Since California is the center of the universe when it comes to vanity, there are a whole lot of folks with so called “vanity plates” on their cars. Here you are allowed a combination of seven letters or numbers and apart from obscenities, pretty much anything goes. Back in Massachusetts, I had a vanity plate… Continue reading UGET1GO
Month: March 2013
Dear Catherine
When I saw the peonies just poking their new shoots above the ground next to your house, it was almost too much to bear. I love peonies. In 1991 we bought the house on Strawberry Hill back in Dover Massachusetts. The perennial gardens were seventy years old then, and I had no idea what was… Continue reading Dear Catherine
Denial Is Not a River in Egypt
If you desire healing, let yourself fall ill let yourself fall ill.” ― Rumi Yesterday I saw a patient—an 80 year old woman with metastatic cancer involving her bones. She had near complete replacement of her twelfth thoracic vertebra by tumor, and also significant destruction of her fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae, demonstrated by PET-CT… Continue reading Denial Is Not a River in Egypt
Closing up Shop
They say that as we age, time accelerates. Those endless waits for summer vacations, Christmas and our birthdays that we experienced at age six, become a mere blink of an eye at age sixty. And if you’re approaching sixty, you will remember, like I do, those old Kodak commercials: “Turn around, turn around, turn around… Continue reading Closing up Shop
Back to the Future
I am in Houston, Texas today—the place where I grew up. From the moment I got off the plane on Wednesday, I had a strong sense of déjà vu—the small town feel of Hobby Airport, the banners welcoming me to the Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo, the drive to the Texas Medical Center where… Continue reading Back to the Future
Long Ago and Far Away
I got a call a few days ago from Sandy Arledge. Sandy is semi-retired now, but when my kids were growing up she was the owner of a magical place called Far West Farms. Just a few miles from the ocean, between the strip malls of Del Mar Highlands and the housing developments that crowd… Continue reading Long Ago and Far Away
The Irony of It All
My son wants a government job. After obtaining a Masters degree in Public Policy, with an emphasis on economics, he was the envy of his classmates when he actually got a job. He has been working for the last seven months for a giant consulting corporation. Early every Monday morning, at the bidding of his… Continue reading The Irony of It All
When Only a Dog Will Do
My husband used to be afraid to leave town. He travelled a lot on business, and he never knew what he might come home to. That is because when I get stressed, as is often the case, and if chocolate and a good glass of red wine fail to comfort me, I tend to look… Continue reading When Only a Dog Will Do
Thanks For Your Support
My husband likes to say, “No good deed goes unpunished.” I don’t always agree, but sometimes you just can’t argue that concept. One of my favorite patients, a forty nine year old woman who I treated for head and neck cancer a year ago is a good case in point. Head and neck cancer is… Continue reading Thanks For Your Support