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 5, 2014 Tuesday
 |
| Florida, The Gulf: No. 6 |
Chief Complaint: (written on the chart before I go in the room)
“my heart isn’t working that well” (a 4 year old boy told me this during his check-up)
Interesting Name:
Jo'Elvis
Anecdote:
"Gentle Luke" Anecdote #4
Luke, age 17, has been my patient for 6 years now and I have written about him before here. He is a huge farm boy – all 280 pounds of him. What I initially though was obesity was just muscle mass from digging fence posts all day and caring for their hundreds of livestock, from cattle to chickens to quail. His heart and gentleness are directly correlated with his size.
When I entered the room, he was lying on the stretcher…sort of. His head was wedged against the wall and his legs yawned out and dangled more than a foot over the edge, his thick, worn farm boots just hovering.
He turned his head towards me as he lay there and said softly in a concerned voice, “I’m sick doc.”
His Mother, as usual, was sitting by his side with a pleasant smile. She seemed to be cherishing these fleeting moments of her son’s young life as much as I was. He had a bad cough and, as it turns out, bronchitis. My nurse had been in the room chatting with them about life in general before I had gone in and I heard her ask him what he was going to do after he finished high school this year.
He said in a soft voice, “I don’t think I am going to go to college.” Beth commented that not everyone was meant for school work and he agreed. He was on massive doses of ADHD medicine and studying just wasn’t his thing. He said, “I just love being home on the farm. That’s what I want to do.” Beth said that was wonderful.
Luke glanced over at his Mother as he lay there on the stretcher, reached his hand out to her, grabbed it and said, “She’s the world to me.”
South Carolina, October, 2013
He turned his head towards me as he lay there and said softly in a concerned voice, “I’m sick doc.”
His Mother, as usual, was sitting by his side with a pleasant smile. She seemed to be cherishing these fleeting moments of her son’s young life as much as I was. He had a bad cough and, as it turns out, bronchitis. My nurse had been in the room chatting with them about life in general before I had gone in and I heard her ask him what he was going to do after he finished high school this year.
He said in a soft voice, “I don’t think I am going to go to college.” Beth commented that not everyone was meant for school work and he agreed. He was on massive doses of ADHD medicine and studying just wasn’t his thing. He said, “I just love being home on the farm. That’s what I want to do.” Beth said that was wonderful.
Luke glanced over at his Mother as he lay there on the stretcher, reached his hand out to her, grabbed it and said, “She’s the world to me.”
South Carolina, October, 2013
Poetry:
Coup d'essai:
Favorite Musician/song:
Kaada, "Hardangervidda" (Sound track to "O'Horten")
The opening music to my favorite movie, "O'Horten," simple and lyrical, creative and intriguing. It is gentle and child-like and beautiful. The Norwegian snow, crystalline and pure, as the train passes through the country side, bring back reminiscences of all the characters I love. Heaven for me.
The opening music to my favorite movie, "O'Horten," simple and lyrical, creative and intriguing. It is gentle and child-like and beautiful. The Norwegian snow, crystalline and pure, as the train passes through the country side, bring back reminiscences of all the characters I love. Heaven for me.
Favorite Book/author:
George Sheehan, M.D. Running and Being
I remember the chapter where he said that, as a shy, introverted intellectual he had a hint of what the joy of life could be through alcohol. Of course, the side effects have a tendency to nullify that particular ecstasy, so he turned to running and found a greater joy. Amen. I have also found a hint of this through yoga and other sports.
Favorite Movie/DVD:
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