UNCERTAINTY IS THE REFUGE OF HOPE
October 24, 2018 by celiaUNCERTAINTY IS THE REFUGE OF HOPE
The Journal Intime
Henri Frederic Amiel
Recently, I was reminded of a patient from time passed who had asked me, “How does one live with uncertainty?”
In The Wounded Story Teller writer and patient Arthur Frank notes, “When a doctor tells us we are sick they are not just diagnosing us—they are initiating a new chapter in the story of our lives. What would it be like for patients to tell their stories and doctors to read them?” (more…)
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REVISITING “LEARNING HUMANITY”
August 13, 2018 by celiaI’d been thinking about the topic of my next blog when I found myself catapulted back in time to 2008 and an article written by Dr. John Launer in the Postgraduate Medical Journal, which referenced my work as a medical humanist. It was titled, Learning Humanity. (more…)
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Living With Uncertainty Punctuated
July 11, 2018 by celiaRecently I was asked if I had read “The Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager and Doomed” by Karen Elizabeth Gordon.
I confessed that I often ignore the rules of punctuation. (more…)
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Double Edged Sword
March 30, 2018 by celia
In a recent KevinMD blog the term “doctor’s emotional switch,” was used by Dr. Mark Abrams to describe the protective coping mechanism ingrained in medical training to objectify their patients and thereby maintain emotional distance. He notes that this approach can have both positive and negative effects. (more…)
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The Scent of Words
March 4, 2018 by celiaTHE SCENT OF WORDS
“In illness words give out their scent…
if at last we grasp the meaning, it is
all richer for having come to us…”
Virginia Woolf
On Being Ill (1930)
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The Way We Were
January 22, 2018 by celiaOne of the things I’ve heard many patients speak about is how their diagnosis resulted in what felt like an identity crisis—it seemed to change “who they were” nearly instantly, and in a very fundamental way. (more…)
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PRESCRIBING E-MAIL
December 18, 2017 by celiaAs the year 2017 is coming to a close and a new year is approaching I find myself thinking about what has passed and what’s to come. (more…)
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Dual Perspective
October 11, 2017 by celia
Each month I receive an online newsletter from “Cancer.Net”. The newsletter provides approved information to help patients and families make informed healthcare decisions. A recent issue titled “What is Tumor Board?” catapulted me back in time. (more…)
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RECORDING VISITS REVISITED
August 28, 2017 by celia
A colleague recently forwarded a New York Times article, “The Appointment Ends. Now The Patient is Listening.” The author Paula Span notes new efforts to help patients understand their health status by recording appointments. (more…)
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A ROLE REVERSAL: DOCTOR BECOMES A PATIENT
July 26, 2017 by celia
The title of one of my previous blogs in and of itself posed an important question: “What Is A Good Patient?” How one defines a “good patient” varies, as does their reason for wanting to be one. During my tenure as a Medical Humanist at Southwestern Vermont’s Regional Cancer Center I witnessed the difficult task doctors faced in reconciling those who became patients—to their illness. (more…)
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