1. Cats, in chronological order:  1) Ducky, 2) Crystal (the sweetest girl ever), 3) Tillamook, a.k.a. Mookie, a.k.a. Mr. Mook, a.k.a. Mooker, a.k.a. The Mookster, 4) Elmo a.k.a. Elmer, a.k.a. Mr. Elmer, a.k.a. El-Amir, and 5) Ormont Boy a.k.a. Monte, a.k.a Del Monte., a.k.a Montego, a.k.a. Tego.… Read full post »

I mourn for the demise of nursing care. I really miss giving back massages, changing linens merely for comfort, and sitting down to talk with people. I especially miss the value placed on caring as critical to quality health care.

Since my career began, gradually, it seems quality has been… Read full post »

A friend of mine had a baby in August. She credits me as her inspiration for studying nursing; now she's working on her PhD, studying hormonal aberrations in elite female athletes. So my baby gift had to be good. To purchase it, instead of patronizing Babies R Us or Target, I… Read full post »

In the Trauma intensive care unit, tragedy abounds. People wind up here after shooting each other in trivial disputes; they get drunk and smash  their cars and bodies; heart attacks make old men plow Cadillacs into trees; feckless pedestrians get broken by careless cell phone talkers.  We s… Read full post »

Teresa and Dave's modest suburban home was reaching the age where it might be considered retro-funky instead of merely outdated, as it was when purchased 15 years ago.  The silver foil striped wallpaper,  looming oak-and-glass chandelier and burnt-orange tiles were long gone - even our long… Read full post »

Monday morning

My two assigned patients for the day were a developmentally disabled Latina whose lungs had failed (we thought because her brain had failed, but no one really knew) and a very lovely older woman who was too well for the ICU. I had the pleasure of saying good-bye to… Read full post »

Proctor  and Gamble has funded a study, just published in the esteemed New England Journal of Medicine, on the benefits of testosterone patches for women suffering from lack of sexual desire.  They had to search intensely for study participants, I am guessing, because although about 40% of… Read full post »

You've no doubt heard the statement before: U.S. health care is  broken. We spend more of our GDP on health care than any other country in the world, but our outcomes are inferior.  Much widely- cited top-tier medical research takes place on American soil, with American minds and American m… Read full post »

Part I

It was June 3, 1976, when my sister Joan and her husband Ted went on their very first outing as a couple after the birth of their son. Aaron had been born nine months earlier, to the great joy of all of his family. He was the first local… Read full post »

 I.  The blue dress

Because of her untimely death, Ada never met Stella.  Eventually their lives  would entwine in stories retold between daughters and mothers clearing  tables after guests had gone.  In truth, Stella and Ada had little in common.  Ada was feminine… Read full post »