Tag: Dean Gianakos
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Wandering lonely as a cloud
Dean Gianakos Lynchburg, Virginia, US Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash. I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the…
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Things to think
Dean Gianakos Lynchburg, Virginia, United States Detail of: A crossword fanatic ringing up a doctor in the middle of the night to find the answer to a clue. Line block after D.L. Ghilchilp, 1925. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Think in ways you’ve never thought before. If the phone rings,…
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When I heard the learn’d epidemiologist
Dean Gianakos Lynchburg, Virginia, United States Photo by prottoy hassan on Unsplash Sitting on the maroon recliner in my den, I am having trouble concentrating on the epidemiologist who is talking on the television. He points to a Covid hot zone on a color-coded map of the United States. The screen changes before I can locate Virginia.…
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My mother and Proust
Dean Gianakos Lynchburg, Virginia, United States “Mom, one day I’m going to write a story about you. I’ve already picked out a title: “My Mother and Proust,” I laugh. I look at her face, hoping for a smile. Before my eighty-six-year-old mother developed Parkinson’s dementia a few years ago, she would have laughed with…
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Reading poems, saving lives
Dean Gianakos Virginia, United States Men and women who tout the value of poetry like to refer to a stanza in William Carlos Williams’ famous love poem, “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower”, written in 1947: It is difficult To get the news from poems Yet men die miserably every day For lack Of what is…
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Last words
Dean Gianakos Virginia, United States It’s after midnight, and I’m on the phone with the family medicine resident. “Dr. Gianakos? Sorry to wake you. I’m here in the emergency room with Hattie T. I know you know her from previous admissions. Another COPD exacerbation, Dr.G. I’ve given her antibiotics, steroids, and three neb treatments.…
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Dr. Gianakos, I think he’s awake now
Dean Gianakos Virginia, USA It’s 2 am, and I’m on the phone with my first-year resident, Sherry. “Dr. Gianakos, I have one of your patients here in the emergency room, Jack Jones. As you know, Mr. Jones is a 72-year-old man with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He came in tonight complaining of increasing…
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Five minutes to midnight
Dean Gianakos Virginia, United States Photography by Stefania Slenzio Five minutes early for his appointment, I met Dr. Ivan Minski at the weigh station. He was dressed in a sharp, blue suit and narrow tie. White hair graced his head, eyebrows, and even his ears, though his stooped shoulders prevented me from getting a…