Boston Doctor Describes ‘Roller Coaster’ Allergy Season
The temperatures soared this weekend, and according to a few testimonials on Facebook, so did peoples’ seasonal allergy symptoms. Patch checked in with Jessica Savage, instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate physician at Brigham and Womens’ Faulkner Hospital, to find out if this season has been worse than the past or if it’s just our sinuses telling us that. Patch: Was there a resurgence in hay fever allergic reactions this past weekend due to the heat or do people just think there was? Jessica Savage: I’ve definitely seen people with more severe symptoms lately, but I haven’t found evidence of higher than normal pollen levels. I think it’s just that typically spring and fall are really bad seasons and we’re experiencing the worst of the spring season right now. Patch: So this is the peak? JS: Yeah, it’s more that this is a typical peak in everyone’s symptoms rather than something unusual. Patch: Do you think the peak was brought on by this past weekend’s heat wave? JS: I can’t say for sure, but humidity and pressure can exacerbate people’s nasal symptoms so it may be kind of a coincidence with everything happening together. Patch: How about locally? The South End isn’t a heavily wooded area of Boston. JS: The main allergens that you’re concerned about this time of year are tree pollens. It really doesn’t matter if you’re in a wooded area or not because these pollen grains can travel hundreds of miles. Even people who live in the inner city with no trees around can experience hay fever symptoms because of tree pollen. Patch: What specific tree pollens cause hay fever? JS: It’s typically non-flowering trees. Regular old leaved trees make tons of pollen this time of year. So it’s not the decorative magnolia trees it’s just regular oak trees, etc. Patch: For those who suffer from hay fever, what do you recommend? JS: For typical hay fever symptoms a mainstay is a nasal steroid combined with an antihistamine. But there’s no single medication that’s a magic bullet for people with severe symptoms so often we have to find a regimen of several agents to help people get through their peak season. And if medication is ineffective then we turn to allergy shots. Patch: What are allergy shots? JS: We look to figure out which specific pollens or animals or molds people are allergic to and we use immunotherapy or shot therapy to build up a tolerance to the things so they have no further symptoms or their symptoms are much better controlled with medication. Patch: When can people […]
Doctor: ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ on Injured MBTA Officer’s Recovery
During a press conference Sunday afternoon at Mount Auburn Hospital, Dr. David Miller said he was “cautiously optimistic” about Winchester native and MBTA Officer Richard Donohue Jr.’s recovery after he was wounded during a shoot-out with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects on Thursday night. Following the conference, Dr. Russell Nauta, professor of surgery at Mount Auburn Hospital, explained what happened to Donohue Jr. “He was shot through the anterior thigh and there was an entrance wound and no exit wound so the bullet remains in the leg,” Nauta said, adding that there were no fractures and partial transection of three out of the four blood vessels that are in the leg. “There was bleeding from the wound that led to cardiac arrest at the scene.” Nauta said cariopulmonary resuscitation was started on Donohue Jr. at the scene and continued in the emergency room, where there was a “tranfusion of fluids and blood products to the point of restoration of the pulse and pressure at which point he went into the operating room.” Donohue Taken to Operating Room “We made an incision in the lower abdomen to clamp the artery to the leg (because) you could not clamp it through the wound and you could not see anything through the wound,” Nauta said. “We stopped the bleeding and we called in our cariovascular folks to reconstruct the blood vessels to and from the leg.” From the time of the shooting to the time he was in the operating room, less than an hour had passed, with about 15 minutes for transport and 45 minutes spent in the emergency room, according to Nauta. Nauta, who also serves as chairman for the Department of Surgery at the hospital, said the bullet remains in the leg. During the conference, Nauta said Donohue Jr. had not spoken, as there is a breathing tube inserted in his mouth. Donohue Jr., 33, of Woburn, is currently “medically sedated” to maximize subsequent organ function, Nata said. “He is sedated and gets special treatment on the respirator to maximize the chance his central nervous system and his circulation will be fine,” Nauta said. If Donohue Jr. shows improvement, Nauta said he expects the officer to be able to walk again. Hospital Staff Ready for Anything After the conference, Jeanette Clough, president and CEO at the hospital, praised the work done by first responders, nursing staff and physicians the night of the shootings in Cambridge and Watertown. She said that her staff trains for situations similar to what happened the past couple days. “Those are two of our closes communities and to have this going on in […]
Categories: Arrests Tags: 'Cautiously, Doctor, Injured, MBTA, Officer's, Optimistic', Recovery
Doctor Recalls Chaotic Scene in Medical Tent After Blasts
Dr. Martin Levine was standing outside a medical tent on Boylston Street Monday afternoon, a half-block from the finish line, when he felt the violent force of the first blast. “Make way! We’re going to have casualties … we need room,” Levine yelled into the medical tent filled with hundreds of runners. The 62-year-old New Jersey resident had taken the day off from his sports and family medical practice in Bayonne, as he has done every year for the last 19 years, to work the finish line at the Boston Marathon. He usually spent the day tending to sprained ankles, knee pain, shin splints and other common distance running injuries. But this year would be different. As the first explosion hit, Levine saw the plume of smoke rise from the crowd at the finish line and said he knew instantly that at least 35 to 40 people were injured. Levine began running toward the injured as the second bomb went off and kept running. He thought there might be a third explosion, but he couldn’t stop. “There’s no discussion. That’s what you have to do, you don’t stop,” he said. He arrived in the area of the first explosion and found a chaotic, gruesome scene: blood covered the street, people’s clothes and skin were still smoking and burnt. Many had lost limbs in the blasts — one man had lost both his legs from his thighs down. At one point, while applying pressure to one of the injured’s wounds to stop the bleeding, he looked down and saw a foot on the ground. “The smell and visual was extreme,” Levine said. But amid the chaos, he saw hundreds of emergency service workers, police, firefighters and first responders, along with ordinary citizens, working together to help the victims, Levine said. Using wheelchairs, backboards and gurneys, they managed to transport the injured back to the medical tent. Patients were given fluids and IVs. Levine and other physicians asked people for their belts and used them as tourniquets in a pinch. “We don’t do this kind of work,” Levine said, “no one does this kind of work unless you’re in war.” “Hopefully we were able to save lives.” South End Patch