On The Road Again

On the road again Goin’ places that I’ve never been Seein’ things that I may never see again, And I can’t wait to get on the road again.  Willie Nelson   If someone had told me even ten years ago that I would retire young and become an itinerant radiation oncologist I would have thought… Continue reading On The Road Again

Gone With The Wind

I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind, Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng, Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind, But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, all the time, because the dance was long: I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.… Continue reading Gone With The Wind

An Extraordinary Life

“Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so”—John Donne On a Sunday in January, 2014, I opened the New York Times Opinion section and stumbled upon one of the most unusual essays I had ever read.  It was written by Dr. Paul Kalanithi, who at the… Continue reading An Extraordinary Life

You Know You’re at a Plastic Surgery Meeting When…

My friend Dawn and I recently attended an evening meeting of the Houston Society of Plastic Surgeons.  Since we were invited guests, and not plastic surgeons, we didn’t stop on the way into the lovely formal dining room to pick up our name badges because the organizers had not made them for us.  On the… Continue reading You Know You’re at a Plastic Surgery Meeting When…

In Praise of Angelina

I have always been one of Angelina Jolie’s biggest fans.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saw fit to reward her 1999 performance in “Girl Interrupted” with an Oscar, but I wasn’t well and truly smitten until the second Lara Croft Tombraider movie was released in 2003.  In that film, Jolie, who performs… Continue reading In Praise of Angelina

In Memoriam–Dr. Michael Davidson

In 1994, I was working at my first radiation oncology job in San Diego at Grossmont Hospital when I came into work to hear disturbing news.  One of my colleagues in medical oncology, a compassionate man known for his gentle nature, had stayed late at the Cancer Center the evening before to finish up paperwork. … Continue reading In Memoriam–Dr. Michael Davidson

The Curbside Consultation

Recently a friend of my husband’s in San Diego had a mammogram which showed some suspicious microcalcifications in her right breast.  She underwent a stereotactic biopsy which revealed ductal carcinoma in situ, the earliest form of breast cancer also known as Stage 0 breast cancer.  This type of cancer is non-invasive and does not metastasize,… Continue reading The Curbside Consultation

When Cancer Comes To Call

A patient story tonight, from Jackie:   It was one of those days.  I had been to the gynecologist the week prior because I somehow knew the sporadic bleeding which I had experienced was NOT a simple Urinary Tract Infection for which I had been treated three times.  My doctor did the scrapings and biopsies… Continue reading When Cancer Comes To Call

Siskel and Ebert

I have always loved the movies.  Like every grade school kid watching reruns, I cried when Bambi’s mother died, and when starry eyed Judy Garland clicked her heels and said, “There’s no place like home!”  But when the big budget films hit the screen in my early pre-teen years—Ben Hur, Camelot and Lawrence of Arabia,… Continue reading Siskel and Ebert

In Pursuit of Perfection

“Upon what instrument are we two spanned, and what musician holds us in his hands?” Rainer Maria Rilke This past week was a very busy yet very interesting time for me.  Early in the week, I had a visit from an old medical school classmate who is now one of our nation’s leading researchers in… Continue reading In Pursuit of Perfection