Woman with transplanted face is an inspiration

 

Carmen Blandin Tarleton: her old and new image after her face transplant

Carmen Blandin Tarleton is somebody worthy to be mentioned and written about.

She is an exemplification of a person, who despite being physically, mentally and emotionally tortured, after having been brutally disfigured, continued to be brave, hopeful and a great inspiration to others.

Tarleton’s calvary started in June 2007 when her estranged and enraged husband, Herbert Rodgers, attacked her after failing to find the man he thought and believed his wife was seeing. He struck her with a baseball bat and later doused her with industrial-strength lye (caustic soda) that inflicted chemical burns over 80 per cent of her body, including her face.

When police arrived, Tarleton was trying to crawl to a shower to wash away the chemical. It already had distorted her face.

During the past 5 years she has undergone 55 surgeries.

During the face transplant surgery at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in February, more than 30 surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses worked for more than 15 hours to replace her skin, muscles, tendons and nerves.

The face donor was a Williamstown, Massachusetts, woman named Cheryl Denelli Righter who died of a sudden stroke.

Righter’s daughter, Marinda, told Tarleton that she looked beautiful, adding she was certain her mother had somehow picked Tarleton. “They are both mothers, they are both survivors, they are both beacons of light,” she said.

Righter said that after seeing Tarleton for the first time, she felt overjoyed, saying, “I get to feel my mother’s skin again, I get to see my mother’s freckles, and through you, I get to see my mother live on.”

In her first public statement during a news conference, Tarleton, a former transplant nurse herself, had this to say: “I’m now in a better place, mentally and emotionally, than I ever could have imagined six years ago. I want to share my experience with others, so they may find that strength inside themselves to escape their own pain.”

Tarleton is legally blind and read her remarks from a tablet. She thanked Righter’s family for what she called “a tremendous gift” that’s greatly alleviated the physical pain she’d felt daily.

Twins born 87 days apart lands in the Guinness World Record

Since I lost a twin granddaughter after an unusual pregnancy my daughter had, the life of twins inside a woman’s womb has always fascinated me, or shall I say, intrigued me.

Hers was a case where one of the twins was getting bigger and stronger at the expense of the other, leaving the latter smaller, weaker and vulnerable. It did not help that they were born premature.

But, what I am writing about, I think, is the most bizarre of them all, yet. It is so bizarre that it landed in the Guinness World Record as the “longest interval between the births of twins.”

This happened in Ireland and it all started when the mother went into labor before her 24^th week began. The water bag broke, but it was only on the second day of labor that the first twin, named Amy, was born.

Amy was so precariously premature, at 1 pound, 3 ounces only, that she was rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

As the doctors were preparing for the birth of the second twin, the mother’s contractions stopped – to the surprise of the doctors.

Fearing that infection might affect the health of the mother as well as that of the twin, the doctors decided on induced labor.

The doctors were even more alarmed that the inducement did not work and more surprised that the contractions completely stopped.

“It was like I never gave birth,” the mother said.

The mother did not want to leave the hospital without the other twin being born and so decided with her husband and her doctors to “let nature take its course,” and not force the delivery of the remaining twin inside her.

It took five weeks before the mother was allowed to hold Amy, who, all these times, was inside the incubator with “tubes” all over her.

What was miraculous about this is that when she was holding Amy on her chest, the latter’s heart stabilized and the twin still in her womb began moving and kicking, “as if she knew,” the mother said.

At 36 weeks, 3 days, the mother was induced and this time twin Katie was born, healthy and not in need of any medical attention.

Katie left the hospital with her mother five days later, and Amy joined the whole family – including two older siblings – seven weeks later.

Time magazine honors two Filipinos

 

President Benigno Aquino

Not too many people coming from the same third world country are chosen to have some influence in the events of the world.

But when two Filipinos were featured in Time magazine’s annual edition of of 100 most influential people in the world, I just thought that it was something to crow about.

One, President Benigno Aquino, a pedigree politician, was chosen under the category of leaders and the other, Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, a pediatric immunologist from the University of Massachusetts, under the category of pioneers.

