10/24/2021 The familiar ring tone of my cellphone interrupted a visit with friends on our cottage deck on a sun-drenched mid-September afternoon.
10/12/2021 There is an eerie feeling of helplessness that overcomes you when faced with the realization that your personal space, property and security have been violated.
9/30/2021 September 2020 was a month of long goodbyes. It was the consolidation of five decades working as a GP and a lifetime of caring. The final months, although anything but routine, brought a sense of cohesiveness to all those years.
9/14/2021 Closing in on one year retired, I wonder about other retired docs: How do you spend your retirement time? Have you taught the old doc new tricks? Regrets, have you had at least a few?
8/30/2021 Of all the letters written in all my years of practice, there is one that I struggled with the most—the one telling patients of my impending retirement.
8/12/2021 I recently celebrated another pandemic birthday! Sixty-five was a jolt, 70 a thunderbolt and 75, a time for reflection, more realistic aspirations and Advil prn. Now, 76.
7/29/2021 I have never forgotten the cold and insensitive words of my father’s surgeon. I have never forgiven his failure to comfort and counsel when it was most needed.
7/12/2021 In childhood, we are told to walk before we run. I started running at age 36. There was no apparent reason to start running aside from the fact that in the early 80s, it was what people were doing for health and fitness
6/28/2021 It is 6:15 and the morning calm of the lake mirrors the distant pines. The stove-top percolator diffuses the essence of espresso, an early morning jolt necessary for the long drive back to the sweltering city. Vaccination Day: The Sequel, has finally arrived.
6/10/2021 The request came via email from Editor-in-Chief of the Medical Post, Colin Leslie. At first glance, it was a curious ask, “a new headshot,” a term unfamiliar to me until recently. My initial exposure to “headshots” was at a medical cannabis conference a few years earlier. . . and that reminded me of another story. . . .
5/28/2021 Retirement began on Saturday morning in a 16-foot aluminum boat. Coinciding with the Victoria Day long weekend, a traditional harbinger of summer, it also marked opening day for trout fishing on Dickey Lake. It’s been years since I last observed this traditional rite of passage, reserved for those who appreciate the serenity of the lake and the fumes of gasoline.
