Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Aha!

Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology.
             
                                          -Alan M. Eddison

Ethiopian Connections

We received this description of special human experiences from a friend traveling in Ethopia:

On a recent visit to Ethopia, I had the rare opportunity of seeing the place through the eyes of a life-long friend who is working as a Clinton Fellow in local hospitals.  I learned about Rick Hodes, an amazing doctor working for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.  Google his name and you will learn about his selfless, deep dedication to helping those in need and his gift to the African people.  Rick was in the United States during my visit, but I was able to meet his wonderful kids — he has adopted a number of them from the local community.  It was an experience that will remain etched into my mind.

While in Addis Ababa, my friend and I visited two churches – one with Haile Salasie’s tomb.  As we were walking away, we passed an old man coming out of a small hut.  At the doorway sat three women.  It is customary to call out, “How did you sleep” (aka, how are you).  When my friend said this to the old man, an Ethiopian friend of his, who was serving as translator for us, he reminded him to use the formal rather than the familiar grammar.  So, my friend repeated the greeting “properly,” taking into consideration respect for the man’s age.

With the benefit of a translator, we lingered to talk.  The old man looked very wise — much in harmony with the place where he stood.  For some reason, I felt moved to shake his hand.  I reached out in the way used for people of respect, right hand out with the left hand resting on my right forearm.  The old man just stood there in silence.  I thought, “oh goodness, what taboo have a broken?”  But then he approached me.  He took my hand in both of his and smiled broadly.  It was then that I learned this was the first time he had touched a white woman’s hand.  He did so, one of the women translated, because he said he could see that I had an open heart.

I get chills just thinking about it.  I was so honored and so happy that my intention was taken in the manner it was given.  I will remember this moment forever, particularly when I doubt myself.

'Tox in a Box

“Botox is the female yuppie heroin,” Dr. Rose said. “It’s like electricity: If you want to keep it on, you have to keep paying.”

This spake the co-owner of Smoothmed, a boutique  scheduled to open next month, that will offer only one procedure: Botox injections to smooth wrinkles around the forehead, eyes, lips or neck.

[It is located on] a busy section of East 59th Street in Manhattan, a half block from Bloomingdale’s.

To read the full article, please click Permalink.

Hands On -- Hands Off

The LIVES section of the NY Times Sunday Magazine often has important essays.  Yesterday's selection was a point in fact.  It tells the story of an abused woman's search for "healing."  The piece is eloquent and important. 

It's called Feet to Brain
By Amy Fusselman
Published: April 15, 2007  and it begins like this:
Let’s make this fast.  I was molested when I was a child and then I wasn’t anymore and then I skated competitively as a kid and then I quit skating and then I started drinking when I was a teenager and then I quit drinking and then I started therapy when I was an adult and then I married and then I still had therapy and then I had children and then I still had therapy and finally I decided I was tired of all this therapy, all this talking like a talk machine.

To read it click on Permalink.

Arthur C. Clarke

The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history
may be the hijacking of morality by religion.
-Arthur C Clarke, science fiction writer (1917- )

The King of Fruit

Fans Sour on Sweeter Version of Asia’s Smelliest Fruit

The durian, a spiky fruit native to Southeast Asia, has been variously described by its detractors as smelling like garbage, moldy cheese or rotting fish. It is banned from many hotels, airlines and the Singapore subway. But durian lovers — and there are many, at least in Asia — are convinced that like fine French cheeses, the worse the smell, the better the taste.

For the article which appeared in today's New York Times please click Permalink

We are going to ask our durian expert, Dr. Henry Foong from Malaysia, to comment on this piece, the concept that durian is said to be an aphrodisiac and  the Malay proverb: "When the durians fall down, the sarongs fly up."

Those curious souls who require more in-depth Durian lore are referred to the Durian Palace and the web site of the Bao Sheng Durian Farm  on Penang, Malaysia.

Easter -- Sort of

On the very day of the Buddha’s birth     
a young deer is born --
how thrilling!

BASHO

Beyond Static

Natalie Angier, one of our day's preeminent science writers,  has a fine piece in the Tuesday, April 3, NYT J. of Med.  The Times has made it available through Permalink.  This is a concise and elegant piece on the nature of metastasis.

Basics
A Mutinous Group of Cells on a Greedy, Destructive Path
By NATALIE ANGIER
Published: April 3, 2007
Metastatic cancer remains one of the grimmest conditions a person can face, and a true understanding of ever-changing metastases eludes researchers.

The Cancer Chronicles

On the Op-Ed page of Sunday's NY Times there are seven fine pieces on cancer.

The page's title is: Humans vs. Cancer: Who's Winning Now?

1.  A comic strip by Marisa Marchetto  Here it is as a .pdf Download MMarchetto.pdf
      Ms. Marchetto's graphic pathography Cancer Vixen is brilliant.

2. Feeding the Cancer Machine by Shannon Brownlee: Download cancer_machine_brownlee.pdf
    Brownlee has contributed to the online journal Cell 2 Soul in the past and spoke at our November 2007 
    conference.

3. Susan Love feels that most cancer researchers "keep focusing on doing the same thing better rather than trying something new. It is as if we are wearing blinders that let us see only one path and not the alternatives.  For more: Download s. Love CA.pdf

4. This essay by Harold Varmus, the president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, seems to be politically motivated in that it will bring grant and charitable money to MSKCC  He was the director of the National Institutes of Health during the Clinton administration and shared a Nobel prize for studies of cancer genes.  In spite of the self=serving nature of this essay, it is still worth reading: Download varmus_genes_and_ca.pdf

5. "Patents over Patients" is an important essay.  "In the current system, if a promising compound can’t be patented, it is highly unlikely ever to make it to market — no matter how well it performs in the laboratory. The development of new cancer drugs is crippled as a result."  Download patents_over_patients.pdf This piece is a companion to Ms. Brownlee's fine OP-Ed piece -- see above # 2.

6. There are a limited number of new drugs for a small number of cancers.  This piece by David G. Nathan, the president emeritus of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, addresses this area: Download smartpill_solution.pdf

7. "Talk for the Cure" is a fine piece about the human side of cancer.  Download talk_for_the_cure.pdf It rounds out this series nicely and complements Ms. Marchetto's comic strip (see # 1 above).   

 

Res ipsa loquitur

"Res ipsa loquitur" (It speaks for itself: