My father lived to be four-score years and nine. It’s appropriate to use Lincoln’s language to surround my tall and gentle father. He was the first in his family not to be racist, the first to be a feminist, the first to go to college.
Traveling Companions: I Remember My Father Read More »
When I was a new attending physician, I stumbled across a book that changed my life. I was browsing in Borders in the self-help section, just to see if something called to me. I found Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness by Jon Kabat-Zinn,
How Becoming a Poet Saved My Life Read More »
I ran across this question in my twitter feed today. Is it possible to mourn the living? The line came from a poem written by a medical student grieving the aging of her grandmother. As a previous Hospice Medical Director, my answer is Of course. As someone is aging and dying, family members begin grieving
Family Relationships Are Complicated Read More »
It helps me to understand what motivates me. Thirty-five years ago, when I decided to apply to medical school, I used Richard Bolles’ What Color Is Your Parachute? to help me move from the vague notion of wanting to help people to the specific way I wanted to do that. This week has been helpful
I’m Not Retiring from Being a Doctor (I’m Retiring to Being a Writer) Read More »
This past week I was at a large Continuing Medical Education (CME) conference held at a casino in Atlantic City. It’s been many years since I attended this conference, but the distance of time gave me a chance to appreciate how much I have evolved. Meals were served buffet style with seating at large
Art in Boxes: A Poem is a Container for Collisions Read More »
I wasn’t ready to write a poem about my breast cancer until I finished all my treatments. During chemo and radiation, my energy was going into survival. It wasn’t until I was in recovery from the toxic, life-saving therapy that my pen began writing. And even then, I had to trick it.
Healers Write/Writers Heal Read More »
Here’s where you can find my monthly updates on what’s going on at the intersection of poetry, infectious disease specialty practice, and palliative medicine, with a little bit of mindfulness practice thrown in. My target audience includes both lay community members and other physicians who are interested in honest end-of-life communication narrative medicine and reflective
Welcome to My WordPress Blog! Read More »
