Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Banjo's Babe Ruth

Here's a fine tribute to Earl Scruggs who died on March 28, 2012.

The Ordinary is Extraordinary

Dr. Yoon Cohen took this photo in her suburban Cleveland neighborhood on March 23, 2012. Please click on image to appreciate it better.

You may contact Yoon at Email.

Al Ross, Cartoonist and Centenarian

Al Ross, whose droll cartoons featuring married couples, bar habitués, anthropomorphic animals, philosophizing prisoners, art and publishing world denizens, anachronistic mythological figures and loyal Mets fans appeared in The New Yorker for more than 60 years, died on Thursday in the Bronx. He was 100.

Link to Full Obit

Howard's End

Howard Spiro passed away recently.  He was a force in the medical humanities.  A generous, humorous, somewhat Falstaffian, character.  Loved to tell a good story, the companonship of friends and colleagues.  Mory's was his stage.  He tacked against the academic wind at Yale, but was respected nonetheless.

Brian Maurer's personal Tribute to Howard is worth reading.

More formal Yale Announcement.

For those within drivng distance, a memorial service has been planned for Saturday, March 24, at 11 a.m. at The Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Tpke, Hamden, Conn.

From too much love of living,

         From hope and fear set free,

We thank with brief thanksgiving

         Whatever gods may be

That no life lives for ever;

That dead men rise up never;

That even the weariest river

         Winds somewhere safe to sea.

Marginal Notes: A marriage of humanity and medicine

"The Doctor" by Sir Luke Fildes, 1887

Medical practice lay a-bed,
With fever to the core;
Sickness festered in her head,
While death passed by the door.

A string of suitors, all untrue,
Had left her bed of pain,
Parties of the third did woo—
Though not for love, but gain.  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."

Walk a Mile in My Brace

by Donna Hoover Bechtler

"My Russian ballroom dance instructor pulled me toward him... My pink satin strappy stilettos made my unreliable legs look long, lean, and feminine. But I moved as though my left foot were embedded in the slick hardwood floor. Around me teachers and students gracefully swirled in Viennese waltzes or jived World War II style. I headed for a chair and my comfortable purple suede shoes." Download Walk a Mile in My Brace

This is the story of an orphan patient.  She has "lived with this [poorly defined neurological condition for seven years.  The doctors at Mayo and elsewhere do not have a name for it."  Her story exemplifies the old saying, "Fall seven times, get up eight."  To read more:  Download Walk a Mile in My Brace   

Author Bio: Ms. Bechtler lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband, Michael Gross, a poet with a day job, and with their cat. She has an undergraduate degree in English from Queens University where she graduated summa cum laude and subsequently earned her MFA.  Email DHB

Haitian Drummer, Obit

Frisner Augustin, a Haitian vodou master drummer whose deep knowledge of traditional rhythms and leadership of the Brooklyn-based Troupe Makandal made him a major force in preserving and popularizing his Afro-Haitian heritage, died on Feb. 28 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was 63. NY Times Obit.

Pet Therapy: How Animals And Humans Heal Each Other

This is an NPR piece about the value of pets in healing and caring.

"Those of us who own pets know they make us happy. But a growing body of scientific research is showing that our pets can also make us healthy, or healthier. That helps explain the increasing use of animals — dogs and cats mostly, but also birds, fish and even horses — in settings ranging from hospitals and nursing homes to schools, jails and mental institutions."

You can access the article or listen to it -- the audio piece is 4.5 minutes long.

Magic Words by Marla Lukofsky

(if you prefer an easier to read pdf: Download MAGIC WORDS

 This essay was inspired by Mary Armstrong's tribute to her hurse practitioner which was published here on February 8th.

Years ago, I had a positive experience with a remarkable Nurse Practitioner at UCLA named Sherry Goldman who was in charge of a special program for breast cancer, a disease which I had. I was struggling with the terrible side effects of my treatments. They were getting the best of my mind and my body.  When I walked into her office for my appointment, she did the physical examination.  She also asked me how I was feeling and remarkably she waited for the answer.  I was open and honest with every detail.  She validated my mind-set and made me feel less alone with my thoughts. Her medical suggestion to improve my status was to take walks every day. “Start small, short distances, a block or two and then make it longer with each day," she suggested.

My response to her was a resounding  “NO!  I don’t want to. I don’t feel well, I don’t look good, and I don’t have the energy.”

Well, Sherry the NP sat quietly for a moment, absorbing my adamant stance and then said to me those magic words, the words that only one could say if they had taken the time to really listen, while having the keen observational skills to sense what the problem was with a simple walk. What were her words? I know you’re waiting for them… Her words were, “ Then don’t walk for you Marla, walk for ME... and I want to hear how much you’ve walked when you come back to see me in two weeks.”

Suddenly my eyes lit up, my back straightened and a fire was in my belly and it wasn’t acid indigestion. That day I went home and started to walk and with each day I walked more and more, longer and further.  Soon, I was walking for hours daily, chomping at the bit to report back to Sherry with pride at my accomplishment. Two weeks later I did just that at my next appointment at UCLA, when I saw her.  I looked like a new person.   I was a new person.

 There is a belief that one shouldn’t do things just to please someone else but rather to do it to please oneself. Well, that is all well and good some of the time but there are other times when it’s imperative to break that rule. If pleasing someone else is the key to getting a person back on track and healthy again then so be it and that’s exactly what happened with me.  Not only did my health and strength improve, but I also took up jogging and now I walk and run FOR ME! and I have not stopped since. I’m entering my first 5K Marathon in March.  I have not had that kind of positive experience with the medical profession since, but I will NEVER forget what that incredibly smart and talented Nurse Practitioner did for me. NEVER!

Author:  Marla  Lukofsky

Marginal Notes: Some things happen for a reason

"It's a Wonderful Life" — Clarence and George

A new used car that is on the blink. An intellectually limited father. Icy roads in the aftermath of a winter storm. A belated telephone call at eventide. Some things happen for a reason.  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."