The world is on hold, my breath is on hold

by Dr P Ravi Shankar MBBS, MS, FAIMER Fellow * The world is on hold Towns once thronging with humansEmpty with the police maintaining the peaceMy steps resound noisily on the deserted sidewalksThe restaurants, cafes, and bars eerily empty My breath is on hold The virus has attacked my lungs I drown in my own fluids Each breath was a struggle, a gasp for air Talking to a fellow human’s a risk Always be mindful of the SOP Provide everyone their personal space Handshakes, high fives, physical contact Avoid, out of the question You sanitize everything in sight, left and right I am still in the ICU Tubes snake in … Continue reading

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Campaigns of Fear

It’s Time to Scare People About Covid — We need a Campaign of Fear Our public messaging about the virus should explain the real costs — in graphic terms — of catching the virus. by Elisabeth RosenthalNY Times  Dec. 7, 2020 Link to Article. (If the link doesn’t work — here is the article.) I still remember exactly where I was sitting decades ago, during the short film shown in class: For a few painful minutes, we watched a woman talking mechanically, raspily through a hole in her throat, pausing occasionally to gasp for air. The public service message: This is what can happen if you smoke. I had nightmares … Continue reading

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Lives Now Gone: A Nursing Home Diary

Strange is our situation here on earth. Each of us comes for a short time, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of others. Albert Einstein Lives Now Gone: A Nursing Home Diary by Dr. Robert Norman Over the last 25 years I have treated patients at dozens of nursing homes throughout Florida and taken down notes and kept a diary. Over the last few months, the urgency of my diary has been heightened due to the rampage of Covid 19. I have talked to many … Continue reading

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Music and Medicine: Bach Partitas on the Covid Ward

by David Elpern For almost a decade, I have used music when performing biopsies and excisions in my office. I got the idea from my friend Tim Lee, an ophthalmologist on Kauai. That led to a study published in 2014.1 Music is a simple, inexpensive aid that we use every day in my office. So, I read the article, Bedside Concerts Comforting Virus Patients by Benjamin Weiser in the May 4th, 2020 New York Times with particular interest. It features Rachel Easterwood, whose idea it was to stage concerts for Covid 19 ICU patients. Easterwood is a professionally trained musician-turned-ER physician from Columbia P&S (the same medical school that my … Continue reading

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