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John Maxwell

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

You know what they say about an image is worth.......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ihVOeK2TZY 

We want pictures of the results, Joe.

David Barbour

Good one, Donna.  Think of the time I would have saved over forty years!

Joe, how many young men did you know who grew out their hair after leaving

the military?  

DB

David Mitchell

No Dave,

The question should be, How many of us let our stomachs grow out after leaving the service?

Which leads to to another question that has puzzled me all my life. Why is it that all Harley riders have long white beards, and huge stomachs?  Is it a "Santa Complex" thing, or some sort of requirement for ownership?  If so, I will soon meet the requirement. 

David Mitchell

Donna,

What is the Catalan term for Yankee Ingenuity?

Joseph D. McCarthy

Hey Dave if you contact one of my  Aquinas classmates you can get the complete answer.  He OWNS A.D.Farrow, the oldest Harley dealership in the world.  

Joe

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Dave B, it could prove interesting to list some of the things we use now that would have saved us time 40 years ago.  Me first.   GPS.

Dave M, I've got to hand it to you...I would never have thought of using that expression in Catalan as an icebreaker when you walk in to meet the guys down at AD Farrow but hey, go for it....... "enginy ianqui"! 

PS we also want photos of that, please!

Jodelle Sims

Happy Birthday Janie!!

We will celebrate at a later date!!

David Mitchell

Janie,

Hope you get a Birthday seranade from beneath your balcony. 

Deborah Alexander (Rogers)

Happy Birthday, Janie!  Stay safe and healthy!

James Hamilton, M. D.

Janie,

 A very Happy Birthday to you on this 50th anniversary of Earth Day!

Jim

  CORRECTION:  Mea culpa! Earth day is 22 April, not 20 April. Our class celebrates your B-Day, Janie, but only some consider 4-20 a day worth celebrating for other reasons. 🤔

Mark Schweickart

I know I have been posting sad stuff lately, so in an effort to get out of that part of my brain, let me toss this song at you. It is meant to be funny, well maybe not guffaw funny, but perhaps wryly amusing. It is trying to capture that situation where you have a male-female friends-only couple, and both are quite tired of watching the female friend's life being a parade of poor man-choices. Unfortunately for the male friend, they both know he doesn't have the special chemistry she is looking for that would lift him out of the "friends-only" category. Nevertheless, he feels, enough is enough, and is compelled to pop the question, "Why not try me?"

This is meant to be a female-male duet, but unfortunatley for you, you will have to listen to me doing both parts. I added a visual device to help you keep straight who is singing which lines.

P.S. – H.B. J.B.  (that's Happy Birthday, Janie Blank)

Joseph D. McCarthy

Dave is this one of your Harley Guys practicing Social Distancing?????

David Mitchell

Joe!  

That's my cousin Bubba!  

I think he's on to something.

Janie Albright (Blank)

Thanks for all the birthday greetings! So many wishes and my family made my first and hopefully only quarantined birthday special. 

David Mitchell

Were they able to toss you up some cake?

Janie Albright (Blank)

Dave, ha! I remotely opened the building door. They set cake in the entry. My neighbor brought it up. We dont allow visitors in our building. I lit candles and they sang to me. I cut some pieces and through same method sent the remainder back down. Insane! 
 

David Mitchell

Wow Girl!  You really know how to throw a party.

David Mitchell

Couldn't get a funny screen shot to download.

Suffice it to say this would  have been a really clever post. 

Or not.

Ignore. Erase. Rinse. Repeat.

Michael McLeod

Jim:

Interviewed a virologist, a couple of nurses, and two covid19 patients over the past two days for a story I am putting together. Will take me about a month to write and finish up my research but I will post a link when it comes out. Very interesting how widely the symptoms and severity differ from one person to another. Also interesting to hear their personal stories - including the sense of being shunned once they have recovered, been through quarantine, and are no longer a danger to anyone. I got choked up as I interviewed the one man and he told me about the priest who got through to him in the dead of his darkest night in the hospital. He was in for two weeks and wouldn't let them put him on a ventilator, was determined to fight through it on his own. (I think this guy - he was a pilot in the air force and flew f15s and f16s, by the way -  was scared of losing control. I think he thought he'd die if he let them put him on the ventilator).  He talked about the bond with his doctor (the virologist I interviewed) who helped him through it by just sitting there and literally holding his hand. I think because of the fear factor and the unknowns of this thing the personal bond between doctors, nurses and patients is much, much more important than ordinarily with this disease. Interesting detail: he lost his sense of taste - which seems to be a common thing with this virus - and knew he was going to survive when he realized he could taste the strawberry ice cream the kitchen staff brought him one day. That has to be the best bowl of ice cream this guy ever had. I'll use the two patients as the anchor for a story that will be about the vagaries of the disease, the hardships on families, etc., the bond with caregivers, etc.  I don't know much yet about this part of the science yet, I guess nobody does, but both patients are donating blood and plasma in the hopes that the antibodies they generated to battle the disease in themselves can be helpful to other patients. 

