Thursday, June 25, 2009

Tallest Woman Ever - Zeng Jinlian




Zeng Jinlian was born on June 26, 1964 in Yuijan Village, China. So in memory of the tallest lady to ever live this blog is for Zeng Jinlian. She passed away at the young age of 17 Feb. 13, 1982. According to Guinness Book of Records Zeng Jinlian was the tallest woman ever. Her height was recorded to be 8' 1 3/4". According to records her increased growth was apparent at 4 months old, at age 4 she was over 5' tall. Using these figures on average she would have grown 5 inches a year. Under the best of circumstances this rapid growth would have been extremely stressful on Zeng and her family especially in context of her locality where people do not grow so tall it had to be difficult. Zeng Jinlian is the only female to be included in the over eight foot club and only 11 men have made that distinction. Zeng would have been 45 today.







Thursday, June 18, 2009

A Patients Handbook or Action Plan

A Patients Handbook or Action Plan

Part I

IF I KNEW THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW is what inspired this blog. At first I was going to tailor this for pituitary tumor patients but these hints may help others with different conditions. So here is in brief a suggested Action Plan or Handbook to take control of your diagnosis. A chronic or lifelong illness means you have this new and unwelcome life partner who requires lifelong management and control. For those challenged with rare disorders this is not an option. You have to become CEO for your health management. You have to, no one else is or will keep all your medical records updated and in one convenient location. YOU!!! Off the bat your wearing 2 new hats, the first hat will be as an unpaid insurance processor. The sooner you learn and adhere to the required procedures for filing new claims, getting treatments or medications at your insurance company the happier you will be. The second hat is that of an unofficial med student. You will be hearing medical terms and a language that is part Latin mixed into medico speak. You have to understand what you are being told. Learn the lingo. Get a medical dictionary from a thrift store or book store. Save info off line........ Read and Research and build your knowledge base.

***All sincere suggestions to improve this Handbook is Welcome,
I Would gladly edit and republish worthy improvements to this handbook for all our benefit***

Your Handbook might include (but not limited to) the following.

I suggest getting at least two binders, dividers, pockets, sheet protectors. One book will be for all your doctors and insurance information. The second binder will be where you keep your research.

The first page to prepare is a patient history and information page your tear sheet this you will keep 2 copies of. One for your first page of your health record book. The second (a copy) being for giving to all new doctors and/or emergency doctors who may treat you.

Page One - Tear Sheet -

Health Record Allergies:
for (name)
Address:
phone:
Emergency contact name ___________ phone ____________
_____________________________________________

Insurance Contact info:

Insurance info:
_____________________________________________

Medications:

Medication: Dose: How often: Prescribing Physician: Physician phone #


______________________________________________

Physicians:

General Physician: Name: Phone:
Specialist: Name: Phone:
Therapist: Name: Phone:


Hospital Name:
Hospital Address:
Hospital Phone:
_________________________________________________
Medical History:

Allergies: List all allergies on top of this list here and on top of the page as illustrated. Only Allergies should be RED.

Diagnosis:
Physician who diagnosed this condition name and phone:
When:
Where:
Treatments in brief:
Outcome:

Repeat for each diagnosis.
____________________________________________________

Alternative Health Practices: It is essential to include all alternative health methods your are using.


__________________________________________________________

Next blog will be suggestions on how to organize the rest of the Health Record Binder and what records to gather or begin creating.

With our physicians and hospitals becoming more and more strapped for time mistakes happen. A proactive approach is to help insure these mistakes do not occur. A printout of all your essential medical information handed to all professional health providers who treat you saves time all around and insures you delivered accurate information to each health provider. A good time to use this is when you fill out the New Patient form for a new clinic or doctor or emergency room and it is then included right into your medical record for that clinic or doctor.

Part II (Coming Soon) will provide suggestions for organizing the whole medical record and insurance section.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

2009 Denver Brain Tumor Walk and Angel Adventure


DENVER
IS
UNITED TO FIGHT BRAIN TUMORS
 
The Denver Brain Tumor Walk and Angel Adventure 2009

Way to Go Denver with a Record Turnout for this most worth cause!!!!! Denver Rocks!!!!!
Well before too much more time passes I had to get photos uploaded from the 2009 Brain Tumor Walk held in Denver on June 6, 2009
The event was held at the beautiful and historic Sloans Lake Park. Hundreds of People turned out to support The National Brain Tumor Society on this bright sunny summer day.
Why does Denver Rock? Denver Rocks because even during these hard economic times the people of Denver Came out in record numbers to support this event.
The participants were offered food, massages, goodie bags, T-Shirts and a Great Time.
It’s never too late for you to show you care follow the link below to The National Brain Tumor Society web site.
Every dollar gets us closer to a cure.
http://www.tbts.org/GeneralMenu/
To see a few pictures from this event click here:

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Sandy Allen"s friend wrote me yesterday.

