This morning was a special day for the mommies in my playgroup and I. Today we donated over 150 stuffed monkeys to the children being cared for at North Florida Regional Medical Center (NFRMC) in honor of our Angel Odessa. Odessa Virginia Webster was born at NFRMC on February 24, 2003, and landed back at the same hospital on March 25, 2004 for care after a fatal head injury. At thirteen months old, Odessa was stolen from her parents Matt and Anita, her loving family, and our already tight playgroup family. It was devastating for all of us, and out of our grief came an intense drive to honor our "Angel O".

To back up a bit, our playgroup began when our infants met at a "new mommy" luncheon hosted at NFRMC when they were two weeks old. Well, the infants didn't exactly meet each other, but us moms did ... and we decided then and there that we wanted to stick together. That made ten families dealing with the insanity of newborns and leaning on each other for friendship, advice, stress relief, and fun. We literally have been getting together for "playgroup" every Tuesday since, and our children are all addicted to each other; the best of friends. At the start, we would have never imagined what would come for us, for her, the following year. I just remember checking my email one day and opening one from Anita with "Odessa Virginia Webster" as the title. I expected to see a new photo from a portrait studio. A portrait was included, but it went along with a letter written by Anita informing us that her daughter was gone. "Please don't call now. I'm not ready to talk" she wrote. I simply can't describe the agony that followed for all of us.

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Men are morons when it comes to matters of health. I didn't say it. I heard it from a radio show host this morning while trekking on my treadmill.

Seems men ignore serious medical symptoms and postpone trips to the ER when they're watching sports, according to an ER doctor who reviewed case numbers over three years at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. It all came down to this decision in the heads of men who were wrapped up in a game at the time something medical occurred: Do I need to go to the hospital now or can I finish the game first?

The lesson for all your partners of sports fans out there: When you see you man fall, faint, grab his chest, or otherwise indicate something is seriously wrong, do call 911 -- before the game nears its end.

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Add strawberries to your grocery list, ladies, because according to Harvard Medical School researchers, the nutrient-packed fruit may offer extra protection against cardiovascular disease.

Seems women who ate two or more servings of strawberries a week were 14 percent less likely to have elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) than those who hadn't eaten the berries in the past month. High levels of CRP can indicate a higher risk of heart attack.

Prepare to arm yourself. With strawberries. And some literature on just how great these berries are -- check out these fun strawberry facts, refresh yourself on a previous That's Fit strawberry post, learn why strawberries are considered one of the world's healthiest foods, and get the lowdown on the nutritional stuff from which strawberries are made.

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Think sugar makes your kids go crazy? Nope, says Dr. Nancy Snyderman, author of the new book Medical Myths That Can Kill You: And the 101 Truths That Will Save, Extend, and Improve Your Life. If anything, there may be an associative link, which means sugar is often combined with social events -- like birthday parties and cupcakes -- and so it's the activity, not the sugar, at work. Really, study after study has revealed no link between sugar and hyperactivity, according to Snyderman, who takes on all sorts of myths and truths in her book, like these:

• Is ear wax linked to breast cancer? Yes, actually, it is. If your wax is moist and gooey, it can predict your risk for the disease, says Snyderman. Why the connection? Because the breast and the ear canals are both modified sweat glands. There's a connection, you see. Snyderman also says we should not be cleaning our ears every day. Wax is like lubrication and we need it.
  
  

• Medications should not be kept in bathroom medicine closets because bathroom heat and humidity can ruin them. Keep them in a hallway closet instead.
  

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I'm literally a sobbing crying mess as I write this. I fell in love with a dying man a few weeks ago when I caught wind of him giving an amazing gift to his students, colleagues, friends and family at Carnegie Mellon University. Randy Pausch, a computer science professor gave his Last Lecture now famous on YouTube, on September 18, 2007. Randy's lecture was called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." Now, I have my own spectacular husband, but I imagine anyone who knows, or knows of Randy . . . would love him very much.

For a man whose pancreas is being destroyed by a cancer that could take his life within months . . . he was hysterical, energetic, inspirational, and relentless about the idea that life can be wonderful every day, and that his days still are. He told stories of his childhood and made one of the most insightful statements I've ever heard. "Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore? Choose!"

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FitSpirit explores the mind-body connection and the intangible benefits we gain from our efforts to stay physically fit.

