Tread lightly in deer tick territory to prevent Lyme disease

Last weekend I traveled to Roanoke, Va., and celebrated a college graduation at a home in the mountains.

As I talked to my friend Teresa, she brushed a hand across her hairline. "Oh, look. A tick," she said calmly.

Teresa, a hospital infectious disease nurse manager, had no trouble identifying the tiny culprit, slightly smaller than a grain of rice. She suggested everyone check themselves for deer ticks, common in the woods there....

Angelina Jolie's decision draws praise from Tampa Bay patients, physicians

TAMPA — Just last week, Terri Comeau completed the grueling surgeries she has needed since making up her mind to have her healthy breasts removed to prevent cancer.

"It's a tough decision to remove your breasts, the toughest decision I've ever made. But it also was the most logical thing to do," said the 29-year-old Lutz wife, mother and sales analyst.

That kind of deeply personal decision on Tuesday became a topic of national conversation when Angelina Jolie revealed that she, too, underwent a preventive double mastectomy and reconstruction. Like Comeau, the Oscar-winning actress has a genetic mutation that sharply increases a woman's risk of breast and ovarian cancer....

A heart failure crisis

TAMPA

If current health trends continue, 8 million Americans will suffer from heart failure by 2030. • Treating them will cost $70 billion, according to the American Heart Association, more than double the cost for such patients last year. • That comes out to $244 a year for every American taxpayer to pay costs associated with hearts so weak, they can no longer pump enough blood to meet the body's need for oxygen and nutrients. ...

Effort thrombosis, a rare condition afflicting mostly athletes, is treatable

TAMPA

Heather Glenday is used to discomfort. A competitive swimmer since childhood, Glenday, now 21, swims for the University of Tampa. She has had to push past being tired and achy to train and win at national events.

But a year ago, she had unusual pain on her right side that persisted even in the off season. One day, she awoke and found she could barely bend her right arm, which had swollen to about three times the size of her left. Doctors at Tampa General Hospital found a blood clot in her upper arm, just below her collar bone....

Patients rave about anterior hip replacement, but it's not right for all

CLEARWATER

Ann Elias knew something was wrong when her much-loved tennis games produced more pain than pleasure. X-rays showed the source of her discomfort — enough damage to her hip joint to warrant hip replacement surgery. But the 71-year-old put it off for more than two years after friends shared frightening stories about the long, painful recovery from hip surgery done in the conventional way, through an incision made on the back side of the body. ...

USF doctor: New treatments lessen MS symptoms, but cure elusive

TAMPA

Annette Funicello, who died this week at age 70 of complications from multiple sclerosis, was diagnosed just as scientific knowledge about the disease was on the brink of expanding.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug for multiple sclerosis in 1993, a year after the beloved original Mouseketeer announced she had the condition. Around the same time, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) came into widespread use, which revolutionized diagnosis of the disease....

Jillian Michaels' live show in Clearwater to focus on life transformation

If you're planning to see Jillian Michaels when she brings her "Maximize Your Life" tour to Clearwater this month, don't go prepared to work out.

But do go prepared to change.

The fitness guru is perhaps best known as the in-your-face trainer on NBC's reality weight loss show, The Biggest Loser, which just wrapped up its 14th season. Winner Danni Allen credits Michaels for toughening her up mentally, so she could lose more than 100 pounds and become the newest Biggest Loser. ...

Study at USF aims to find better treatment for endometriosis

TAMPA

It wasn't until she was trying to get pregnant with her second child that Tina Johnson understood why she suffered with severe abdominal pain every month. • The family doctor in New Jersey said when she was a teenager that she would grow out of the monthly misery. It persisted into adulthood, but Johnson easily conceived her first child, and the cramps diminished during pregnancy. But soon after the baby arrived, the pain came roaring back....

Louisville's Kevin Ware may have had injury before broken leg, surgeon says

University of Louisville guard Kevin Ware's horrific leg break is so unusual, Tampa orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist Seth Gasser says he's never seen one quite like it in his 20 years of practice.

But it's likely, Gasser said, that Ware had already damaged his leg, and landing hard on it as he did in Sunday's game was enough to cause bones to snap and protrude through his skin....

Louisville's Kevin Ware may have had injury before broken leg, surgeon says

University of Louisville guard Kevin Ware's horrific leg break is so unusual, Tampa orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist Seth Gasser says he's never seen one quite like it in his 20 years of practice.

But it's likely, Gasser said, that Ware had already damaged his leg, and landing hard on it as he did in Sunday's NCAA Tournament victory over Duke was enough to cause bones to snap and protrude through his skin....

Weight Watchers at 50: A lot has changed, but mission has not

It all started in 1961 in Jean Nidetch's living room in New York City. A few overweight friends met each week to talk and troubleshoot their way through a sensible but strict diet from the health department's obesity clinic.

Soon the group grew to more than 40 women. By May 1963 the group had hundreds of members and a name: Weight Watchers.

Nidetch, who turns 90 this year and has moved to South Florida, sold the company in the 1970s. ...

Hospital ratings important, but often contradictory

In the most recent U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals Survey, Tampa General ranks as the No. 1 hospital in Florida. Nationally, the magazine rated TGH 38th compared to more than 4,000 other hospitals.

Yet, in ratings from Healthgrades, which annually lists the 100 best hospitals in America, Tampa General isn't mentioned.

On the other side of Tampa Bay, Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater ranks high in a federal government survey that found patients gave very high marks for how well nurses and doctors respond to their needs. Yet the U.S. News survey gave it low scores for nursing staffing and keeping patients safe. ...

Riata defibrillator problems worry patients, doctors

TAMPA — In 2005, Kevin Fountain had surgery intended to ease fears that his damaged heart might beat irregularly.

Surgeons implanted in his chest a cellphone-sized device to deliver a shock and correct the problem. But late last year that defibrillator — specifically, the lead that connects it to his heart — became a source of anxiety, not reassurance.

The 53-year-old Tampa man is among patients told they might have a defective lead in their chests. The news left them with more questions than answers....