Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: dementia

  • Hölderlin’s madness

    Nicolas RoblesBadajoz, Spain German poet and philosopher Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was born in Lauffen-am-Neckar (Würtemberg) in the year 1770. His father, a pastor and a schoolmaster, died two years later. When he was four years old, his mother moved to Nürtingen and remarried, but his stepfather also died soon after the marriage. In addition…

  • Up north

    Richard BentleyAmherst, Massachusetts, United States He had come to Northern Michigan, and the lake gulls were shrieking at him. He had been on vacation only two days, but he sat around the cabin, springing up now and then to go to the window and back. It was too chilly to go out to the beach.…

  • Me, my father, and the angels

    Hope AtlasLivingston, New Jersey, United States The handle of the dresser drawer talks to my father while he sits in bedWhenever he likes he can conjure up the face of the dresser drawerwith its pointy ears, droopy mouth and metal earringsThe angels are comingHe laughs, pointing at the dresser drawerThey are singing, “It’s time to…

  • In full retreat

    Cyndy MuscatelLake Sherwood, California, United States I did not realize how far down the rabbit hole I had gone until I regained what I had lost. I thought it was only my hearing, but it was much more. When I become overwhelmed, I start losing things. Last winter my plate was so full, I needed…

  • What could have been

    Gordon SunDowney, California, United States Every year, there are 400 stories like these. The second-year medical student. The social butterfly of her 106 classmates, yet her bubbly personality masks the loneliness of living on one coast after spending the first twenty-five years of her life on the other coast. The isolation is amplified by the…

  • I tried to write a dementia poem

    Mac GreeneIndianapolis, Indiana, United States I tried to write…Did I tell you already?About the softball teamon my first job,and I left my mitton the front seatof my 1965 Chevy pickupthat I sold for a hundred fifty dollarsin Rappahannock County,with the ball in the pocketjust like you’re supposed to. Where was I?I tried to write about…

  • The treasure trove of memory

    Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece Memory, the ability to recall at will previous events and various facts, is a precious mental faculty, an asset that underpins learning, knowledge, and experience in any field of human endeavor. In medicine its value is undeniable, though for legal as well as practical purposes, it must be supplemented with written records:…

  • The philosopher’s dementia: Immanuel Kant

    To be the world’s greatest philosopher in the prime of life is no guarantee against developing the ravages of dementia in old age. This is what happened to Immanuel Kant, a little man scarcely five feet tall followed by a devoted servant with an umbrella, who would take his daily walk at so regular an…

  • Snakes and ladders

    Shampa SinhaSydney, Australia “Can you tell me where you are, Mr. Pemberton?” I would ask the middle-aged man every morning as he was recovering from abdominal surgery. “Oh, I’m in New York,” he would answer with unwavering conviction from within the depths of his crumpled bed sheets. “Just sitting here drinking my coffee, until my…

  • Mrs. Collins and the Body Snatchers

    Michael EllmanChicago, Illinois, United States In the morning the Medicine Consultation Service clears patients so they can undergo surgery. Fees from the operating rooms are the cash cow that drives the hospital. We read the electrocardiograms and declare no ischemia, lower the blood sugar with quick acting insulin, treat the hypokalemia with 20 milli-equivalents of…