This week's WOW (Website of the Week) is a great resource for information about complementary and alternative medicine. If you have ever considered these non-traditional forms of medicine, then a good review of this site will help you make more informed choices.

It's the website of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. From probiotics to acupuncture, from herbal supplements to research results, if there is evidence for or against the use of any of these CAM forms of treatment, then the information can be found at the NCCAM website.

NCCAM's website is easy to navigate, and offers phone and email access if you have questions.

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I've shared the story of Fred Holliday with you before.  Fred, age 39, died last summer after his too late diagnosis of Stage IV kidney cancer.  Too late, because he and his wife Regina had to work five jobs to be able to afford health insurance.  And little help, because when he was transferred from one hospital to another, Regina was told it would take 21 days, and 73 cents a page for her to get her husband's medical records transferred, too.  Without the records, the new hospital would not care for -- in fact, they would not even provide food -- to Fred.

Wrong wrong wrong.

Fred died soon after, age 39, leaving behind Regina and their two young boys.

I'm telling you Fred and Regina's story again for two reasons.  My first post told you about the mural Regina was in the process of painting to tell Fred's heinous story.  Titled 73 Cents, it illustrates the uncaring, cold, disorganized -- dysfunctional -- "care" Fred received (or perhaps more to the point, the lack of care .)  Regina has now finished her painting, which uses the side of a building as its canvas, just miles from Capitol Hill.  You can see the entire span of the mural in this report from NPR.

The second reason is because it raises a theme that seems to fester just under the skin of so many healthcare interfaces these days -- and I wonder how the people involved feel about it.  I hear stories just like Regina's so frequently and I just have to ask what these healthcare employees are thinking?

An example, in Regina's words, from the NPR story:

"I had gone down to medical records," Holliday says, "and they said, 'That'll be 73 cents a page and a 21-day wait.' I said, 'My husband is upstairs with Stage IV kidney cancer in your hospital and you're telling me I have to wait 21 days? Everything's on the computer. All you got to do is print it out and you're going to make me wait 21 days?' And they're like, 'Yeah, that's just the way it is.' I was floored."

Have you had this experience?  A totally unhelpful reply from a medical professional that takes you to your wit's end?

Are you a healthcare worker that must provide these kinds of useless answers to patients and caregivers?  And if so, how can you sleep at night?  Do you go home realizing the negative impact you've had on someone's life and survival?

Or - have you or a loved one suffered from this sort of ineptitude and its effect on your care?  From what institution? Perhaps seeing its name in such a derogatory light would make a bad institution sit up and take notice -- and do something to correct it.

Likewise, if you know if a hospital or healthcare institution that has figured out a good customer service model, will you share its name with us?  Perhaps others would begin to see that they can at least pretend to care about their patients.

Not much of value in this post today -- it's mostly a rant.  This isn't a problem that can be solved by being an empowered patient at the time of diagnosis and treatment.  But we can certainly begin calling out the bad guys -- and the good guys, too -- and make our feelings known.

If you want to share a rant, or even a good story, join us in the patient empowerment forum.

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The symptoms began yesterday.   A runny nose, sneezing, my ears plugging up and popping throughout the day....

I woke up this morning all stuffy. My ears are plugged, my sinuses -- oh!  My eyes are tearing and my head... aches....

So I've parked myself here at the computer, box of tissues to my left, cup of tea on my right -- but I'm wondering.  Do I have a cold?  Am I in the early stages of the flu?  And good grief... what if I have swine flu?

Kristina to the rescue!  That's Kristina Duda, who is our About.com Guide to Colds and Flu -- who has put together a very simple comparison table so we can figure out which upper-respiratory problem we've got.

It's pretty clear I have a simple cold.  No fever, no body aches, gradual onset... it's just a lousy cold.

Which one do you have?

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Women, in particular, and the men who love them, find themselves scratching their heads over two big changes in female cancer screening guidelines this week.

Two groups of medical professionals, independent, and looking at studies that have taken place over many years, have changed up the recommendations on when women should be screened for breast cancer and cervical cancer. In both cases, the guidelines suggested women begin their screenings later in life, and less frequently than previous recommendations had suggested.

In the uproar that has resulted, everyone -- from the media to individual women -- have ignored the most important words in these new statements. Those words are RECOMMENDED and SUGGESTED and GUIDELINES.

To get all bent out of shape over recommendations, suggestions and guidelines takes away from our power as patients! Nobody is saying that these are new rules that are set in stone. No one is telling us we CAN'T be screened!

Granted, there is some fear that Medicare or health insurers will take away reimbursement for these screenings.  But we are quite a ways from that.  Paying for a screening exam and treating cancer in its earliest stages is less expensive than later treatment for a later stage cancer.  And with healthcare reform coming down the pike, it seems like few payers would venture to remove these simple tests from their offerings....

I suggest, instead, that we patients realize that we are still the ones in control of these kinds of decisions, in partnership with our physicians.  If you want a mammogram, or a PAP test -- or guys, if you want your PSA -- ask your doctor to perform them or order them -- and then get those tests.

Your peace of mind does not need to be forfeited just because a set of guidelines have changed.  We aren't (or at least should not be) lemmings, afterall.

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Photo of lemming - public domain from Wikipedia Commons (Yes, that's a real lemming!)