There is no doubt that President Benigno Aquino is trying to make a difference as our country’s leader and his efforts are impacting the world scene and this is being recognized by world leaders.

Thanks to Aquino, the Philippines is no longer considered the sick man of Asia, but a rising tiger.

Despite global economic uncertainty, the Philippine economy has remained strong which is why the country is becoming a haven for foreign and local investments. This, of course, has been coupled with the government’s battle against corruption.

Time magazine also lauded Aquino’s support for the Reproductive Health Bill, which he signed into law late last year despite opposition from local Church leaders.

“Most important, he became the face of the regional confrontation with Beijing over its claim to virtually all of the South China Sea,” the magazine said.

“It is a brave stance, the long-term consequences still unknown,” it added.

Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga

While Aquino’s contribution is for the country, the recognition that Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga received was in the course of her collaboration and pioneering work with two other influential women/researchers, namely, Dr. Hannah Gay, a pediatrician at the University of Mississippi and Dr. Deborah Persaud, a virologist at John Hopkins Children’s Center, for discovering cure for AIDS in newborn babies.

The article about them said that the breakthrough came when they gave the infant, who contracted  Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS, from its mother, anti-HIV drugs within hours of birth.

The found the drug to have successfully defeated the virus, such that the child, now  two and a half years old, no longer needs medications and has shown no signs of HIV.

The article went on to say that following the success with the newborn, it is hoped that adults may also benefit from the same rapid treatment immediately after HIV infection.

Although Luzuriaga was not mentioned as a Filipino and most likely do not speak the language, it was found out, however, that her roots are Filipino, having a father that still speak Filipino.

Ambulance patient turns ambulance driver

 

This is one amazing story that does not happen so often anywhere, but if it does happen it certainly makes one a consoling hero.

Christian Nayet, 60, and a late-stage cancer patient from the northern town of Berck-sur-mer in France was scheduled for a regular scan and was being driven to the hospital in Lille by an ambulance driver.

On the way, however, the driver suffered a heart attack and Nayet took matters into his own hands by taking over the wheels of the ambulance and driving instead the stricken person to a hospital in Lens.

“I told him: ‘Give me the keys, trust me! My life is not in danger, but yours is!’” Nayet said.

“I couldn’t find the siren, but I managed to turn the lights on and told him to put his arm out the window to signal to the cars to let us pass.”

(This reminded me of the time I was working with Purefoods in the 80s and was given an old Tamaraw service pick-up for my agro-procurement job and one weekend, while driving leisurely around  familiarizing the Marikina area, the vehicle developed a faulty brake such that my wife beside me and I were shouting and waving frantically at the people ahead to get out of the way.)

Upon arrival the driver was immediately admitted to the emergency room for treatment. According to Frederic Alliene, Lens hospital emergency room manager, had it not been for the presence of mind of Nayet and their timely arrival that the driver “could have died.”

Nayet, the hero, was later taken to the hospital where he proceeded taking his scheduled tests.

Woman with transplanted womb is pregnant

“Medical miracle” Derya Sert

We had been reading a lot about all kinds of human transplant, but this one that I am writing about is something unique.

Not that it is new for it has been done before, but this is the first time that a uterus coming from a deceased donor was transplanted into the woman’s body and was accepted by it. This happened in August 2011 at Akdeniz University Hospital in Turkey’s southern province of Antalya.

The woman, 22-year-old Derya Sert, was born without a uterus, like one in every 5,000 women around the world, and her doctors waited 18 months before implanting the embryo to make sure the foreign organ was still functioning.

Soon after, the young woman is said to have started to menstruate, which her doctors had said was an important signal that the womb was functional.

After an in vitro fertilization performed in the same hospital, Sert has now been found to be two-weeks pregnant.

The baby is expected to be delivered via C-section and the uterus to be removed from Sert in the months following the birth to avoid further complications and the risk of rejection.

Sert’s womb transplant was actually the second in history, the first being in Saudi Arabia in 2000 from a living donor, which failed after 99 days due to heavy clotting. Doctors had to remove the organ.

Experts say this type of pregnancy carries several health risks to the patient as well as to the baby, including birth defects due to the use of immunosuppressive drugs as well as preterm delivery.

