Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Marginal Notes: Cloud Illusions

 The Beach at Sainte Adresse by Claude Monet

We waited on the tarmac in the mid-morning rain. Droplets beaded up and slid down the thick window panes. Outside, men in slickers stowed the last of the baggage into the belly of the plane. As they drove away I watched the air brakes and aileron panels move along the surface of the wing.

Soon we were racing down the runway, picking up speed as the jet engines screamed in our ears. Raindrops morphed into tiny rivulets, streaking back horizontally across the glass. We lifted off and climbed into a thick bolt of white cotton. 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."

Marginal Notes: Tender Bowels

 
Hippocrates

Splanchnon, the Greek word for the intestinal organs, was frequently used by the ancients to indicate affections, tender mercies, and compassion.  While the Greeks regarded the bowels as the seat of the more violent passions, the Hebrews thought them to be the source of our tender affections.

We still carry the vestiges of this idea in modern English idioms when we refer to “gut feelings,” “going with your gut,” “gutting it out,” or having “butterflies in the stomach.”  Somehow the gut and our feelings seem to be intricately bound together. 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."

Marginal Notes: Night Landing

 
Sunset Flight © by Barry H. Penchansky, M.D.

Night Landing

Above her toes, from where she lay
Reclining at bed’s edge,
She glimpsed a light pass through the night
Above the window ledge.

The plane began its last approach,
A beacon locked it in—
The landing gear would next descend
And brace against the wind.

Blue lights would then come rushing up—
The runway in the night
Would suddenly materialize
Within the captain’s sight.

The plane would drop down at the last,
Wheels screech against the earth;
Air brakes up, flaps hold fast,
Into its final berth.

She wondered how the end would come—
She prayed she would take flight
As wheels against the tarmac run:
A knock, a lurch—then light.

Copyright 2011 © by Brian T. Maurer

 

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."

Marginal Notes: Town Meeting

 
Freedom of Speech by Norman Rockwell

I was exhausted from the six-hour drive home through the rain from Pennsylvania. I unloaded the car, stowed the gear, sorted through the mail and grabbed something to eat. The town meeting convened at 7:00 PM.

It was a short walk down to the local church. The parking lot was full. People filtered into the building, pausing at the small desk to sign the petition before ascending the stairs to the main parish hall.  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."

Marginal Notes: Two nights in the woods

 
Pine Creek, Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania

As I read through the five-day forecast, my spirits sank. A winter advisory was in effect: perhaps three to five inches of snow, giving way to a wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain, high winds and thundershowers—not the best prospects for cooking over an open fire and sleeping in a tent on the forest floor.

Still, I had taken the time. Already the clocks had been set; there was no turning them further forward or back. The time was now. We decided to proceed with our plans.  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."

Marginal Notes: The art of treating the synapse

 
Michelangelo: Sistine Chapel ceiling detail

Why have the last several generations of children born in the U.S. suddenly developed ADHD, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder in epidemic proportions? Has there been some sort of random genetic drift at work on the molecular level in this population? Or could it be that we are dealing with a medical paradigm shift — the way in which we consider what constitutes the origin of illness in human beings?  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."

Marginal Notes: What's in a name?

 
Romeo and Juliet

  What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
      Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
      Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
      What's in a name? that which we call a rose
      By any other name would smell as sweet.

While perusing articles on health care in the medical literature as well as in the lay press, I frequently run across the misnomer “physician's assistant.” (Reader, take note of that terminal “apostrophe s.”) What the editor really means, of course, is “physician assistant,” the designated title for the PA profession.  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."

Marginal Notes: Mesofacts and Megatrends

 
AP Photo/European South Observatory

Mesofacts have always been part and parcel of medicine.  Yet I can’t help but ponder the difference between mesofacts and megatrends in medical practice, for not all of our latest technological and pharmacological armamentaria are brought to bear on mesofacts.  Megatrends can masquerade as solutions to medical dilemmas as well.  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."

Marginal Notes: Recommended Reading

 
"Icelines" ©2011 Thomas A. Doty

Whenever my friend checks in with the receptionist for his scheduled appointment, he always inquires just how far behind the doctor is running.  The usual answer falls somewhere between one to two hours.  Undaunted, my friend takes a seat and opens whatever reading material he has brought along to pass the time until the nurse calls his name.  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."

Marginal Notes: Minimal Medicine

 
Photo montage by Evan Sung for the New York Times

Sometimes I wonder whether we as a society have not over-medicalized life. We spend so much of our time browsing health columns, monitoring vital signs, ruminating on our symptoms, consulting our doctors. Many of us have become so health conscious that we balk at deviating from the straight and narrow path. When it comes to our health, we have become risk averse.

Even those of us who spend their days in clinical practice recognize that medicine does not encompass all of life.

Perhaps we need to learn to practice minimal medicine....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."