Mark Schweickart

Mike -- sounds like the makings for a terrific piece of journalism. Just this little summary you posted here was quite compelling in itself. Good luck with that. I hope you are able to do your interviewing on-line for the most part. You don't want to lose your sense of taste, or your life, chasing down this story. Be safe.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike,

 I shall be most interested in reading your story and I know you will write one with feeling and a patient's perspective.

 In past posts I have mentioned that so much of medicine today, especially during this pandemic, is presented from an epidemiological viewpoint . My experience has always been with treating individual patients. Two of the things I have drilled into my students is the need to actually touch - lay hands - on the patients and talk to them (80%  of diagnoses are made on the basis of taking a proper history), preferably face-to-face and not with their backs to the patients while tapping on a computer keyboard. Both of those require TIME, something that doctors today are being pushed to limit by some non-physician administrators. Telemedicine obviously eleminates the hands-on part. William Osler, the "Father of Internal Medicine", would be turning over in his grave! The doctor you mentioned who held that patient's hand is a true physician. I know telemedicine is useful in some specialties and in this pandemic. It has metastasized to so many others, but I really hope it does not become the "new norm". And those who say that a doctor should not get emotionally involved in their patients' lives are not being realistic. 

Sorry that I got off on this tangent but your post brought out some thoughts that I think are important. Healing is both an art and a science, and only one of those can be taught, the other has to be learned by dealing with patients and families. Your story has a real opportunity to express that point.

Jim 

​​​​​​

Michael McLeod

Thanks Mark.

Jim. I'm not in the least surprised by what you describe as a tangent. It's more of a reflection of the person I know you to be.

I think I mentioned both of these patient are donating plasma. There hasn't been enough  time to do much research along those lines (at least for this particular virus)  but I did find this:

https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/04/02/2004168117

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike,  

That Chinese study on convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19 has cornered a lot of attention from the medical community and further research is being conducted. I think that will confirm the efficacy of this treatment. As you may be aware now or may see as you research this topic for your article, immune globulin therapy is often used in treating a myriad of diseases and has been for some time. It has also been used prophylactically to prevent Hepatitis A in people exposed to or traveling to endemic areas of Hep A (although the vaccine has decreased the need for that in many patients). Herd immunity (on a community level), convalescent plasma (CP) and vaccines all result in an adequte immune response to the virus in many individuals. The question, particularly with CP, is how long will it last and will it interfere with the recipients' ability to generate their own IgG antibodies?

Jim 

David Mitchell

Wow Mike!   Thank you for writing this great piece. Can't wait for the finished product.

I was just about to answer your post #7239 above with an almost exact copy of what Jim followed it with. How many times over the dinner table did I hear my dad wax on and on about this very thought. It is the notion that taking the time with the individual patient, looking them in the face, and touching them is actually a necessary part of most treatment. My dad used to use that exact phrase "laying on hands" and claimed it was "life giving".

I recall him ranting one night about a decison that had been made that day at OSU Medical School, where he served as a Department head for amost 45 years. Skipping some details - it was about a decison to accept one of the Juniors in pre-med, directly into Med School (a year early - a once common practice for a select few - not sure if they still do that?).

The board chose NOT to accept the one who was loved and respected by all for his wonderful, caring personality, becasue he only had a 3.7 grade accum (got a 'D' in his freshman German class and couple 'B's" somewhere else along the way. We knew him.) Instead they chose the guy with a 4.0 accum. who was an introverted, keep-to-himself, egghead that no one could warm up to. Dad was ready to explode when he got home for dinner.

I will never forget his quote, "This damn Medical School has gotten too damn political, and too damn expensive, and too damned important for it's own good. We're turning out technicians and not physicians! They know how to run every damn test known to man, but don't give a damn about the patient. 

(and that was back in the 60's)

This brings back thoughts from "The Road Less Traveled" by Scott Peck. He made the point loud and clear that no mater how much analysis and how many tests, real healing doesn't usually occur unless and until the Doctor actually "cares" for the patient.

I remember that book in just about evey bookstore window and on every grocery store checkout back in the 70's. My Dad practically begged me to read it but I wouldn't normally follow my dad's advice if you held a gun at my head. Then, after two failed atempts (first 100 pages is pretty technical and boring), I was having lunch with Kevin Ryan and Steve Hodges - 2 seperate occasions -  and they both said it was the most important book they had ever read. 'Nough said. I finished it and agree with Kevin and Steve (and Jim) whole-heartedly.