(Update, May 14, 2013: It has been reported that on Derya Sert’s eight-week of pregnancy the doctors decided to terminate it as the fetal heartbeat had stopped.  Sert, however, received new fertilization treatment to try and get pregnant again, the hospital said. – Quierosaber) 

Hero dog, Kabang, returning home

 

Since I wrote a couple of blogs about Kabang,  (http://quierosaber.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/phl-hero-dog-goes-to-us-for-face-surgery/ and http://quierosaber.wordpress.com/tag/kabang/), the hero dog from Zamboanga, who gained worldwide attention when her fealty and braveness, which nearly killed her, was reported on Philippine TV, I thought it would be fitting to write about her again if only to let those who showed sympathy, concern and love for the dog know what has become of her now.

After funds were raised for the dog’s trip and treatment at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in the US, it has been reported that Kabang is now preparing for a trip back home where he belongs and where the Bunggal family, the owners, are eagerly expecting the return of the now famous pet.

Apparently, Kabang had a successful maxillofacial surgery done on her that lasted for five hours. This involved closing the wound from the loss of her upper snout “with skin flaps pulled from the top and sides of her head.”

The UC-Davis vets also is said to have “reconstructed (Kabang’s) nasal openings and inserted stents in those passages to allow for two permanent new nostrils to form.”

“She is now very playful, back to her old self, although her body is adjusting to the two stents that were inserted on her nasal openings. Once it’s fully healed, the stents can be removed and that will serve as her permanent opening, like a nose,” Dr. Anton Maria Lim, Kabang’s personal veterinarian said.

But, even from the very beginning the vets seemed skeptical of being able to replace Kabang’s damaged upper snout and jaw with prosthetics.

They said that Kabang might have realized early on that there was no way her upper snout could be restored that she learned to “curl her tongue back into her mouth to scoop food.”

She is now also able to eat and drink “without any complications” but will remain in the ICU until, at least, she has her sutures removed,” the hospital bulletin said.

Lim said many families in the United States expressed interest to adopt Kabang but “she has to return home.”

Mid-May is Kabang’s estimated departure from the US.

I can only thank those who, wholeheartedly, participated, one way or the other, in saving Kabang’s life.

The hero dog deserved no less.

Smog blamed for increase in heart deaths

 

Smog in Beijing

Smog is a combination of the words smoke and fog.

It is a fog that has become polluted with smoke by the reaction of sunlight with hydrocarbons, nitrogen compounds, and other gases primarily released in by burning coal and oil for power stations, and petrol and diesel for transport.

Smog is common in large urban areas, especially during hot, sunny weather, where it appears as a brownish haze that can irritate the eyes and lungs.

Recent study published in the European Heart Journal has revealed that exposure to higher levels of fine particulates, such as what is found in a smog, have been the cause of sharp rise in deaths from heart attacks.

Researchers have identified the pollutant as PM2.5, which comprises tiny particles measuring 2.5 micrometers across or less. It is said to be around 30 times smaller than the human hair and the cause of respiratory problem, as their size enables them to lodge deep in the lungs.

This correlation was made in a study led by Cathryn Tonne of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on 154,000 patients in England and Wales who had been hospitalized for a heart attack between 2004 and 2007.

They followed the patients for more than three years after their release from hospital. During this period, nearly 40,000 of them died. This happened after factoring out socio-economic status and smoking.

The average exposure to PM2.5 in England was 11.0 micrograms per cubic meter, with the highest in London, which was 14.1 micrograms per cubic meter. The lowest was in northeast England, which had 8.4 particles per cubic meter.

By comparison, the World Health Organisation (WHO) sets down guidelines of a maximum of 10 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter as an annual average exposure, and a maximum of 25 micrograms per cubic meter over a 24-hour period.

Attention is now being focused on Asia as particulate smog is becoming an emerging problem.

In Beijing last month, PM2.5 levels reached 993 micrograms per cubic meter, almost 40 times the WHO’s recommended safe limit, triggering an outcry.

