Today’s COVID count includes 14 active patients, 7 last week.

Key points from today’s guests:

Dr. Doug Burton, orthopedic & spinal surgeon, The University of Kansas Health System; brain cancer patient

• Dr. Burton was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma, earlier this year. It can be deadly in six months or less if untreated.
• At the beginning of the diagnosis, the conversations with family were incredibly painful because there's not a tremendous amount of hope with this.
• The conversation about an upcoming end is a very tough conversation with the kids, even though they are adults now.
• If there is something you want to do with your family – do it now.
• There is a new plaque hanging inside Operating Room 36 dedicated to Dr. Burton, and it's all about the magic Dr. Burton brings.
• He is really grateful for the time with his family and the work he has done with his colleagues at the Health System.
  
  

Dr. Andrew Rodriguez, neuro-oncologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center

• Glioblastoma is a tumor that starts with one of the cells in the brain. It can be very difficult to treat and the reason for that is it can develop mutations which allows it to spread around the brain.
• It can also become resistant to a lot of the treatments we use, such as radiation and chemotherapy, so we do have limited treatments for this.
• It really does take a village to take care of brain cancer patients and their families. The Health System has comprehensive care with our specialists in neurosurgery, radiation oncology, neuro oncology, as well as nurses, nursing navigators, among others who help take care of brain cancer patients.
• There's a lot of research going on right now aimed at looking at new chemo therapies, immunotherapies, as well as cell therapies. For the future with glioblastoma, we're going to need some type of combination treatment to take care of this this type of cancer.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director, infection prevention & control, The University of Kansas Health System

• A recent listeria outbreak linked to ice cream has killed three people traced to a restaurant in Tacoma, Washington.
• Listeria is a bacteria that you can ingest that can typically lead to some GI symptoms -- upset stomach, maybe some fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea for a very short period of time.
• But other people, especially those at highest risk, can get more seriously ill and get a central nervous system infection, like meningitis.
• This is a bacteria that can be involved in in the environment. And so it's very important to understand that you need to do those good cleaning practices around the environment.
• If you are making food products, it's important to understand to clean those areas. There are other outbreaks going on as well right now as well, including frozen vegetables.
• The CDC has a very good website so that you can track foodborne illnesses active foodborne investigations.

Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 8 a.m. CT is the next Open Mics with Dr. Stites. Millions of people either have or will develop macular degeneration at some point. If untreated, it can cause blindness. We'll show you how it's diagnosed and treated through the eyes of a Kansas City woman who has it.

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