After a brief delay by the U.S. Supreme Court, convicted murderer, Troy Davis was killed by the state of Georgia just an hour ago. I woke up after falling asleep knowing about the stay of execution, yet knowing his death was almost a forgone conclusion. He has been awaiting completion of… Read full post »

*SPOILER ALERT-if you have not yet read Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows-do not read this post

 

Before Nicholas and Henry were born I had already begun reading the Harry Potter series and with each new book I revelled in the joy of getting lost in another world. As my… Read full post »

It's funny now that at 42, I see the world through my children's eyes and see how much progress we have made in terms of women being capable of being a part of most any profession. As a little girl in the 1970's, the idea of a "lady" doctor or "lady"… Read full post »

I'm so sick and tired of being in the system. I'm not going to play the game anymore." Glenn Beck, signing off from his Fox News program on Friday, July 1, 2011.

At a time where justice seems to becoming more myth than reality I have been following the proceedings related to Jared Loughner, the young man accused of shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and in May the courts decided he was not compete… Read full post »

In what can only be described as some type of self fulfilling prophecy related to childhood name calling Representative Anthony Weiner finally confessed what everyone else in America has known for days... that he was showing off his little weiner to the world via his Twitter account.

Really… Read full post »

New list out on TIME.com this morning shares the ten top earning college degrees and the ten lowest paying degrees.

Highest Earning Majors

Today Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be meeting with President Obama at the White House. The timing is awkward given that yesterday President Obama laid out his vision for the Middle East and North Africa, including returning boundaries in the contentious Israeli/Palestinian bord… Read full post »

By the the time I post this most everyone in the world will know that Arnie couldn't keep it in his pants and fathered a child outside of his marriage. Probably not the only straw on Maria's back, but I'm guessing it probably lit the match as far as her decision… Read full post »

My favorite patient died on May 1st. I discovered this on Saturday night about 4 a.m. after I finished writing he and his sweet wife a little note to say hello. I went to look up his address and had the wind knocked out of me by the word deceased on… Read full post »

This week a woman in North Carolina was told that she has to relinquish custody of her children to her ex husband who lives in Chicago, IL. The woman in question has been the primary caregiver for the children since birth and she is also a cancer patient.

By all accounts… Read full post »

I have a patient in the clinic right now that is only 33 and is fighting her 2nd round of metastatic disease related to a gosh awful syndrome that effects her family tree. The syndrome places her at high risk for developing soft tissue cancers and so this young woman has… Read full post »

Once upon a time I was a journalism major.  I dropped out of college soon after being chosen to be the editor of my college newspaper and when I did return to college I got a degree in nursing, but I still relish the news and newswriting. I like being well… Read full post »

I drove home yesterday after a long day on my feet caring for a variety of patients with cancer. The last patient of the day is 23 and was diagnosed with a virulent form of cervical cancer related to a Human Pappilloma Virus (HPV) infection just six weeks ago. She was initially… Read full post »

I have a patient who weights about 80 pounds soaking wet and tops out at about 4 foot 9. She is beyond petite, but her personality appears to be where she compensates for her diminutive stature. She is to put it mildly, a pistol.

Actually she falls more into the category… Read full post »

So I don't know if any of you heard, but the U.S. finally offed Bin Laden last week, but by Thursday the web was abuzz with discussion of the now infamous Situation Room photo with President Obama looking stoic and presidential and Secretary of State Clinton looking concerned and with her… Read full post »

So when my son Nicholas was about 3 and a half, he finally began to notice that not everyone looked the same. In fact some of the differences were meant to call attention to if you asked his opinion.

His cousins are mixed race and so he suddenly noticed his best… Read full post »

I forgot to give the boys their ADHD medication before school yesterday morning. By the time I realized my error they were at school and Bob and I were at work and I had to let it go. In the big scheme of things this seems like no big deal, and… Read full post »

My first real memory of the woman I would come to call Mom Cormie is of a vibrant fortysomething redhead with Union Jack knickers sitting on a piano in pub on the grounds of the Texas Folklife Festival. She was elegant and bawdy at the same time, naughty and ladylike, and… Read full post »

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Mahatma Gandhi
The news this morning has brought tears of joy to many, feelings of victory and satisfaction, a sense of completion. Yet for me I wonder if a death so long anticipated really brings anything to a close, or rather opens a…

Read full post »

What a phrase, "Mother in law." It sounds sour, almost bitter, or perhaps that is because like my aversion to the use of stepmother, our society has come to connote ugliness with mother's in law. I was 18 when my own mother died, and over many years came to call  my… Read full post »

"I have no special talents.  I am only passionately curious."      -Albert Einstein

 

Why?

 

The eternal question of all humanity can be whittled down to one three letter word. Why? We add all sorts of things in front of it...

 

1.Why can't I eat all of the M&a… Read full post »

Easter week and every person in Christian ministry is running like a rabid wolverine from one Holy Week activity to the next.  In the Catholic Church the activities really hit the high point time wise starting on Maundy Thursday and running through the overnight vigil into Easter morn.… Read full post »

She looked a bit like a plucked chicken when she arrived on Planet Earth. Frankly she sounded like one as well-she was red faced and scrawny and she was my first real one on one experience with a newborn. She came a little early to what we now call, "A mother… Read full post »