Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

In Praise of Austin, by Rebecca Walsh

My dog died on Christmas...

He was the greatest companion a person could have. He was ideal company on long walks in the woods, and kept my feet warm at night. When I got scared or lonely, or felt the weight of the world bearing down, he stayed present with me, offering comfort and love in an endless and effortless way. Aussie looked at me as if I were the greatest human on earth.

read on or see: Download Austin's Story
 
If ever there was a true caregiver it was Austin. I think he felt his job in life was to love me. He couldn't have done a better job. A few days before he passed, I had the chance to thank him for the eleven years of love, comfort, and healing that he provided.
 
Here's what I learned from Austin.
1. We all need to seen, truly seen for who we are. We need to know that others are happy to see us.
2. We need to be trusted. Aussie always reminded me of my own inner goodness.
3. Caregivers go the extra mile. They show they care by going out of their way to do the right thing, not to prove anything but because it is a privilege to love.
4. Taking space when we need it is a good thing, it allows us to come back and be present, being present is the main ingredient of true caregiving.
5. Take lots of long walks, there is healing in the woods.
 
Mostly Aussie taught me this. Love is the essence of what we are, by loving him, I became more of who I am. What more is there to say? What more is there to do but pass it on.

Thanks, Aussie, I will never forget you, buddy.

Author Bio: Rebecca Walsh is a therapist and special education teacher living in Lenox, Massachusetts. She is the mother of two grown children and is looking forward to being a foster parent in the near future. Also a professional cook, and budding artist, Rebecca sees her work as an opportunity to pass on to others the abundance of well-being, healing and wisdom others have shown her. Rebecca's Email.

 

My Uncle Jack and Fate

Betty Z. was 21 in 1937 when she started working at her Uncle's mecial office in the Bronx.  Herein, she relates some memories.

Pelham Pkwy Station

 In 1937, when I was 21, I took a job in my uncle's office. Jack Levine was a G.P. in the Bronx. I was taking a night course to become a medical technician at the Mandl School in Manhattan and worked during the day.  The office occupied the first floor of my grandmother's house. The Pelham Parkway elevated subway station was on the corner. For more Download Betty 1937

 

Betty and the Young Doctor, Circa 1941

Betty Z. today

"Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’      
We are not now that strength which in old days   
Mov’d earth and heaven, that which we are, we are:   
One equal temper of heroic hearts,   
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will..."  Tennyson's Ulysses

Author Bio: Betty Z. lives six miles from the Pelham Parkway station.  She has had a life full of many adventures.  At 95, this is her first publication.  It’s never too late to pen one’s recollections.  We hope to receive more of her wisdom.

 

Our Moral Stain

"When it comes to health care, most liberals are committed above all to ensuring that every American has insurance. In their view, the greatest achievement of the health care reform act is to finally erase the moral stain of the United States' being the only major developed country without universal coverage. But we also hold the questionable distinction of having the world's most expensive health care system - what about cost control?

This is a fine opinion piece by a thoughtful academic physician.  Reading it made me think, "We have met the enemy and it is us."  As a physician, I particpate in the scandalous cost of health care every day.  All of us do unnecessary tests.  All of us prescribe expensive meds when cheaper ones would work.  All of us do more procedures than needed because that's where our reimbursement comes from.  It's one thing to recognize this in the quiet of one's home -- it's another reality in the clinic.

Emanuel's essay is a good springboard for thought.  See: Download What We Give Up for Health Care

 Image is from CartoonStock.com

John Cage

My Mama Mia! by G. Evelyn Lampart

“You will need a mastectomy,” the barely middle-aged breast surgeon with strawberry blonde hair, Dr. G., is saying. She looks too charming and nice to perform such a violent action.  Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, her cheeks are round and joyful, her toenails are each painted a different color, and she wears strappy sandals that showcase her healthy legs. How incongruous for her to use the dreaded word: Mastectomy. Unfathomable. I am shriveling. Shrinking. She couldn't mean me. I didn't do anything wrong. Read full essay: Download My Mamma Mia

Author Bio: Evelyn Lampart is a licensed clinical social worker, as well as a writer and painter. Her latest endeavor was to join a group reading works of literature in Yiddish, her mother tongue.  Email: Evelyn Lampart.

