First Words
…thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician
by Glenn Feole, M.D.
"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy
laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote
Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com
Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com
July 11, 2014 Friday
Chief Complaint: (written on the chart before I go in the room)
“her soft spot is not too soft”
Interesting Name:
Ruby Vermillion
Anecdote:
My nurse, Beth, saw a six year old boy who was excited about Christmas. Beth asked if he was going to get a lot of presents…had he been good this year?
He said, “I’ve been good two days out of the week.”
December 20, 2010 South Carolina
Poetry:
Evasive Maneuvers
I grew up hiding from the other children.
I would break off from the pack
on its patrol of the streets every Saturday
and end up alone behind a hedge
or down a dim hallway in a strange basement.
No one ever came looking for me,
which only added to the excitement.
I used to hide from adults, too,
mostly behind my mother's long coat
or her floral dress depending on the seasons.
I tried to learn how to walk
between my father's steps while he walked
like the trick poodle I had seen on television.
And I hid behind books,
usually one of the volumes of the encyclopedia
that was kept behind glass in a bookcase,
the letters of the alphabet in gold.
Before I knew how to read,
I sat in an armchair in the living room
and turned the pages, without a clue
about the words that were pressed
between D and F, M and O, W and Z.
Maybe this explains why
I looked out the bedroom window
first thing this morning
at the heavy trees, low gray clouds,
and having no idea what it meant
went downstair and looked it up
then hid in the woods from my wife and our dog.
by Billy Collins, from Ballistics
Coup d'essai:
PART XIII of XX: Migrant Health Clinic Journal
I stopped in at the tiny Roseboro library and introduced myself to the librarian. She was proud of the library. They had four computers…and, lo and behold, The New York Times. A shocker.
In the clinic today, I saw a young black girl, ten years old, whose Mother was very sketchy about her medical history. She had a large cavity and was referred by the dentists to me when she mentioned that she had a heart murmur.
"What kind of murmur?"
The mother didn’t know. Maybe it was some kind of ‘fluid around her heart.”
"Any medication in the past for seeing the dentist?"
“No. She hasn’t been to the dentist for two years. But she takes medicine when she gets fevers.”
"What cardiologist has she seen?"
"Not sure. Maybe it was five or eight years ago."
"Was there any need for follow-up?"
“I don’t think so.”
I squeezed out several names of clinics she’d been to and finally called the UNC Chapel Hill cardiology department while they waited. They finally found her record: inactive since seeing their branch doctor in Fayetteville. So I sent her off with a referral to go back to the cardiologist. It would be nice to have a diagnosis, I languidly thought with resignation. Her murmur was a soft, ominous rumble, perhaps the cause of her mysterious recurring fevers that she’s had for years. She was a thin, very sweet girl who eagerly showed me her large cavity. No dental work for awhile, I told her. Just go see that cardiologist.
Favorite Musician/song:
The Byrds (and Pete Seeger), "Turn Turn Turn"
I really surprised myself with this choice but I remember listening to this in grade school and being enamored with the biblical reference…the spirituality of the song.
I think why I choose it today is that I am watching a beautiful documentary on the life of Pete Seeger called The Power of Song, and felt moved to tears because of his life of sincerity, simplicity, community, searching for peace…and seeing him sing "Turn Turn Turn" as well as "Where Have all the Flowers Gone" at a concert shortly before he died.
Here is an index, so far, of the songs and musicians I have mentioned in this blog:
Allman Brothers
"In Memory of Elizabeth Reed"
Bad Company
"Can't Get Enough of Your Love"
The Byrds (and Pete Seeger)
"Turn Turn Turn"
Cat Stevens
"Oh Very Young"
"Peace Train"
"Moon Shadow"
Chopin
Prelude #14
Doobie Brothers
"South City Midnight Lady"
Dylan, Bob.
"Girl from the North Country" 6/26/14
England Dan and John Ford Coley
"Love is the Answer"
Eno, Brian
Music for Airports
Evans, Bill
"You Must Believe in Spring"
Flim and the BB's
New Pants (CD)
Fleet Foxes
"Sun Giant" (CD)
"Blue Ridge Mountains"
Hornesby, Bruce
"Mandonlin Rain"
Isley Brothers
"Groove with You"
King, Carole
"Home Again"
McCartney
"Junk"
Merchant, Natalie
"Wonder"
Monk
"Crepescule with Nellie"
Mozart
Symphonies
Seals and Crofts
"Hummingbird"
Seeger, Pete
"Turn Turn Turn"
Sting
Mercury Falling
Van Morrison
In the Afternoon
Favorite Book/author:
V. S. Pritchett, Blind Love (short story)
As insightful a story as any of Chekhov's.
Favorite Movie/DVD:
Life as a House, Kevin Kline
Ahh…another redemptive movie filled with such beauty and healing…Father/son, husband/wife. A beautiful, moving, at times heart breaking movie. One of my favorites.
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