Month: December 2017
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Pink Skies
Gurbaksh Shergill Flint, Michigan, United States I stared silently out the window and took in my surroundings. The sun was slowly making its way into the sky, stretching as if waking up from a long slumber. The gold and pink tones of the sky were still hiding behind clouds, not quite ready to come…
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Religio Medici
Stefan K. G. Grebe Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mama, take this badge off of me / I can’t use it anymore. / It’s gettin’ dark, too dark to see / I feel I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” Bob Dylan The main foyer of the Gonda building, Mayo Clinic by Stefan Grebe…
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The Changi diary and paintings: the partnership of a doctor and an artist
Robert Craig Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Malnutrition, Pellagra (left), Tropical Ulcersa, Avitaminosis (middle), Glossitis, and Solar Dermatosis (right) in Australian prisoners of war. Three paintings and a diary in a handwritten exercise book are in the collection of the Marks Hirschfeld Medical Museum in Brisbane, Australia. They represent an episode of extraordinary courage, survival, cooperation, and…
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Body matters
Grace Lucas Cambridge, UK Thinking from the ground up I had this friend once. She was around for a long time – years. I do not remember the first time I met her, but suddenly she was there, omnipresent. She was thrilling and intoxicating to be with, and made me feel high, light, and…
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Fifty years on an Englishman recalls Cook County Hospital
Simon CohenLondon In 1968 I was a senior registrar at a London teaching hospital. My ambition was to become a staff member at a major London institution and at that time one of the requirements was a qualification known as the BTA (Been to America). My chief, probably correctly, recognized that I was not much…
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Anosognosia
Michael Ellman Chicago, IL, United States South Pacific, 1950. Joseph Cable (William Tabbert) watches as Bloody Mary (Juanita Hall, top) and Liat (Betta St. John) perform the song “Happy Talk” “Joseph Cable, at your service! U.S. Marines, World War Two, retired—at ease, Doctor. Let’s be casual, shall we?” My patient is tall and ramrod…