Tag Archives: Larry Zaroff

Emily Dickinson’s mystifying in-sight

March 4, 2017

Larry Zaroff Tony Chan Palo Alto, California, United States   In “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—,” Emily Dickinson manifests her mystifying insight into the physiology of the death of vision, going beyond death and living to talk about it (465).1 Remarkably, her poetic vision provides insights into the function of eyesight that parallels […]

Gregor goes to the doctor

March 4, 2017

Larry Zaroff Palo Alto, California, United States   Photo by Anthony Kei C on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. My clinic is far North in Acres, Montana, perversely, a small town near the Canadian border, where, in October, without permission the dark sneaks in early. My work here, after twenty-six years as a cardiac surgeon in […]

To mount a camel

January 27, 2017

Larry Zaroff Stanford University, California   For the West, Afghanistan is a country difficult to understand. Though largely Muslim, it is a society made up of multiple ethnic groups and classes, beset by ideological disagreements, with disconnected provinces that are unstable, unconquerable, and often anarchic. All Afghans are culturally mixed, yet are highly independent, believe […]

Leonardo’s heart

January 22, 2017

Larry Zaroff Palo Alto, California, United States   Drawing of the heart and its blood vessels Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519) The surgeon comes to the operating room at seven a.m. for her eight o’clock mitral valve repair. A warm-up. Before any heart operation she always checks the elephants in the room. At that […]