Author Archives: Sara S. DeHart, MSN, Ph.D.

Radiation: Preventing and minimizing radiation skin damage

While it is a true statement that “not everyone burns” during or following radiation, skin burns and dermatitis occur in about 90% of persons treated with radiation for breast and throat cancers. This means that to minimize or avoid burns or dermatitis each patient must take the responsibility to actively treat and protect their skin on day one of radiation and continue these preventive treatments for two to three weeks following radiation. Continue reading

Minimizing the risk of radiation skin burns: Act II

I recently (2016) underwent radiation for breast cancer so I titled this piece “Act II” because this is the second round of radiation for me. The first episode occurred in 2000 for treatment of inoperable throat cancer so I consider myself fortunate that this was not a recurrence of squamous cell cancer of the neck, but a different type of cancer to breast tissue. The breast cancer is a ductal cell type and according to the surgeon and radiologist at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance they are not related. Continue reading

Minimizing the risk of radiation skin burns

Patients who are to undergo radiation for head, neck and breast cancer learn about a litany of possible side effects from the treatment. Among the warnings I received was that about 90% of patients will experience some radiation dermatitis. What the doctor meant was that skin burns occur to about 90% of all patients receiving radiation to the head and neck. The odds are about the same for breast cancer. Continue reading

Compromising with hostage takers

Barbary Pirates by any guise essentially want ransoms paid and the latest note on the chopping block is to chip away at Social Security and Medicare benefits. Are the retirees in North Carolina, Florida and Texas going to settle for “compromise” to keep the current band of Barbary Pirates at bay? What are they willing to give to the Tea Party Pirates to keep government open and functioning? Are they willing to lose Social Security or Medicare benefits? Continue reading

TeaRepublicans: The modern day Barbary Pirates

In Senator Ted Cruz’s 21-hour long-winded spiel before the Senate (9/23-24, 2013), the Republican junior senator from Texas spoke of 1940s history and Neville Chamberlain’s much criticized speech to the British people about his negotiated compromise with Adolph Hitler to foster “peace in our time”; he was, in effect, asking the Democratic-controlled Senate to do exactly that with demands of the Koch Brothers-controlled Tea Party Republicans in the House of Representatives. But let us digress for a moment and look back at two significant turning points in our history. Continue reading

TRED Laws: Their time has come so let Texas lead the way

Targeted Regulations for Erectile Dysfunction: TRED Laws

Texas men need protection: When will Governor Perry and the state legislature enact TRED laws for Erectile Dysfunction sufferers? Continue reading

Strontium, Vitamin K2 and Osteoporosis: Case Study III

I published two previous case studies on the use of Strontium Citrate to treat severe osteoporosis in 2008 and 2010. [1,2] The purpose of this third article is to document my progress using data from my most current bone mineral density (BMD) test results (September, 2012). Continue reading

Iron Jawed Angels: America’s distorted history

I am sure that China has multiple strengths but as with many, if not most commercial American journalists, American virtues are highlighted to provide the illusion that this nation actually provides that beacon on the hill—that lights the way for others to follow. Continue reading

Biology 101 for politicians and pundits: The class they missed in freshman biology

It is not just Rick Santorum, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly who missed freshman biology it is also a vast number of state legislators who fall into that category. What has caused this severe knowledge deficit about human biology, or to put it more quaintly—why don’t many males understand how women’s bodies function? For that matter, why don’t they have basic knowledge about their own genitourinary systems? Continue reading

How to join the Occupy Wall Street protest without leaving home

In a recent article Rand Clifford quoted WC Fields from the 1933 Paramount motion picture Tillie and Gus: “There comes a time in the affairs of men, when we must take the bull by the tail, and face the situation.” Continue reading

Bone and cardiac health: Are vitamins K1 and K2 the missing links to the epidemic of osteoporosis and arterial calcification?

Major questions, that need to be addressed about osteoporotic bone and arterial calcification, have fallen through the cracks. Why have vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and vitamin K2 (menaquinone) not been part of the discussion regarding preventive measures for osteoporosis and arterial calcification? After all, it is now known that vitamin K2 is a calcium carrier that moves calcium from the blood into bone matrix, thereby strengthening bone and preventing calcification of the arterial lining, a dreaded complication of aging . . . hardening of the arteries. Has Western medical practice become so fixated on pharmaceutical fixes that obvious nutritional remedies are missed or underplayed? Continue reading

Strontium and osteoporosis II: On our own

A treatment not offered to American Women

I published my own case study on the use of Strontium Citrate to treat severe osteoporosis in 2008. [1] The purpose of the present article is to document my progress with the most current Bone Mineral Density test results (May 2010), as well as update the current research literature on the use of the most common drugs prescribed for osteopenia/osteoporosis in the United States. Continue reading

Strontium and osteoporosis: A treatment not offered to American women

The purpose of this article is to provide a summary of current published research on the mineral strontium and its purported function in preventing osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women. This mineral is available through regular medical sources in Europe and is approved for use in 21 European countries. A case study of my own journey through this morass of data and treatment options is included for comparative purposes of what happens to postmenopausal women in the United States. Continue reading