mementomori
Posts by this author
July 31, 2006
[Editor's Note: How much vacation does this guy have, anyway? He's been lollygagging around the sandy beaches of the lake for a week now and shows no remorse about abandoning his patients to the care of his partners. Since it looks like this week is just a repeat of last week's exercise in…
July 29, 2006
Treating cancer sometimes involves walking a fine line between helping and hurting patients. We oncologists find ourselves moderating internal debates between the little angel on our right shoulder and the little devil on our left as whether to expose someone to the toxicity of chemotherapy in an…
July 26, 2006
[Editor's Note: Our narrator is currently relaxing by the lake Up North. Those of you who know what the term "Up North" means do not require any further explanation. Those who don't know can find out more by visiting the fair state of Minnesota. Below is a reprint of a post first written last…
July 23, 2006
In the previous episode of "My Peculiar Summer" I might have mentioned that the fair city where your narrator resides was recently battered by a couple of storms. As I write this thousands of citizens still wail in the dark wilderness for the gift of electricity, like Frankenstein's monster on…
July 21, 2006
"Having a high sugar drink to boost energy can actually make people more sleepy, a study suggests."
This is a big surprise? I suppose there are some situations where ingesting a half-cup of sugar might give one a boost, such as before starting off on a leisurely jog down the streets of Pamplona…
July 20, 2006
The fair city of St. Louis was hit by a brutal thunderstorm last night, knocking out the power to at least half of the metro area. Trees are down everywhere and it takes 15 minutes to go through a major intersection, using the esoteric You-Stop-I-Go-Repeat-Ad-Absurdum technique seen only when the…
July 19, 2006
If you could have practiced science in any time and any place throughout history, which would it be, and why?
Without hesitation I would choose to be sitting on the front steps of a certain hospital in Baltimore that had just opened for business in 1889, waiting for a certain transplanted Canadian…
July 18, 2006
For health reasons I have given up eating beef in any and all disguises, at least to the best of my ability. My family thinks I'm somewhat of an oddball for this, and of course they're no help, passing around plates heaving with juicy steaks or ribs slathered in barbecue sauce while the dog and I…
July 16, 2006
While visiting one of my patients in the hospital we reflected together on how he has been able to fight off his metastatic cancer for over two years, much longer than anyone would have ever predicted given how sick he was at the time of relapse.
I told him how tough he was to put up with both…
July 15, 2006
[Editor's note: this essay is adapted from a post first written on December 16, 2004)
The most influential mentor I ever had, who taught me how to chase and capture excellence in all aspects of patient care, and why giving one's best is the only goal worth pursuing in medicine, once told me that…
July 12, 2006
Is every species of living thing on the planet equally deserving of protection?
By protection dost thou mean protection from the human species, or from other species, or from certain other somewhat psychologically unstable members of the same species?
Whosoever asketh this question must be hinting…
July 12, 2006
"Housework Activity Helps Elderly Live Longer"
Doing household chores such as washing dishes and climbing stairs can help older adults to live longer, a new study shows.
Every now and then a study is released that just makes so much sense one feels incredibly guilty in ignoring the life-saving…
July 11, 2006
Did you ever have one of those months where it seems that every time you finish up for the day another pile of work suddenly appears before you? That's what my July has been like. I can't seem to get my patients taken care of before another voice in the wilderness cries out for help. It reminds…
July 7, 2006
Here are some of the latest headlines from the blue and white orb majestically do-si-doing in some obscure galaxy so remote not even a Klingon war fleet could find it if they flew right under its nose. Your attention please:
Hunting Norwegian whalers shock tourists
I'd be shocked too if, while…
July 6, 2006
On July 5, 1996, Dolly the sheep became the first successfully cloned mammal. Ten years on, has cloning developed the way you expected it to?
For what it's worth, my answer is yes; cloning has progressed exactly the way I expected it to - agonizingly slow, marred with controversy and eliciting knee…
July 5, 2006
"Enron Founder Kenneth Lay Dies at 64"
Upon reading this headline one cannot help but wildly speculate as to the cause of Lay's surprising death. Did he commit suicide? Was his body found in a Washington D.C. park? What on earth happened?
Pastor Steve Wende of First United Methodist Church of…
July 2, 2006
For some people Fourth of July weekend in the country is a respite from cancer, a chance to stroll around the hot fields and lean over the green swirl of the river as it pushes itself downstream like Sisyphus straining against his rock, never stopping to rest against the shore.
What is it about…
June 28, 2006
What are some unsung successes that have occurred as a result of using science to guide policy?
Are you kidding me? Can you imagine what life would be like in America if our government had ignored the cries of scientists begging us to use new discoveries to "guide policy"? How about this for an…
June 28, 2006
Secondhand smoke dramatically increases the risk of heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmokers and can only be controlled by making indoor spaces smoke-free, according to a comprehensive report issued yesterday by US Surgeon General Richard Carmona.
Uh oh...Humphrey Bogart call your office. It…
June 27, 2006
Last week my partners and I met with a health care system executive charged with designing a brand new hospital to be built over the next two years, right here in suburban St. Louis. Mirabile dictu, the new place will include a new cancer center. For those not familiar with the art and science of…
June 26, 2006
"Jason's heart was strong within him, and he thought that with the help of the bright-eyed youths around and with the help of those who would come to him at the word of the voyage, he would bring the Golden Fleece to Iolcus and make famous for all time his own name."
All across the world…
June 21, 2006
What makes a good science teacher?...
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school." -Albert Einstein
This is a fascinating and germane question for physicians, who must suffer through the following courses (all taught by science teachers, of course) in order…
June 21, 2006
Gee, it seems that the gurus in charge of writing wire service headlines seem to have fallen under the spell of Banality, The Fairie Queen of Cliches. Here are some recent examples culled from the "Health" section, which your narrator enjoys browsing, if only to come up with new ideas on how to…
June 20, 2006
"Science is all metaphor." -Timothy Leary
I like to use analogies when counseling my patients. By phrasing medical situations or goals in language that creates a vivid picture I believe it helps patients to understand what exactly is happening to them, or what is the goal of treatment.…
June 18, 2006
"Fentanyl-laced Heroin Kills Hundreds Of Addicts In USA"
"Amid Fentanyl Deaths, Investigation, Addicts Keep Using"
"Police Hope Heroin Bust Stops Tainted Drugs"
These disturbing headlines have been making the news lately as illicit laboratories improve their ability to produce and ship the narcotic…
June 16, 2006
Flash! What new ScienceBlogs blogger just might have figured out how to show comments from his gentle readers?
I do apologize for the delay in figuring this incredibly complex aspect of the enigmatic Movable Type program.
Please feel free to bombs away in the Comments section, and I'll try to…
June 15, 2006
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?...
In my case I have learned the art of working at twice the speed of the average doctor, not unlike The Flash, who upon…
June 14, 2006
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive…
June 13, 2006
In 1994 researchers from Denmark studied the faces of 13,186 men and women between the ages of 30 and 80 and recorded the severity of wrinkling in the right lateral part of the orbit where "crow's feet" appear. They then checked their lung capacity using a standard measurement found in pulmonary…
June 12, 2006
"Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why?"
I don't have to even think twice about this one - if I wasn't spending my time stalking the beast Cancer I would have my head in the stars,…