No one would ever call me a drama queen–at least, not in the figurative sense. Not in the literal sense either, since never once in my sixty years have I ever tried out for the elementary school play, the high school musical, the college a capella groups or the fourth year medical student end of… Continue reading Get Your Kicks on Route 66
My First Day Off
I’ve rarely been a real risk taker when it comes to physical activity. I’ve never jumped out of an airplane, rappelled down a mountainside, or skied in fresh powder after being dropped from a helicopter. When I swim, I like my pool water warm, and when I ride, I like my horses elderly and as… Continue reading My First Day Off
How to Save a Life
And I would have stayed up with you all night–Had I known how to save a life. The Fray, “How to Save a Life” The tenth season of Grey’s Anatomy premieres tomorrow night. For the cognoscenti, this means we will find out what happened after the cliff hanger of last season: Will April really leave… Continue reading How to Save a Life
A Different Kind of Mask
“I want them to live again to the point where pain becomes art.” Lawrence Durrell, “Justine” I have always loved masks. Near sighted likely from birth, a fact which was discovered significantly later, I never minded stumbling around our neighborhood on Halloween, my already deficient depth perception further stunted by my Bugs Bunny mask. To… Continue reading A Different Kind of Mask
The Glass Is Half Full
A couple of weeks ago my nurse came to me with a request for a consultation. Since our schedule has been packed full lately, she’s been asking me where I can squeeze patients in. She said, “I’m not sure about this one—he says you treated him twenty years ago and he wants to see you. … Continue reading The Glass Is Half Full
Facebook Flicks
Fourteen years ago, writer/actor/director Christopher Guest made a little movie called “Best in Show”, supposedly a movie about dog shows, but more accurately a very funny movie about people who show dogs. The film was eagerly anticipated in the dog show world, since many of us knew which dogs of each breed had been chosen… Continue reading Facebook Flicks
The Good Books
Where I come from, when most people refer to The Good Book, they are referring to the Bible. This is not true for my father, because to him, the Good Books are something else entirely. He describes a scene early in his career as a plastic surgeon, when he had taken his doting mother to… Continue reading The Good Books
Superstition, Karma and Faith
I have always been a mildly superstitious person. With a casual air, I will walk around rather than under an open ladder and I never wear opals since they are not my birthstone. I will happily pet a purring black cat then shiver when it runs across my path, and when I break a mirror… Continue reading Superstition, Karma and Faith
When Age is a Relative Thing
I remember when I was a medical student and an elderly patient would be admitted to the surgical service through the emergency room with a bowel obstruction, or a lung cancer, or blockage in the coronary arteries so severe that only a coronary bypass could save him. The students and residents would gather around the… Continue reading When Age is a Relative Thing
Curmudgeonly Me
I didn’t like my flu shot very much this year. Some years they hurt worse than others, and I haven’t yet figured out whether that depends on which nurse gives me the shot, or which strain I am being vaccinated against. This year was a bad one—within 24 hours my arm was so sore that… Continue reading Curmudgeonly Me