Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Spring 2017

  • Letter to Pa

    Charles HalstedDavis, California, USA I heard our tire chains clacking on slushystreets, then waited freezing, short legs dangling, watching you—warm coat against the cold, your bag in hand—walk  through the opened door, return after half an hour with a fresh loaf of bread, the way you were paid in those late depression years.  A few years later, world war raging, a…

  • The Craft of Medical Reflection

    JTH ConnorSt. John’s, Newfoundland Allan Peterkin is a professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada. As a teacher and author he is probably best known for his survival guide to post graduate medical studies, Staying Human During Residency Training: How to Survive and Thrive after Medical School, which is now…

  • Reluctance

    Ken WilliamsCambria, CA, USA Reluctanceweighing his heelsslowing his pacedoctor entersFace gray with worrybody tight with knowledgemy wife’s grip tightens Blood count wrongresponding notthey’ve done allsays he,also, “You must let goof the guilt” He exitsmy wifeIhugcry“You must let goof the guilt,”says she I must let go of the guiltI admonish myselfafter allI was merely a gruntA…

  • Poetry Series

    Simon PerchikEast Hampton, NY, USA Without an address your handslean across –another creasemaking the final correction though this note still opens outwindblown, fingerprintseverywhere on her lips on her breasts, on the bed sheetfolded and over, warmedfor its nakedness and side by side –every word is already lostand there at the bottomwhere little blossoms should grow…

  • Strokes

    Stephen MeadAlbany, New York, USA Who am I?  Nobodybut myself. Here I lie, quite anchored,a hesitant child led by questionswhich assure proper response.I grant them whatever they want,a nod or a name.From them I expect nothing lessand get plenty of, what is calledhere, therapeutic stimulation. The pleasure of such handsI readily accept, for to themI…

  • Joseph Babinski of the Babinski Sign

    In 1848 populist revolutions swept across Europe, in Germany, France, and Italy—and also in Poland, where an uprising to gain independence from Russia was ruthlessly suppressed. To escape the repression that followed, Aleksander and Henryieta Babinski fled to France. Their son Joseph was born there in 1857, in Paris—not in Poland or even in Chile…

  • The blue pain

    Shirali RainaNoida, India His black smudged,The white blurred,Grey and only greyHis shadowed world.Breathing in doubt,Breathing out dread.Angels in his heart,And demons in the head. His mind in tatters,Blue, blue the pain.Shunned and ragged,The world of insane.Mutes of the dusk,Dawns of half dead.Angels in his heart.And demons in the head. Oh ! The temptationOf the fatal…

  • Aequanimitas and apathy

    Lee W. EschenroederCharlottesville, Virginia On May 1, 1889, Sir William Osler, one of the greatest clinicians and educators of all time, stood before students at the University of Pennsylvania and delivered the valedictory address “Aequanimitas.” Since that day equanimity, or “imperturbability” as Osler also named it, has become one of the most prized qualities of…

  • Portraiture in the head and neck cancer clinic: A patient’s perspective

    Mark GilbertHalifax, Nova Scotia, Canada James E. Van ArsdallOmaha, Nebraska, United States I first met Scottish artist Mark Gilbert in 2013 as a participant in his Ph.D. dissertation study, “The Experience of Portraiture in Clinical Settings” [EPICS]. I was introduced to the study during a follow-up appointment with my head and neck cancer surgeon. Twelve…

  • New York Lungs

    Slavena Salve NissanNew York City, NY, USA do i have new york lungs like you?the same bits of black in my upper lobes?i sure hope i doi want my beloved cityto leave its mark in methe way it did in youafter that first time that we cut into you(how strange it is to say that)i…