Category Archives: Status

Status

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR V.S. LEUKEMIA

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Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. in New York on April 16, 1947, this 12 lb. 11 oz. baby grew up to be a 7 ft. 2 in. professional basketball player.  He began his record-breaking basketball accomplishments in high school when he led Jack Donahue’s Power Memorial Academy to three straight New York City Catholic championships, a 71-game winning streak, and a 79-2 overall record.

During his college years at UCLA, he played on the freshman team in 1966 and on the varsity team from 1967 to 1969.  According to Wikipedia, “He was the main contributor to the team’s three-year record of 88 wins and only two losses:  one to the University of Houston in which Alcindor had an eye injury, and the other to crosstown rival USC who played a “stall game.”  In his first game Alcindor scored 56 points, which set a UCLA single-game record.”

During the summer of 1968, Alcindor converted to Sunni Islam.  However, he did not begin publicly using his Arabic name, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, until 1971.

In 1969, Alcindor began his professional career with the Milwaukee Bucks.  He was an instant star, ranking second in the league in scoring (28.8 ppg) and third in rebounding (14.5 rpg).  He was named NBA Rookie of the Year.  The following year, he was named NBA Most Valuable Player.  Throughout his career, he was well known for his “skyhook,” a hook shot in which he bent his entire body like a straw, raised the ball, and released it at the highest point of his arm’s arching motion.

On June 28, 1989, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar announced that he would retire at the end of the season after twenty years in the NBA.

In November of 2009, he announced that he was suffering from a form of leukemia, Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.  Abdul-Jabbar said that his condition could be managed by taking oral medication daily, seeing his specialist every other month, and having his blood analyzed regularly.

In February of 2011, Abdul-Jabbar announced via Twitter that his leukemia was gone and he was “100% cancer free.”  A few days later, he clarified his misstatement.  “You’re never really cancer-free and I should have known that.” Abdul-Jabbar said.  “My cancer right now is at an absolute minimum.”

If you have a family member who suffers from leukemia and needs private duty nursing, call American Home Health at (630) 236-3501.  The agency can provide round-the-clock nursing care by Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs).  Our service area covers fifteen counties in Northern Illinois including , and Kankakee.  American Home Health is licensed by the State of Illinois and accredited by the Joint Commission.  For further information, go to www.ahhc-1.com, or call (630) 236-3501.

By Karen Centowski

 

Status

LUPUS: “THE WOLF”

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Forty years ago, a teacher at a Catholic elementary school invited the faculty members and their husbands and wives to a Christmas party in her home.  It was an opportunity to socialize, to have fun together.  The women wore their long dresses, and the men wore suits.  Everyone was excited to attend.

Since these faculty members worked together every day, they were at ease with each other.  As each couple arrived, the hostess and guests greeted them.  The house was filled with chatter and laughter.

When all guests had arrived, the hostess announced that she had a surprise for them.  She had enlisted the services of a palm reader, who would tell their futures.  Each person would meet individually with the palm reader in a separate room.  The palm reader would examine the individual’s hand life lines, love lines, and give a reading.  It was simply a party game.  What could go wrong?

Everyone was having a good time until Marie came out of her meeting with the palm reader.  Marie’s face was ashen.  She walked directly to her husband and whispered something to him.  The room became unnaturally quiet.  It was as if all of the air had gone out of a balloon.

Apparently, Marie had received bad news, very bad news.  The palm reader had told Marie that she had lupus, a fatal illness.  How would a palm reader know that?  And what is lupus?

According to WebMD, “Lupus is one of many disorders of the immune system known as autoimmune diseases.  The (patient’s) immune system turns against parts of the body it is designed to protect.  This results in inflammation and damage to various body tissues.  Lupus can affect many parts of the body, including the joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels, and brain.”

A National Resource Center on Lupus article at https://www.lupus.org/resources states that lupus was identified in the classical period (1230—1856).  The word lupus (Latin for “wolf”) is attributed to the thirteenth century physician Rogerius who used it to describe the erosive facial lesions which were reminiscent of a wolf’s bite.

