August 21, 2014 Thursday "Destiny Rain"

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

August 21, 2014  Thursday

Three of four pictures I created from Molly's gift of a blank, hand-made
book of colored corrugated paper to inspire my art.
Florida, Gulf No. 11

Chief Complaint: (written on the chart before I go in the room)

     “albuterol 2 poofs as needed”

Interesting Name:

   Destiny Rain

Anecdote:

     The young girl asked me, with a pleading quality to her voice, if she could be allergic to sugar.  

I turned to the Mother and explained that only proteins induce allergic reactions.  She really couldn't be "allergic" to sugar per se.  However, she did have some allergic symptoms every Fall.  

    The Mother laughed after this long, scientific explanation and said, "I understand what you're saying, Dr. Feole, but Sugar is the name of her dog."

          Westport, Connecticut 1990's

Poetry:

Keb Mo, "A Better Man" (lyrics)

Sittin' here in my problem
What am I gonna do now
Am I gonna make it
Someway, somehow

Maybe I'm not supposed to know
Maybe I'm supposed to cry
And if nobody ever knows
The way I feel, that's all right
That's okay

I'm gonna make my world a better place
I'm gonna keep that smile on my face
I'm gonna teach myself how to understand
I'm gonna make myself a better man, yeah

Climbin' out the window
Climbin' up the wall
Is anybody gonna save me
Or are they gonna let me fall

Well, I don't really wanna know
I'll just hold on the best I can
And if I fall down, I'm gonna get back up
It'll be alright, it'll be okay, God

I'm gonna make my world a better place
I'm gonna keep that smile on my face
I'm gonna teach myself how to understand
I'm gonna make myself a better man, oh

Maybe I'm not supposed to know
Maybe I'm supposed to cry
And if nobody ever knows the way I feel
That's all right, that's okay

Yeah, I'm gonna make my world a better place
I'm gonna keep that smile on my face
I'm gonna teach myself how to understand
I'm gonna make myself a better man

Well, I'm gonna make my world a better place
I'm gonna keep that smile on my face, yeah
I'm gonna teach myself how to understand
I'm gonna make myself a better man

Are they gonna let me fall
No, no, no, no, no, no, yeah
Yeah, be a better man, be a better man
I'm doing the best I can

Yes, I'm gonna make my world, yeah
You know what, I'm gonna make my world
I'm gonna step right up and get myself together
I'm gonna make my world, you know I'm gonna do the best I can, yeah

He will make my world, yeah tonight's gonna...
He will make my world, oh yeah, yeah

I'm gonna make my world, are they gonna let me fall?
No, make my world, yeah
I'm gonna make my world, my world, your world
Make my world

You know, I'm gonna make my world
Teach myself how to understand, yeah

   When I first heard this song on the radio while driving,  I pulled over and stopped the car.  Not only the rawness of the drums, bass and guitar, but the beauty of the words.  It was the best 12 Step song I have ever heard.  Amen.

Coup d'essai:

    "…keeping my thoughts on high things," Thoreau, Walden.
He went on to say, "Sometimes I bolted suddenly, and nobody could tell my whereabouts, for I did not stand much about gracefulness, and never hesitated at a gap in a fence," Chapter 8, Walden, page 117.

Favorite Musician/song:

"Days Like This" Van Morrison

      I was visiting my parents, both in their 'high eighties' and was having a great conversation with one of their 'older' friends, Peggy.  She is classy, well-read and compassionate.  She drives herself to a Latino Catholic Church every Sunday.   
     I was telling her about a recent film and recommended it to her.  I said, "Even if you don't like the film, it has Robert DeNiro in it and you can enjoy watching him."
      She smiled and said, "Oh, he doesn't send me."
      At 89, she was still being sent.

    The rawness of Van Morrison's aged voice, the simplicity of the background instruments (bass of course), the haunting harmonica, the lyrical themes of loneliness, love, melancholy…they musically send me. 

Favorite Book/author:

Block, Lawrence

    "Hilliard's Ceremony" a short story from the book Sometimes You Get the Bear

I actually wrote and self-published a Compendium on Lawrence Block called "The Burglar Who Went to Princeton."  I gave copies to friends and family and, as Thoreau once said when the publisher returned over 700 unsold books to him (poor sales), "I now have a library of 800 books, 700 hundred of which I have written myself."  (This is a paraphrase.)  Block had referred me to his agent, Marty Greenberg, and we had a contract for publication with Cumberland House but it was cancelled at the last moment due to the poor financial condition of the market at the time…  In any case, this is to say that I read all 56 books by Block at that time and this story is my favorite.  I recommend it to medical students as well.  As usual, you aren't even aware that you are reading due to Block's voice…great humor, detail, human insight and… you just have to read it.  Let me know.

Favorite Movie/DVD:

The Bishop's Wife (Cary Grant)

     One of my favorite Christmas movies of all time…a redemptive movie as Cary Grant, an angel from Heaven, is sent down to Earth to help the Bishop (David Niven) reset his "spiritual" priorities as he is obsessed with the financial success of his Church, to the detriment of his family, wife and spirit.  Sound familiar?  It sure does to me…I have some experience here.  Gratitude is the key, as they say.