Image: Life's Mastectomy by Artist Sara Molano

The Call of Stories

"The Universe is made up of Stories, not atoms."

Muriel Rukeyser

Marginal Notes: Showing my (digital) age

I see my own primary care physician once a year for my annual physical exam. He used to sit and talk to me. Now he sits behind a flat screen monitor and records my answers to his questions with the click of a mouse. All of my salient medical data is duly digitalized, readily available for immediate electronic access. This, I’m told, is progress.  more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for 32 years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

My Uncle "Doc"

In Pittsburgh, instead of going to a doctor, my family usually consulted Doc, my mother’s oldest brother who was an internist. After he entered medical school, he was always called “Doc” instead of Abe. Doc Starr was a quiet, serious, modest man, not tall, and with a gray moustache. Late in life he married Helen, who had worked for him as an office assistant and then became his companion. 

Renee Marks Cohen has graciously submitted her moving piece about "Doc."  You will enjoy it:  Download My Uncle Doc – Abraham Starr. You may contact Ms. Cohen at: RMC_Email.

Eve Arnold - Photographer Extraordinare

Eve Arnold who fell in love with photography after a boyfriend gave her a camera and came to be regarded as a grande dame of postwar photojournalism for her bold, revealing images of subjects as diverse as Marilyn Monroe and migratory potato pickers, died on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 in London. She was 99.

Born, Eve Cohen in Philadelphia on April 21, 1912, she was one of nine children of immigrants from Ukraine. Her father was a rabbi. At 28, she abandoned ambitions of becoming a doctor to move to New York because “That’s where the boys are,” she said.

NY Times Obit    NY Times Multi-Media

At a brothel in Havana, circa 1954

The Overachiever's Simple Guide to a Sweeter Life

"Do you know what the difference is between an overachiever and a corpse? What the former calls his résumé, the latter recognizes as an obituary.

An overachiever believes that if he or she only looks hard enough, seeks diligently enough, reflects long enough, and suffers enough, that happiness and success will eventually come. The Overachievers Simple Guide is for those of us who have come to recognize the fallacy of this belief, and wonder, what now?

"This 25 page booklet is about everything else there is in life, aside from awesomeness and achievement. It is for the overachiever who knows some really awesome people, and exactly for that reason, doesn’t want to be them. OASG is not going to tell you anything you don’t already know. It is only going to tell you what you already know but haven’t yet heard. It is not meant for the fearless daredevil, those unique individuals who don't care if they die young or old, alone or among loved ones."

O.A. Chiever, an old friend, sent me a link to his book which is now available free or for 99 cents at the Kindle Store.  He wrote: "For fun, I have put together a few short essays into a 25 page ebook, which I've self-published and is now available on Amazon for Kindle. (If you don't have one, you can always read it online, or on your ipad/iphone)." 

For those of you who are interested, it's an amazing read.  Takes ~ one hour.  Get OSGSL If you want to read it, but dont have a Kindle, iPhone or iPad, write me and I'll see if Dr. Chiever can send you a copy.

Pain Killers

In the U.S. today, drugs prescribed by doctors (myself included) kill more people than street drugs.  This sobering fact was brought home by a recent article in the NY Times (reported widely elsewhere,  too). 

     "In 2008, for the first time in nearly 30 years, more people died of poisoning than in car crashes. Poisoning is now the leading cause of injury death, and 90 percent of poisonings were caused by drugs. 
     Opioid painkillers like morphine, hydrocodone (sold as Vicodin and other brands) and oxycodone (Percocet and other brands) were involved in more than 40 percent of drug poisonings in 2008. These drugs were implicated in more poisoning deaths than heroin or cocaine.
     Opioid analgesics accounted for 14,800 of the 36,500 fatal drug poisonings in 2008.
     For full article see: Download Poisoning Kills

If you are a doctor, read this and weep.  If you are a patient, digest this.  If you are a family member of a patient, be vocal.