If you have a family member who suffers from lupus and needs private duty nursing, call American Home Health at (630) 236-3501.  The agency can provide round-the-clock nursing care by Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs).  Our service area covers fifteen counties in Northern Illinois including Cook, Lake, McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, LaSalle, Grundy, Will, and Kankakee.  American Home Health is licensed by the State of Illinois and accredited by the Joint Commission.  For further information, go to www.ahhc-1.com, or call (630) 236-3501.

—By Karen Centowski

Information, Status

How to View W2 Form – Paylocity

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Please note that 2018’s W2s are in the mail, and will be arriving shortly. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the payroll department.

in the meantime, please see instructions below on how to access your w2 information via Paylocity

VIEW FORM W-2 IN THE MOBILE APP

  1. Open the Paylocity Mobile App
  2. Log in
  3. Select Pay from the main menu.
  4. Select Tax Forms.

    IMG_BC5793E60E26-1

  5. Select the applicable W2

VIEW FORM W-2 IN WEB BROWSER (COMPUTER)

  1. Go to: https://access.paylocity.com/
  2. Log in
  3. Under the Pay section Click “more” (located at the bottom right corner)
    Pay
  4. Click Tax Forms
    Pay2
  5. Select the applicable W2
Education, Information, Status

DIAGNOSIS: RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

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Sandra was forty years old when she first noticed that the joints in her hands and toes were tender, warm, and swollen. In the mornings, the joints were stiff, and her body ached. She said she felt like she had been run over by a Mack Truck. She knew something was wrong so she made an appointment with her doctor.

The following week she met with her doctor. Sandra described her current symptoms (pain, stiffness, tenderness, warm and swollen joints). The doctor examined each joint, looking for tenderness, swelling, warmth, and painful or limited motion. He noted that the joints on both sides of her body were affected. (Rheumatoid arthritis tends to affect joints on both sides of the body.)

Next, the doctor ordered blood tests to measure inflammation levels. The blood tests also look for biomarkers such as antibodies (blood proteins) linked with rheumatoid arthritis.

Finally, he ordered a magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI) to look for joint damage, such as loss of bone within the joint and narrowing of joint space. Note that the lack of joint damage does not rule out rheumatoid arthritis. It may mean that the disease is in an early stage and hasn’t yet damaged the joints.

While she waited for the results of the tests, Sandra researched osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis on her computer. She discovered that osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. According to https://www.everday health.com/rheumatoid-arthritis, it affects over 30 million adults in the United States. It is also known as degenerative arthritis, and it is also called wear-and-tear arthritis. Osteoarthritis typically occurs in older adults.

By contrast, rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune, inflammatory, systemic disease. The immune system attacks healthy cells in the body by mistake. This results in inflammation, pain, and swelling in affected body parts. Rheumatoid arthritis typically attacks several joints symmetrically. It may also affect organs such as the heart, lungs, and eyes.

The test results showed that Sandra did indeed have rheumatoid arthritis. What caused this? Doctors don’t know what causes rheumatoid arthritis. However, according to https://www.mayoclinic.org, the following risk factors have been identified:

  • Being female.
  • Your age. Rheumatoid arthritis most commonly begins between the ages of 40 to 60.
  • Family history. If a member of your family has rheumatoid arthritis, you may have an increased risk of getting the disease.
  • Smoking. Cigarette smoking increases your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Environmental exposure. Exposure to asbestos or silica may increase your risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Obesity. People who are overweight or obese appear to be at somewhat higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis, especially women diagnosed with the disease when they were 55 or younger.

If you have a family member who has a serious illness and needs private duty nursing, call American Home Health at (630) 236-3501. The agency can provide round-the-clock nursing care by Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). Our service area covers fifteen counties in Northern Illinois including Cook, Lake, McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, LaSalle, Grundy, Will, and Kankakee. American Home Health is licensed by the State of Illinois and accredited by the Joint Commission. For further information, go to www.ahhc-1.com, or call (630) 236-3501.

—By Karen Centowski

Information, Status

CONDUCTOR RECOVERS FROM GUNSHOT WOUNDS

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On May 16, 2017, Michael Case was working as a conductor on an Amtrak train pulling into the station in Naperville, Illinois. Aboard the train was Edward Klein, 79, who was returning home from a canceled trip to Las Vegas..

Case knew that Klein needed to get to Chicago to catch a train to Milwaukee to get to his home in West Allis, Wisconsin. He was aware of a plan to escort Klein at Union Station to get him safely home to Wisconsin.