“The pollution in Beijing is a huge cause for concern,” said Pier Manucci, a professor at the University of Milan and a leading European authority on thrombosis, when asked to comment on the study.

He said that almost all of the research into the link between cardiac risk and pollution was conducted in rich countries, where PM2.5 levels were far lower.

Two sets of twins born in one day

 

The Montalvo sets of identical twins

When it rains it pours and this expression could not have been exemplified better than when a mother gave birth to two sets of identical twin boys.

The couple, Manuel and Tressa Montalvo Jr., just wanted to have either a brother or a sister for their 2-year-old son, Memphis.

“We planned the pregnancy – I guess we just succeeded a little too much!” Tressa was quoted as saying. Having already a son, the use of any fertility drugs was never an option.

But, 31 weeks later she delivered four brothers via Cesarean section at the Woman’s Hospital of Texas in Houston.

What made this pregnancy amazingly different was that when Tressa was 10 weeks pregnant, her physician told her she was having twins, and on a subsequent visit, the doctor detected a third heartbeat. The Montalvos were later informed they were having four babies – not quadruplets but two sets of twins.

The odds of delivering two sets of naturally occurring identical twins is somewhere in the range of 1 in 70 million, according to the hospital. Two boys shared one placenta and the two other boys shared another placenta.

Manuel was excited, but when interviewed he said that they are not done yet – that he still wants a girl.

Well, only God knows what happens next.

Precision military drill causing German soldiers to grow breast

 

Precision military drills performed during official events normally leave the audiences in awe, but to hear that this silent, methodical and perfect execution of ritual by soldiers with their rifles is causing one side of their breast to grow is kind of a weird story.

A medical report in Germany says that a group of German soldiers belonging to the elite Wachbataillon guard unit, which is known for known for performing drill demonstrations at major events, are growing breasts on just one side of their bodies.

The soldiers are are said to be suffering from a condition called one-sided gynecomastia, and it’s a result of how the soldiers are performing their drills.

Apparently, as you can see in the accompanying videos, many of their drills involve smacking their rifles against the left side of the soldiers’ chests and that constant pounding on the same spot is said to have stimulated the mammary leading to the production of hormones that cause man boobs to grow.

Dr. Bjorn Krapohl, director of plastic surgery at the military’s main hospital in Berlin says the link between the drills and the breast growth is significant. “They need to change the way they drill. The constant slamming of the rifles against the left hand side of the chest is clearly a significant factor,” he said.

In the meantime, the soldiers that are suffering from one-sided gynecomastia are said to be resorting to plastic surgery, unless of course they will opt to wear sports bras, which is very unlikely.

Killer flu warning

It is important and healthier to all and sundry to remember once more this useful adage: Prevention is better than cure.

This, on the heels of reports that the deadly flu, more identified as H3N2 virus, which continues to cause havoc across the US could very well hit our shores – no ifs and buts about it – the country being part of a global destination.

Dozens of people are said to have died, including 20 young children. Doctors are saying the strain of the virus affecting people in the US this winter is pretty much virulent and unparalleled yet.

Medical authorities say those most at risk include young children, pregnant women, people with chronic illness and the elderly.

In fact, experts say that middle aged and older patients tend to suffer more with the H3N2 strain of influenza than younger adult.

There was a footage shown on TV very recently about a happy youngster who was caught on video singing and dancing a few days back until he contracted the virus and was shown later to be writhing in pain, asking for help – all these after being brought to the hospital and given Tamiflu – to no avail. The boy later died.

Fever, muscle aches and headache are the most common symptoms of this flu.

Doctors recommend flu shots or vaccine to be protected. This is better said than done, especially when dealing with the poor sector of our society. It is not as if you just go to a doctor and have the shots for free. It will cost some amount of money.

But, just the same, it is good to have the appropriate vaccine available in the hospitals, in case the need for it arises.

Being that as it may, it will do the country good if the Department of Health (DOH) will do everything possible to be able to disseminate down to the grass roots how to avoid getting contaminated with the virus.

Hand hygiene seems to be of paramount importance. The influenza is transmitted through droplets in the air from coughing, speaking, laughing or singing.

And if one gets it, rest is very important.