Our topic this week is Lupus and how doctors are frequently considered to be gaslighting the patients in their care.

Our guest knows from first-hand experience that when you’re relatively healthy, you tend not to think much about ‘wellness.’ But when this slips away and lupus comes barreling in… your world gets rocked.

That’s why she wrote the book, The Girlfriend’s Guide to Lupus, to help other women struggling with this chronic disease feel less alone and more empowered to take control of their health and manage their lupus.

Amanda holds an Master’s degree in counseling and owns Wonderment, a stress reduction and mindfulness training company. Oh, and Amanda and her oldest daughter both have lupus, which drives her absolutely crazy. When she’s not planning her next travel adventure, she’s drinking hot tea, walking her sweet dog in Raleigh, NC, and giving book suggestions to anyone willing to listen.

This week we will discuss Multi-Organ transplants with Zachary Colton. Zach is 35 years old and recently underwent a successful 5 organ multivisceral intestinal transplant surgery at the Toronto General Hospital in his home country of Canada. The organs he received were: stomach, small intestine, colon, liver, and pancreas.

In 1954, the kidney was the first human organ to be transplanted successfully. Liver, heart and pancreas transplants were successfully performed by the late 1960s, while lung and intestinal organ transplant procedures were begun in the 1980s.

​From the mid-1950s through the early 1970s, individual transplant hospitals and organ procurement organizations managed all aspects of organ recovery and transplantation. If an organ couldn’t be used at hospitals local to the donor, there was no system to find matching candidates elsewhere. Many organs couldn’t be used simply because transplant teams couldn’t locate a compatible recipient in time.

​Since that time UNOS was created in order to provide guidance to patients and physicians in the US with a goal of providing a more equitable base for individuals in need of transplanted organ(s).

​The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a non-profit scientific and educational organization that administers the only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) in the United States, established (42 U.S.C. § 274) by the U.S. Congress in 1984 by Gene A. Pierce, founder of United Network for Organ Sharing. Located in Richmond, Virginia, the organization's headquarters are situated near the intersection of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64 in the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park.

• Managing the national transplant waiting list, matching donors to recipients.

• Maintaining the database that contains all organ transplant data for every transplant event that occurs in the U.S.

• Bringing together members to develop policies that make the best use of the limited supply of organs and give all patients a fair chance at receiving the organ they need, regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, religion, lifestyle, or financial/social status.

• Monitoring every organ match to ensure organ allocation policies are followed.

• Providing assistance to patients, family members and friends.

• Educating transplant professionals about their important role in the donation and transplant processes. (CREDITS: Wiki)

• Educating the public about the importance of organ donation.

This week we will discuss Ectoparasites. The CDC says: "Although the term ectoparasites can broadly include blood-sucking arthropods such as mosquitoes (because they are dependent on a blood meal from a human host for their survival), this term is generally used more narrowly to refer to organisms such as ticks, fleas, lice, and mites that attach or burrow into the skin and remain there for relatively long periods of time (e.g., weeks to months). Arthropods are important in causing diseases in their own right, but are even more important as vectors, or transmitters, of many different pathogens that in turn cause tremendous morbidity and mortality from the diseases they cause.