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Aging
well
Sleep study saves a life
New advanced breast
imaging technology
Saeyeal Lee, MD
Obstetrics/Gynecology
PeaceHealth Medical Group–
Women’s Health Pavilion
1660 Delaware St.
Longview, WA
360-414-2800
Clarissa Weiss, MD
Obstetrics/Gynecology
PeaceHealth Medical Group–
Women’s Health Pavilion
1660 Delaware St.
Longview, WA
360-414-2800
WHEN DE S I R E E MEDENHA L L - BE RG
moved to
Longview a little over a year ago, ready to deliver her fifth
child, she anticipated another C-section. But she didn’t
expect to deliver three weeks early, after her placenta
separated and she started hemorrhaging. Still, she describes
her birth experience with her first daughter, Eliana Grace,
at PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center as “awesome” and
credits the birth center caregivers with saving her life.
Her caregivers noticed that Desiree was not breathing
normally after the C-section. They began monitoring her
and noted that her oxygen saturation levels often dropped
significantly. Her providers,* nurses, and nurse assistant were
so concerned that they scheduled a sleep study for Desiree.
During the sleep study, she remembers being told she had
“more than 70 episodes an hour of low oxygen saturations—
one of the worst cases of sleep apnea they’d seen.”
The sleep study caregiver who attended her was wonderful,
helping her with anything she needed, according to Desiree,
who couldn’t move around or get out of bed on her own
because of her recent C-section.
In her early 30s, with a busy family made up of her own
and her husband’s boys—seven altogether—Desiree knew
she had disrupted sleep and would sometimes wake up
slightly delusional. She wasn’t aware until her sleep study
that she had sleep apnea and was being deprived of oxygen
in the night. She had a follow-up visit two weeks after her
study and a compliance check after two months to make
sure she was using the equipment effectively.
Desiree says the caregivers at PeaceHealth saved her
life and really changed it in a great way. She now wakes
up refreshed, with more energy for those seven boys and
new little daughter, Eliana. Her advice to anyone with
problems sleeping is, “Get a sleep study!”
*PeaceHealth Medical Group OB/Gyn Saeyeal Lee, MD, was Desiree’s
regular provider; because of her emergency situation, OB/Gyn Clarissa
Weiss, MD, delivered her baby.
THE KEARNE Y BR EAS T CENT E R
at PeaceHealth
St. John Medical Center continues to bring advanced
technology to our community. Already home to the latest
in 3-D imaging for mammograms, the center has added
new software, known as C-View, that will also improve
outcomes for patients.
C-View, combined with the existing 3-D imaging
software, produces clinically superior imaging results with
better visualization of masses, distortions, and asymmetric
abnormalities—detecting 41 percent more invasive
cancers. This saves patients time and worry: It reduces
recall for a repeat mammogram by 35 percent.
The new technology performs just a single 3-D sweep
on a patient and then uses an algorithm to reconstruct
those projections into a 2-D image. While the radiation
dose of combined 2-D and 3-D imaging remains below
federally established guidelines, with this new software,
the patient’s exposure to the 2-D image is eliminated,
significantly lowering the total radiation dose for the
mammogram.
“This software upgrade reduces the radiation dose to
our patients, resulting in less time under compression
and producing a high-quality image that uses the
3-D technology,” says Ruth Melvin, RT (M), Clinical
Operations Supervisor.
With the lower radiation dose and less time under
compression, C-View enhances the patient’s experience.
The Kearney Breast Center is the only
facility in southwest Washington that offers
C-View. To schedule your mammogram, call
360-414-2701
.
2
House
call
Could I have a
sleep disorder?
Ask yourself:
■ ■
Does it take me more than
30 minutes to fall asleep at night?
■ ■
Do I wake up frequently and
have trouble going back to sleep?
■ ■
Do I feel groggy or lethargic or
have a headache in the morning?
■ ■
Am I irritable or forgetful?
■ ■
Do I have trouble concentrating?
■ ■
Do I find myself drifting off
during routine situations?
■ ■
Do I fall asleep during the day?
If you answered yes to any
of these questions, talk to your
health care provider first. For
more information about a sleep
study, please call the PeaceHealth
Sleep Disorders Center at
360-414-7800
or
800-438-7562
.
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PAT I ENT P ROF I L E