Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Notes Towards Faith

Oscar Houck (n the blue shirt), writes "'Like any hopeful agnostic with a decidedly spiritual bent, I spent years, nearly fifty of them, looking for some definitive evidence of God. I remember Yoko Ono wanting John to send a sign from the other side, proving to her that he was OK. Maybe a cherry tree blossom or a feather floating on the air, something like that. I sought similar hard evidence. Finally, on an otherwise uneventful Friday night, January 30th, 2009, just after I’d finished watching a  Kurosawa DVD, God gave me a heart attack. It was a pretty good one and it got my full attention. Immediately, for the first time, I understood the wrathful God from the Old Testament. I’d never believed in that God before. But, we are so damn busy, so caught up in ourselves and our meaningless problems, that nothing will do to wake us but a hard slap to the face." Read further: Download Notes toward faith

Bio Sketch: Oscar Houck is a screenwriter and a sometimes poet, masquerading as a substitute teacher. Two of his short scripts will be produced in the coming year and he is currently at work on his first feature film screenplay. Born in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Roanoke, Virginia, he lives in San Antonio, Texas.  Email: Oscar Houck.

Health Care Vampire

As seen in local newspaper, February 28, 2009

Fistula: A Silent Epidemic

 

Ethiopian Woman in Fistula Hospital

In his new book, "Cutting for Stone," Abraham Verghese draws a character, Shiva Praise Stone, a self-taught uneducated fistula surgeon.  Reading the sections dealing with obstetrical fistulae, I recalled a fine article which appeared in the NY Times a few years back.  This story, I am sure, was Verghese's inspiration for the Shiva Stone character.

For more, go to the 2005 article "The Illiterate Surgeon" and be sure to click on the Multimedia piece. (NY Times, June 12, 2005, N. Kristoff)

A second article compliments this fine piece:  "Alone and Ashamed"

and this was updated in 2007: Tea With Mother Theresa

You can get yet further  information on the  web site of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and from the film "A Walk to Beautiful."

Fast forward to the NY Times Journal of Humane Medicine, February 24, 2009: After a Devastating Birth Injury, Hope, by Denise Grady.  Strangely, this moving piece does not mention the other Times articles or the documentary, but it, too is worth reading.  It has a fine audio-visual supplement, in addition.

(Photo:  At Healing Mission in Tanzania for women with fistulae. NY Times 24 Feb 09))

Marginal Notes: Improvisation

In a recent NPR interview with Scott Simon, jazz saxophonist Benny Golson tells the story of playing a gig in a club one evening.  Before the performance, one of the owners asked him what he planned to do for a solo number.  The owner was astounded when Golson told him that he wasn't sure of his selection.  Golson explained his reasoning in this way:  "Jazz is improvisation." In other words, you go with the flow; and when the time comes, you perform as the spirit moves you.

Thirty years ago when I was a student in training, I intuitively modified a routine office procedure, much to the delight of the physician I was working with at the time—sort of like an improvised jazz sax solo blown in the far reaches of the night...more

Photo credit: Oliver Rossberg

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty 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." 

One More Unfortunate

This woman is one of the 13.2 million uninsured young adults in the U.S.  That is more than the population of Cuba and many other countries.

Alanna Boyd [pictured above] is an uninsured 28-year-old receptionist in New York City. She had the misfortune to wind up in a NYC hospital with a bout of diverticulitis.  This fine article was on the front page of the NY Times on Wednesday, February 18, 2009.  Boyd's bill was $17,398 after spending just 46 hours in hospital last October. “My first reaction was to start laughing — I just kept saying, ‘No way, no way,’ I could have gone to a major university for a year. Instead, I went to the hospital for two days.”

Open your heart and read this important article: For Uninsured Americans -- Do It Yourself Health Care.

What if she were your kid?  Your sister?  What if this were you?. 

Ghost Tunnels by Jason Albertson

You were ambulanced in, your leg hot,
The shakes reminding you of the times infection
Tried to take you down.

The social worker didn't call me back.
Interrogated your roommate,
Denied him care. She'd be no help.
 
My mother, your wife, dead two years in a hospital room you'd shared,
Walked in my thoughts, appeared.
”You should call.

Full poem:  Download Ghost tunnels

Bio: Jason Albertson, a 46 year-old social worker with SF HOT, the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team, has worked with poor and homeless people in San Francisco since 1992. This poem was triggered by his father’s emergency hospitalization two years ago during a visit to family in Philadelphia.  You may comment to: Jason Albertson  

Marginal Notes: The biochemistry of love and sex

 HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Biochemists might be able to develop drugs that block hormone receptor sites in the brain, producing individuals who seek the pleasure of sex without stimulating any need for long-term bonding.  Some might argue that, in light of today's sexual mores, such drugs would be unnecessary.

 

But would sex without emotional bonding be classified as love?

 

While it may be triggered by surges of hormones, human love is more than mere biochemistry, because it entails more than just sex and bonding.

 

I recently read a profoundly descriptive passage on this subject...more

 

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty 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." 

Soul 2 Cell

From the NY Times: An article in JAMA this week describes a "new technique, called targeted muscle reinnervation which involves taking the nerves that remain after an arm is amputated and connecting them to another muscle in the body, often in the chest. Electrodes are placed over the chest muscles, acting as antennae. When the person wants to move the arm, the brain sends signals that first contract the chest muscles, which send an electrical signal to the prosthetic arm, instructing it to move. The process requires no more conscious effort than it would for a person who has a natural arm. Full Article  Be sure to check out multimedia video.

Oh Brave New World...  Here the mind uses the nerves to send messages to myocytes (cells) to move artificial fingers.  These are the first baby steps, early insights into how the soul can direct the body or its extensions.

Best in Show

"Cats rule... Dogs Drool."  Try telling that to the folks at the Westminster Dog Show.

Some of you (animal sociologists, canine fantasmists, those in need of some relief from the power players) will enjoy this article from the NY Times: Spaniel Comeback and especially, the Multimedia Piece.

More... The Westminster Kennel Club dog show had grand ambitions from its inception in 1877, when nearly 1,200 dogs trotted through the Hippodrome at Gilmore's Garden in New York City. Though that number was lower than promised – the show had hoped to attract nearly 1,500 to make it the biggest in the world – Compendium from 2009.

Verghese Book Tour

Let the Games Begin!

Cutting for Stone, Verghese's important new novel was released on February 3; and the book tour has started.  It will be in Boston today, February 10.  The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on...  The tour touches on all the "major" cities.  If you have a chance, it will be worth attending.  Verghese Reading and Signings. 

About Cutting for Stone: "A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel – an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home."

View Trailer