a story that needs to be written

This week I'm dog-sitting for these two gentle giants:



 

 

It's pouring outside, and it's chilly...a good day to curl up on the couch between two big dogs with my third mug of coffee while I share the wisdom of some brilliant writers and caring physicians. 

 

Sometimes we need to be reminded that medicine embraces both science and the humanities. It requires factual knowledge and technical expertise, but first and foremost, it depends on our relationship with the patient. A healthy doctor-patient relationship (no pun intended) is built upon mutual respect, trust, compassion, and intimacy...physical, emotional, and psychological. The healer must know the patient. The patient cannot be separated from his story.

 

There is a softer side to medicine than what can be delivered by a laser or through an endoscope. There is more to healing than what can be achieved by the latest innovation in drug therapy. There is more to the patient than what can be checked off on a bulleted EMR. The study of narrative medicine involves training in techniques that enable the provider to elicit, process, and respond to patients' concerns. It encourages healers to explore the patient's whole story. It requires patients to become storytellers, themselves.

 

In other words:

 

"It may take a doctor

to diagnose someone's disease,

but it takes a friend

to recognize someone's suffering."

~unknown~

 

"The good physician treats the disease;

the great physician treats

the patient who has the disease."

~Sir William Osler~

 

"Writing and humanities studies produce better physicians...

because doctors learn to coax hidden information

from patients' complaints."

~Rita Charon~

 

"Stories are not material to be analyzed;

they are relationships to be entered."

~A.W. Frank~

 

"Write hard and clear about what hurts."

~Ernest Hemingway~

 

"Every patient you see

is a lesson in much more

than the malady from which he suffers."

~Sir William Osler~

 

"Wherever the art of medicine is loved,

there is also a love of humanity."

~Hippocrates~

 

"It has become appallingly obvious

that our technology has exceeded our humanity."

~Albert Einstein~

 

"Dancing, singing, storytelling and silence

are the four universal healing salves."

~Gabrielle Roth~

 

"Writing is medicine.

It is an appropriate anecdote to injury.

It is an appropriate companion

for any difficult change."

~Julia Cameron~

 

 

My coffee mug is empty. The rain has stopped for now so it's time for us to stretch our legs. I plan to spend the rest of this week working on the opening pages of a memoir that needs to be written. Wish me luck.



"If a story is in you,

it has got to come out."

~William Faulkner~

jan