HJBR May/Jun 2021

Falling Through the Cracks BY STANLEY E. PETERS, JR., MD Otolaryngologist, Louisiana Ear Nose Throat & Sinus An ENT Physician’s Take on the Deadly and Enigmatic COVID-19 Two months — if his routine executive men’s health check with Curtis Chastain, MD, would have been two months later, Stanley “Bubba” Peters, MD, figures the appointment would have been postponed or canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic — so would his cancer diagnosis. He considers himself lucky; the type of cancer inside of him can be treated successfully, if caught early. If not, well, he wonders how many weren’t so fortunate. Since cancer and heart disease still rank as the leading causes of death in America (COVID-19 appears to be No. 3), we asked Peters to share his thoughts and got a stream of consciousness from this COVID-19 survivor, cancer survivor and one of our own. HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  MAY / JUN 2021 25