs. Nor to his children, appar- ently, because they were shocked when he announced his plans to marry at their family Christmas gathering. The children had no idea, and it was quite painful for them. I say John is acting immaturely. There is no need to give us all these details, espe- cially my mom. While she expect- ed him to carry on with his life, this is a bit much. I think he is being incon- siderate, insensi- tive and boorish, but Mom doesn't want to rock the boat. Is it OK for me to e-mail John and ask him to please stop sending letters with the details of his love life? — Enough Already Sister Dear Sister: Yes, pro- vided you can do it in a civil, semi-friendly way. Try this: ''I appreciate that you are trying to keep us informed about your life. However, you may not realize how painful it is for us, espe- cially my mother, to hear all the details of your upcoming marriage and home renovations. I know it is not your inten- tion to hurt any of us, so perhaps you could share a little less information. Please know we all wish you the best.'' Dear Annie: I am a 57-year-old female, wid- owed twice. My adult daughter lives 30 minutes away. I have a male cousin who is divorced and lives nearby. We have been spending time together and really enjoy each other's company. My daughter feels this is morally wrong and is giv- ing me a lot of grief about it. She thinks if we had met by chance, it would be OK, but not if we are related. I'm not entirely sure what the relationship is, but we are not first cousins. Our grandmoth- ers were sisters. Previous- ly, the only times our paths crossed were at funerals and weddings. What do you think? — Kissing Cousin Dear Cousin: If your grandmothers were sis- ters, that makes you sec- ond cousins. We see no harm in dating your sec- ond cousin. It is not against the law, and we assume you are not plan- ning on having children together, so there is no genetic prohibition. Our Biblical ancestors were often married cousins. We hope your daughter can get over her judgmental attitude and be happy for you. Dear Annie: This is for ''Making Sure Zipper Is Up,'' my fellow neurot- ic who also always checks his zipper in public. The easiest and most discreet way of doing this is to develop the habit of plac- ing your right hand on the belt buckle, and then using the tip of your little finger to feel for the fas- tener of the zipper. No one will see. — London Dear London: Thanks to you and all the others who wrote. Dear Readers: Remember to set your clocks ahead before you go to sleep tonight. And please be sure to change the batteries in your smoke alarms or carbon monoxide detectors, too. Annie's Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please e-mail your questions to anniesmailboxcomcast.n et, or write to: Annie's Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Ste. 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. Too much info about new gal Annie's Mailbox by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar FEATURES DEAR DR. GOTT: My doctor has told me that I have lymphede- ma and should take a water pill. When the 20 milligrams wasn't sufficient, she put me on 40 mil- ligrams. Because I wanted to know more about my condition to better educate myself about things to do and not do, I looked online. It appeared to me that my doctor should be looking for the cause of the swelling, not just treating it. So I pressed her into doing more. She ordered a CT scan of my pelvis, a heart echo and a venous Doppler. My CT scan showed a lesion on my liver and no abnor- malities of the kidneys. The Doppler was negative, and I don't have the results of the echo, even though it was done more than a month ago. Because my doctor didn't discuss my lab work with me, I requested a copy from the front office of the clinic. I then looked up each value online and became con- cerned over several of the numbers. My GFR was 71. My BUN and bili totals were high. When I asked her about these num- bers, she said she wasn't concerned. When I pointed out that the National Kidney Foundation says my GFR level indicates stage 2 kidney failure, she told me that she doesn't look at that number, and I should- n't worry because I was probably just dehydrated on the day of the blood draw- ing. She proceeded to ask which office worker had given me a copy of my lab work — as if I didn't have a right to see it. She didn't outright say that I shouldn't have it, but it was clearly implied that I should not have gone online for informa- tion. Should I be concerned about the results and continue to press my doctor into order- ing more tests? Or should I just take her word for it that those numbers don't really matter? I believe that I should be proactive in my own health care, but am I pushing too far? I'll add that over a year ago, I com- plained to her of horrible stomach pain each time I ate. It took me several visits with the same complaint before she finally ordered tests, which were positive, and another six months before further testing was done. The pain had resolved before the tests were done, but I was told that I had to undergo them any way. They were nega- tive, so I was told I probably had an ulcer that resolved itself. Should I wait and see if my liver and kidney test results resolve themselves? Do I have any reason not to trust this doctor? Or am I just being para- noid? DEAR READER: I have reduced the size of your letter owing to space restrictions but will attempt to cover all your concerns. In my opinion, your physician is failing to provide adequate, timely medical advice. I recom- mend you sit down to discuss your concerns and disappointments regarding how she is handling your medical care. Express your desire for her to take your complaints more seriously, and if she is unwilling to change her habits, seek out a new primary-care physician who meets your standards. As to your stomach pain, I am inclined to agree that it was a spontaneously resolved ulcer, but because of the delay in getting proper testing, you may never know. If your physician was truly con- cerned about your symptoms, she should have gotten into testing sooner. Bilirubin is caused by the normal break- down of red blood cells in the liver. You claim to have a lesion on your liver and an elevated bilirubin, which may indicate liver damage. This is reason enough for referral to a specialist or at least further testing to determine what the abnormality is. Both blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels and glomerular filtration rates (GFR) are related to the kidneys. The BUN indicates how well they are functioning, with high levels, suggesting reduced function. The GFR is an indicator of what stage kidney failure a patient is in. Lower GFR numbers imply greater damage and lower function- ing. Because you are on a diuretic, this could be causing your abnormal results. With both these tests pointing toward kid- ney damage, you should undergo further testing or be referred to a specialist just to be on the safe side. In my opinion, you should not wait to see if your numbers resolve on their own, because both kidney and liver damage can be extremely detrimental to health. The sooner a proper diagnosis and, if necessary, appropriate treatment are received, the bet- ter the outcome is likely to be. I applaud your belief that you should be proactive in your own health and wish that more people believed this as well. I do not believe that you are being paranoid, given your remarks about your physician's past behavior. Talk to her about your dissatis- faction or find a new physician who will work with you. Should reader find a new physician? Dr. Peter Gott