Saturday, January 1, 2011

Mortgage rates surge in recent weeks, nearing 5% - Dec. 30, 2010, CNN Money

The era of near 4% mortgage rates has ended after a quick rate rise since early November. But some industry experts think that may be a good thing for the flagging housing market.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has risen to 4.86% from 4.17%, according to Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage market survey. In the Bankrate.com weekly survey, the rate has risen to 5.02% -- crossing the 5% mark for the second time in three weeks -- after being as low as 4.42% as recently as early November.

Rates haven't been this high since May and forecasters now predict them to remain between 5% and 6% for all of 2011.

"You can kiss those record lows goodbye," said Greg McBride, chief economist for Bankrate.com.

Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates, a provider of mortgage information said that the market reached a new plateau.

"I don't think we're going back to a 50-year low anytime soon without an economic collapse," he said. "Rates will probably never revisit those levels."

Read the complete article on money.cnn.com

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Discussing cancer treatment with the terminal patient, KevinMD.com

“Are you giving up on me?” My patient looks at me severely. “There must be other treatment options! Aren’t there some experimental drugs out there? I have beaten this cancer twice before. Are you saying that I can’t beat it again?”

No one can ever know with absolute certainty whether my patient’s newly recurrent cancer might miraculously disappear with one more treatment. His recurrence, however, has developed very quickly and is growing very rapidly. New cancer nodules are developing weekly. I have never seen a patient with a cancer this aggressive have a meaningful, sustained response to further treatment. The research literature confirms my impression.

It is always difficult to know what to recommend. Although “no further treatment” is always an alternative, I routinely run through all of the options, reviewing whatever is available, and hoping that we land on the combination that offers that improbable, one-in-a-thousand cure. However unlikely, we sometimes set up appointments and hope for the best.

Today, though, my sense is that it is time to focus on new goals.

The decision not to pursue more studies and more treatment can be very, very difficult. Surgeon and journalist Atul Gawande in an essay in The New Yorker entitled “Letting Go,” writes about how difficult it can be for physicians and patients to halt cancer treatment as the end of life draws near. The dilemma, he concludes, “arises from a still unresolved argument about what the function of medicine really is — what, in other words, we should and should not be paying for doctors to do.” In Gawande’s view, the profession should equip and supply doctors and nurses “who are willing to have the hard discussions and say what they have seen …”

Article continues at KevinMD.com
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Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
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856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

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Hospital meals make it difficult to control blood sugars, KevinMD.com

My mom doesn’t take any diabetes medicine.  She keeps her blood sugars normal through a combination of common sense and careful carbohydrate consumption.

A few months ago, she had to be hospitalized for what she calls a “minor procedure.”  The procedure went fine, but not the food.  The first meal they brought her consisted of breaded fish (frozen), mashed potatoes (instant), corn (canned), a dinner roll (frozen), and tea (2 sugar packets on tray).  “If I ate that, my blood sugars would have gone through the roof!” she told me.  She drank the tea, and called my dad, who arrived shortly with chopped salad, roasted peppers, and meat loaf.  This week’s post is about hospital food, if you can call it that.  You are not going to believe what it’s like to order meals for hospitalized patients.

Let’s imagine, for example, a diabetic guy in the intensive care unit.  His blood sugars have been completely out of control, up and down, up and down.  He is recovering slowly from a very serious pneumonia, and is only now beginning to eat again.  The nurse asks if I’d like to order an 1800 kcal ADA diet, which I do not.

An “1800 kcal ADA” diet means 1800 calories total each day, in accordance with the recommendations of the American Diabetic Association.  Their recommended diet is loaded (and I am not exaggerating here) with processed carbohydrate items guaranteed to make it nearly impossible to control one’s blood sugar.  No thanks.

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******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
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http://www.nursingexperts.com