The internet is our key to the unknown. Need a definition for a tough word? Forget the trusty dictionary sitting on the bookshelf. The internet is quicker, easier, and so much more convenient. Need a quick recipe for chicken, potatoes, or say, cookies? No need for a visit to that old recipe box or cookbook. A quick search of the internet can score bunches of tried and true blueprints for the cravings that consume us. And when it comes to our health? Heck, who doesn't self-diagnose by way of the keyboard?

At times, we all share the same doctor. Austin Fit Magazine calls our collective physician Dr. Google and while many of us might highly recommend the good doctor, it's possible we're relying on this seemingly trusty source of medical information a bit too much.

Surveys reveal that nearly 40 percent of web-using adults have gone online to research a medical condition. Some use sites like Web MD. Some simply type a symptom like "ankle pain" or "sore throat" into a search box. Such investigation can be helpful but it can also lead to panic, anxiety, and plain old misinformation. Without an actual person who can offer comfort and explanation, online searches can be downright dangerous.

As with everything, using the internet for medical pursuits is all about balance. Too much information from this source can undermine the real patient-physician relationship. On the other hand, knowing our stuff before we head into an exam room isn't such a bad idea.

Whether you call it empowerment, useless wandering, or something in between, perusing the internet requires an open mind and a whole lot of common sense too. The bottom line is this: Use Dr. Google's free-flowing information as you will. But remember that medicine was never intended to become a do-it-yourself project.

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Jenny Craig spokeswoman Valerie Bertinelli has been in the news a lot lately, announcing her 40-pound weight loss and high-fiving talk show hosts about her new lease on life. Bertinelli's ex-husband, Eddie Van Halen, is making news too. His story is not as bright and cheery as hers.

The band Van Halen has reportedly postponed four concerts while guitarist Eddie Van Halen undergoes medical treatment.

"The Van Halen concerts in Dallas, Cincinnati, Raleigh, and Baltimore have been postponed," reads a new message on the band's Web site. "According to Eddie Van Halen's physician, he is undergoing a battery of comprehensive medical tests to determine a defined diagnosis and recommended medical procedures."

In 2002, Eddie Van Halen announced he was cancer-free after a two-year battle with tongue cancer.

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Have you ever wanted to sit down with a doctor and just shoot the breeze? It's not like we get the chance to do this when we actually go visit them, but here's a very interesting article doing just that! They sat down with five doctors of different backgrounds to get candid answers relating to the field of medicine.

The doctors were anonymous, of course, but included a general practitioner, a pediatrician, an oncologist (that's cancer), a gynecologist, and a psychiatrist. One of the questions they asked them was "Do you ever worry about catching diseases and infections off your patients?" This is something that I have always wondered.

It undoubtedly varies from person to person, but the gynecologist admitted he or she was terrified of contracting hepatitis C. "Dr Child" (the pediatrician) says no, and that the risk can actually go the other way. Infecting a patient with a weak immune system, for example, can be dangerous. Ever wondered if doctors smoke or drink? Each of the five admitted to drinking, but none smoke (though two had in the past). Read on for more confessions -- there are a bunch of insights to be learned!

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The Internet is big. It can feel even bigger when you're scouring search engines for valuable medical information. Spam, sites trying to sell you stuff, and bad directions plague every corner of the information super highway. That's why there are articles like this one giving a handful of tips on how to navigate the wild wild west of the world wide web.

For starters, try using search engines that won't give you garbage as search results. Google is great, but as we all know sometimes it can be misleading. Sites like MedlinePlus are made specifically for health and medical purposes. If you're looking for trusted info, start there.

Tutorials are also helpful. Why? Because they can teach you how to decipher the jargon behind so many of the research and medical articles you see online. This literature can be helpful, so it would be to your advantage to know what they're saying if you want a complete picture. Of course, if you ever come across a website that you aren't sure about, do a background check. Many sites (especially the ones you can trust) have an "About Us" page which you can use to learn more about them. These are just a few examples, so check out the full article here!

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In a move that is sure to make hospital administrators feel slightly uneasy, medicare is implementing a no-pay policy for hospital errors that could have been prevented. These eight medical mistakes are not going to be reimbursed to facilities which mess up and do things like leave objects inside people after surgery.

Other insurers are starting to catch on as well. This could lead to better patient care because hospitals will want to mitigate any chance of extraneous costs -- especially if they aren't getting paid back for it. Another item on the do-not-pay list is urinary tract infections from catheters.

Twenty-five percent of patients get one of these, yet only ten percent or less of hospitals check every day to see if they're even necessary. So someone could end up with a catheter for days on end without even needing it -- which leads to urinary tract infections. Tacked on costs for these types of mistakes can run up your hospital bill by $10,000 or more! It will be interesting to see if (and how much) this improves medical care to those people in such facilities.