When the train pulled into the station in Naperville, Case got off the train to help other riders with their baggage. Klein was acting agitated and disoriented so Case closed and locked the train doors to keep Klein on the train. Case later explained his decision to keep Klein on the train, “I didn’t feel like it was a safe place for him to get off at Naperville station with all those tracks there.”

Minutes later, Klein reached out an open window and shot Case with a .38 caliber revolver. Case, who was struck in the abdomen, was able to crawl behind a partition to safety. He was taken to Edward Hospital in Naperville in critical condition and underwent multiple surgeries during the next six weeks. He was released from the hospital ten weeks after the shooting.

During his hospitalization, Case’s wife stayed at the hospital almost twenty-four hours a day. She was his support, his anchor, through it all. Case said, “I remember her sorting me out real quick, like, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this. I got you.’ And she did.”

Klein was charged with attempted first-degree murder, and was ordered held on $1.5 million bail. His attorney said that Klein was mentally unfit to stand trial.

According to https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20180105/dupage-judge-wisconsin-man-had-intent-to-kill-amtrak-conductor, “A DuPage County judge ruled Friday that Edward Klein knew he was doing wrong and intended to kill an Amtrak conductor he shot last May in Naperville. Using a complicated legal term, Judge Jeffrey MacKay ruled Klein was “not not guilty” and “not acquitted” of the multiple charges against him, despite being found unfit to stand trial. Doctors have diagnosed Klein with an impaired cognitive disorder and dementia and said he suffers from a major neuro-cognitive disorder.” He faces confinement in a mental health facility.

If you have a family member who has suffered a serious injury and needs private duty nursing, call American Home Health at (630) 236-3501. The agency can provide round-the-clock nursing care by Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). Our service area covers fifteen counties in Northern Illinois including Cook, Lake, McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, LaSalle, Grundy, Will, and Kankakee. American Home Health is licensed by the State of Illinois and accredited by the Joint Commission. For further information, go to www.ahhc-1.com, or call (630) 236-3501.

—By Karen Centowski

Education, Information, Status

A FORMIDABLE FOE: LEWY BODY DEMENTIA

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Born at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago on July 21, 1951, Robin Williams was the son of Robert Fitzgerald Williams, a senior executive in Ford Motor Company’s Lincoln-Mercury Division. His mother, Laurie McLaurin, was a former model from Jackson, Mississippi. During a television interview on Inside the Actors Studio in 2001, Williams credited his mother as an important early influence on his humor. He said he tried to make her laugh to gain attention.

Williams attended public elementary school at Gorton Elementary School in Lake Forest and middle school at Deer Path Junior High School. When he was twelve, his father was transferred to Detroit. When he was sixteen, his father took early retirement and the family moved to California.

He began performing stand-up comedy in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the 1970’s. He also starred in numerous films including Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and the box office hit Mrs. Doubtfire (1993).

On August 11, 2014, the world learned that Williams had committed suicide by hanging himself in his California home. He was sixty-three years old. The autopsy report showed no alcohol or illegal drugs were involved. Prescription drugs in his system were at “therapeutic” levels. The final autopsy report noted that Williams had been suffering “a recent increase in paranoia.” An examination of his brain tissue suggested Williams suffered from “diffuse Lewy body dementia.”

According to a Mayo Clinic article “Lewy body dementia” at https://www.mayoclinic.org., “Lewy body dementia, also known as dementia with Lewy bodies, is the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in the brain regions involved in thinking, memory and movement (motor control).

“Lewy body dementia causes a progressive decline in mental abilities. People with Lewy body dementia may experience visual hallucinations, and change in alertness and attention. Other effects include Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms such as rigid muscles, slow movement and tremors.”

If you have a family member who suffers from Lewy body dementia and needs private duty nursing, call American Home Health at (630) 236-3501. The agency can provide round-the-clock nursing care by Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), Our service area covers fifteen counties in Northern Illinois including Cook, Lake, McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, LaSalle, Grundy, Will, and Kankakee. American Home Health is licensed by the State of Illinois and accredited by the Joint Commission. For further information, go to www.ahhc-1.com, or call (630) 236-3501.

—By Karen Centowski