The Crab Diaries – Page 11 – The great Greek physician and teacher Hippocrates (460 BC-370 BC) described several kinds of cancer, referring to them with the Greek word "carcinos", meaning crab or crayfish. This name comes from the appearance of the cut surface of a solid malignant tumor, with the "veins stretched out on all sides as the animal the crab has its feet, whence it derives its name."

A Rancho Santa Fe Moment

I’ve never been good at snappy comebacks and witty one-liners. I always think of what I wished I had said about two hours after the opportunity has vanished. But today I did okay. I was in the local grocery store known as Harvest Ranch Market. It’s an expensive little place, but known in the community… Continue reading A Rancho Santa Fe Moment

Get Along Little Doggies

Lately, I’ve been carrying around a couple of cowboys in my car. One of them is riding a bay horse and leading a buckskin against the backdrop of the Southwest sky. The other one is moving a small herd of Hereford cattle across a stream, cigarette dangling from his mouth. A real Marlboro man. They’re… Continue reading Get Along Little Doggies

And Always at My Back I Hear

I used to read a lot of books. But then the Internet, and Facebook, and eBay took over, and these days I am lucky if I have time to read a magazine. I find that there are two great places for magazine reading—on an airplane, and at the hairdressers. From an experiential standpoint, these two… Continue reading And Always at My Back I Hear

Who We Really Are

When I was a resident in radiation oncology, I thought I already knew a lot about medicine. After all, I had just completed an internal medicine residency, and had taken and passed my boards. Needless to say, I was more than a little bit irritated the first time a patient “coded” in the radiation therapy… Continue reading Who We Really Are

Mel’s Posh Junk

With apologies to any of the really nice people who live in Aspen, Colorado I admit it—I have a little bit of an eBay habit. May I be permitted to say that cruising eBay helps me relax after a long day at the office? I have all my favorite searches set to notify me if… Continue reading Mel’s Posh Junk

An Exercise in Futility

I am working at home today. And no, that’s not the exercise in futility, although it could be. I have paperwork to complete, treatment summaries to write– odds and ends that don’t involve patient care. I am working at home because today, the carpet layers are putting in my brand new wall to wall carpet. … Continue reading An Exercise in Futility

Let Me Call It In For You

These days they have navigators for everything. When we got lost back in the day, we used to consult a map, or lacking a map, we would pull in to the nearest “filling station” (what we used to call gas pumps) and ask for directions from the friendly young man who would appear to wash… Continue reading Let Me Call It In For You

What’s For Lunch?

These days, Thursdays are my busiest day of the week. It’s the day I see all of my on treatment patients. Currently there are thirty one of them—a busy load for a radiation oncologist. Nonetheless, I have instructed my therapists that they must leave me time for lunch, and so they schedule the patients so… Continue reading What’s For Lunch?

Thirty Years Later

From my husband, a guest blog today: When I travel on business, it’s hard on everyone. I just flew back from a trip to China in a coach seat wedged between two very outsized men who not only snored loudly during the 14 hour flight, but had an annoying habit of invading my “personal… Continue reading Thirty Years Later

We’re Going to a Dog Party!

When my kids were small, one of their favorite books was by P.D. Eastman. Written in 1961 and entitled, “Go Dogs Go”, it was the story of a great migration of dogs, some in cars, some in buses, some on foot, some wearing pretty hats, and some not. Where were all those dogs going? You… Continue reading We’re Going to a Dog Party!