When I started reporting on cancer, children with acute lymphatic leukemia died within 18 months. Today, several drugs taken in combination have boosted the 5-year survival rate to 70 percent. Some cancer-stricken children are living long enough to bear children. At Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, a special group of baby [...]
Following is a checklist of the signs of an impending attack or the worsening of mild symptoms in asthmatic children: •Sleep disturbance: does your child wake up in the night coughing and wheezing? •Does your child have a persistent cough? •Is your child tired in the morning? •Does wheezing or shortness of breath limit your [...]
“I still don’t understand why one does an EEG,” you say. “You’ve said it doesn’t diagnose epilepsy. You’ve stated that it doesn’t rule out epilepsy. It sounds to me like it’s useless, one of those boondoggle tests doctors request in order to make more money.” Despite all of its limitations, the EEG is useful for [...]