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Not everyone is destined to live one hundred years on this planet. It's a somber truth, but even the healthiest sometimes don't make it that long. Maybe it's because some people feel that when really old individuals reach a certain benchmark, they consider it a "point of no return" if you will.

This moniker sometimes can describe elderly people with chronic illnesses. But there's still a big chance for centenarian hopefuls, even after getting diagnosed with heart disease or diabetes. Boston University conducted a survey of 700 senior citizens who were lucky enough to live to be 100-years-old.

A third of these people had developed medical conditions related to such extreme aging (like heart disease). The researchers figured out that combined with a relatively healthy lifestyle and good conditioning, aggressive medical attention helped prolong their lives. This could include direct treatment on an assertive scale, or regular checkups (even house calls with a nurse). It goes to show you that there really isn't a "point of no return" for anyone out there, especially those who would be considered beyond the realm of help.

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2007 was a crazy year, and with the health of our world and its people starting to take a top priority throughout, it's no surprise that this was a year of much controversy. MSN Health recently did an article on the top trends of 2007.

What was hot this year:

• Sleep medication. Too many people suffer from insomnia, so the search for a cure was on.
  
• Tricking your kids into eating their veggies. Hey--whatever works!
  
• Going Green. And thank goodness for that -- we need to make major changes to save our earth.
  
• Medical Tourism. Travelling abroad for medical procedures is on the rise, both to avoid the high and the long waits in our home countries.
  
• Kids' Mental Health. The prevalence of autism, bipolar disorder and ADHD in kids has raised more than a few eyebrows.

What was not:

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When you think of nuclear particle accelerators, you probably think of massive pieces of equipment like Tevatron. But now these beasts of physics will be making headway into the field of medicine for cancer treatment.

Just like its name suggests, these machines accelerate protons to the speed of light (or nearly that fast, anyway). Doctors are then able to direct the particles into tumors. By doing this, they are trying to treat cancer more efficiently so that stray radiation is minimized. That means fewer side effects!

The catch is that this equipment is extremely large, and very expensive. Therefore the cost of treating cancer this way goes up considerably. Opponents of nuclear medicine say this limits the less-expensive alternatives, because doctors will feel obligated to prescribe this type of treatment if it's available. With only 5 proton therapy centers in the US, taking up over 200 tons and costing more than $100 million, it's easy to see why doctors would want to take advantage of them. Who knows -- maybe one day we'll see a particle accelerator in every hospital as the cost of technology declines. That's probably a long way off, but the more prevalent this equipment becomes the cheaper it will be to use.

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Most consumers like to be aware of potential risks associated with their investments. If you're a patient, and you look at yourself as a consumer of medical practices, you'd probably want to be aware of any risks associated with a particular doctor, right?

Well, the case of addiction among physicians is prompting California to reconsider a confidentiality program that enables these doctors to get rehab in secrecy, and still practice medicine. Now we are not talking about a huge number of doctors: only about 1 percent in the entire US, actually. But you wouldn't know if your doctor was in that 1 percent or not, even if he had botched an operation in the past.

Opponents of this secrecy program say that rehabilitation is not helping doctors get better, nor is it looking out for the interests of the patients. But due to the confidential nature of this whole issue, it's hard to tell what's working and what's not. It could be that some doctors with addictions are very successful at rehab! Even so, the ones who aren't successful wouldn't be required to disclose it, and patients would still be putting their trust (and money) into the hands of these medical professionals. It's a question that is sure to garner heated attention in the future, possibly closer to July when California's program ends. If no alternative system is put in place, then the state will revert back to zero-tolerance and begin pulling medical licenses.

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One difference between the terms "obese" and "overweight" is the number associated with body mass index (BMI). Take your weight, divide it by your height, and square it -- that's your BMI. If your number is 30 or above, you are considered obese. If it's 25 to 30, then you fall in the overweight category. Be warned, though. Some experts don't put much stock in the BMI since it only accounts for weight and height, and not muscle mass.

According to a new study appearing in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, another difference between the two is that one -- obesity -- is associated with 11 percent of deaths from a number of cancers and nine percent of deaths due to cardiovascular problems. Being overweight is not linked at all to these types of deaths. In fact, it's also not related in any significant way to the 40 percent of deaths due to other causes.

Could being overweight have health benefits? Perhaps, although experts don't advise gaining weight because of this speculation. And you surely should not increase your BMI to that dreaded number 30 -- because it seems that's when problems begin to occur.

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