I received this wonderful communication from Rita Rose who was/is a very close friend to Sandy Allen. Thank-You Rita for sharing your thoughts and helping to track down the song "Hello, Sandy Allen". For more fascinating reading about Sandy follow the links provided by Rita, I'll paste her email to me below. Your words shed a light on the great sense of humor Sandy had. What a riot, wish I could have been in that pub when Sandy ducked in threw the door. (Wanna see what was so funny? Follow the links Rita left. Thanks again Rita!!!
_____________________________________________________________

Hi,
I read your blog today and tried to post the following response, but the system wouldn't let me. Maybe you could do it for me?
Thanks!
Rita Rosewww.thegiantessbook.com
Hi,Thanks for writing about Sandy. She was my friend for 31 years and a remarkable woman. If you want to check out my book about Sandy, it's called "World's Tallest Woman: The Giantess of Shelbyville High" (Hawthorne Publishing), which recounts her high school years in novel form. No one has written about those years yet and Sandy was very pleased with the book, which I read to her 2 weeks before she died. We had worked on it together for about a year. It's available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. and from www.hawthornepub.com.A couple of things about your post: "Hello Sandy Allen" is on the Split Enz album "Time and Tide," which is available on CD. Also, since 1976 she only lost her record for one year, in 1982, to Zeng Jinlian of China, who died at age 17 that year. Please check out my book, and my eulogy for Sandy's funeral, at www.thegiantessbook.com.Rita Rose

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Reading recomendation

I just finished reading the book "Cast a Giant Shadow" "Sandy Allen the Worlds Tallest Living Woman" written by John Kleiman

Unfortunately Sandy has passed on now but her legacy and life is very well documented. This book is a glimpse of some of the trials and tribulations she faced growing up and in her adult life. One item in this book is her meeting the rock group "The Splitz Enz" they met during a taping of the Tom Snyder show. After their meeting the group was inspired to write "Hello, Sandy Allen" I've looked for a copy of this song, haven't found it yet. I will!
Sandy held the title of Worlds tallest woman since Guinness first recorded her height in 1976.
Boy Sandy fought hard to lead a good life, she worked hard all her life and only let a glimpse of how challenging it was to mearly make it to work. Her courage and tenacity is an example of how we all should conduct our lives. Her desire and passion was to help educate children on how it's ok to be different. To teach acceptance for those who are different. As Sandy said "we are all different in some ways". In today's world her message is more important now than ever.

If you're looking for an awesome book, a quick read pick up this book ISBN 0-75968-105-8
I'm in no way associated with this book in any manner. This is just my recommendation for a book that should be in every families library.

Thank-You Sandy for allowing us peak into your life!!!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Research

Working on a project to gather information from all known giants living and deceased. I decided awhile back to include google maps in this research to pin point birth places. It does look like a few trends and clusters are appearing in the world map. This presents a problem for me as I do not know enough about mathematics to extrapoliate what these percentages are and how to calculate this over population. When I have completed the world map I will publish it on google for now it is still under construction. The trends seemed strong enough at this point that I can support the statement that there does seem to be a link to where a person is born may have some influence environmental my guess on affecting the pituitary gland.
I read a few years back in some medical journal that 25% of the population has a pituitary tumor. Most of those remain inactive. Could there be an environmental issue which activates these tumors? If so could this lead to some intervention through earlier diagnosis?

Thinking out loud again.....

Will work on getting some pics going soon. So much to learn and so little time.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Researching the Web for:

I am involved in researching and learning about pituitary tumors. People afflicted with this diagnosis have a variety of signs and symptoms.

My goal is to build bridges across the world wide web for patients, families and the public. Perhaps with public education on symptoms just one person receives an earlier diagnosis would make all my efforts worth it.

For those who are afflicted with this disorder and they desire a connection with others with this tumor for support, dialogue and information exchange with eachother I hope to help build this bridge.

The symptoms suffered from a pituitary tumor can range the whole gammot of being nearly unnoticable after succesful treatment to extreme life and body changes. Thankfully many times treatments are successful and the symptoms are arrested. Other symptoms can be extremely challenging. Children with a pituitary tumor may experience increased growth hormone causing unnaturally increased and rapid growth. Adults with this tumor may experience increased shoe and glove size. The range of other symptoms seems to be nearly countless, it is my hope that through conversations with patients and their families a support community can be established.

Lofty goals I know........ sigh. Wish me luck!!!