August 24, 2014 Sunday "O'Nyong O'Nyong"

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 24, 2014 Sunday

Pencil on Paper No. 2

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

  O’Nyong Nyong Fever  (found while searching under "malaise")

Interesting Name:

    Chance

Anecdote:

    Teddy, age four, was happy that his Dad had him under his protective wing as I examined him.  After the exam, I asked him which stamp he'd like on his hand.  No matter which one I suggested, he would turn to his Dad and ask "Which one should I get, Daddy?"  The Father was admirably trying to let him make up his own mind and would not suggest one.  Rather, he kept repeating like a mantra, "Anyone you want is fine."  

     This went back and forth seven or eight times after much deliberation and meticulous examinations of all the stamps.  I could see the orange sun setting on the horizon.   Finally the Father said, 

     "O.K.  Why don't you take the Arthur stamp?"  

     Teddy quickly looked back at me with relief.  He then looked at the stamps again and said, "Dr. Feole, I'll have the heart stamp." 

          Westport, Connecticut 1990's

Poetry:

...

Coup d'essai:

"Nel mezzo del cammin di notra vita     ((Midway on our life's journey))

mi ritrovai per una selva oscura"            ((I found myself  in a dark woods))

Opening lines of Dante's Inferno

      I am trying to read Dante in the original Italian…no mean feat for someone who knows no Italian.  But the beauty of the rhymes (abab)  can only be appreciated in the original Italian I think.  I found a word-for-word translation by Mendelbaum.  I do love words and the etymologies and roots are similar to French and Latin or course.    

     
"selva:  we used to live on "Sylvan" road in Westport ("woods")  
"our" is nostrum or nostros in Latin and Spanish.  Pater Nostra = The Our Father
"Vita" as in vital is "life."
"oscura"  - ?obscure, dark
"una"  - a, an

Favorite Musician/song:

Bruce Hornsby, "Fields of Gray"

     Magic.

Favorite Book/author:

Brown, John

    "Rab's Bone"  from Source Book of Medical History by Logan Clendening

    I used to give this short essay to medical students I was teaching.  An instant lesson in empathy as we attempt to become the caring doctors that we should be. 

Favorite Movie/DVD:

Whale Rider

    The rustic way of life of this indigenous tribe in New Zealand is beautiful to see…plus the love and struggle between Father:son, Grandfather: Granddaughter, and the empowerment of the granddaughter.  A very moving film.