I used to think of Thanksgiving as the supremely humble, agenda-less holiday most deserving of our celebration. As an American adaptation of harvest festivals found in other cultures, it seems at once natural, secular, and modest. Yet as I called a lovely woman a few days before the holiday to inform and counsel her that […]
Given that our health care system has become a bloated carcass of once honorable intentions, I think a fundamental redesign of the examining room is in order. For beyond the doctor and patient, the physical room which contains their ebullient repartee is the next logical target for improvement. Here is one radical idea that may […]
Author Danea Horn has written a book entitled Chronic Resilience in which she describes “10 sanity-saving strategies for women coping with the stress of illness.” I read a copy of the book and highly recommend it. The stresses of being ill and suffering from chronic illness are manifold. Just today I listened to a woman […]
I’m not sure I can live up to the promise of this post, but as I crouched naked on my hand and knees this weekend, crippled in the 6th hour of profuse diarrhea and vomiting, a few thoughts came to me. First, how woefully miserable it is to feel sick. Not just sniffly-nose-nasal-congestion-sick, but rather […]
The origin of a word is fascinating, and the etymology of a word’s evolution tells a story. You can almost picture syllables and letters marching like armies through distant lands – Old England, Low Germany, Ancient Greece… or rising up from a dark, primordial world of shapeless magic to take form and structure. I’ve changed […]
Do you want to know if your doctor has been eating pizza for lunch that was purchased by Pfizer as she listened to a drug rep describe a new medication? Do you want to know if your endocrinologist has been paid $1,500 to give a brief talk about a new injectable diabetes medication to his […]
The pupils of the eye become smaller as we age, shrinking to a mere third of their robust, youthful size. You knew this, even if you were not aware of the vanishing look in your grandmother’s window, the reptilian ooze of warm blood over the cliff. Open wide. Please. Open wider, so that we might […]