Come join me for the last chapter of this odyssey. One of the Indian students who “interviewed” me asked what most moved me about the trip. Aside from the thrill of being of Antarctica, I was moved by Sir Robert Swan’s dedication over the past 30 years to the preservation of Antarctica and to raising awareness about climate change. His strategy is brilliant. He brings young change makers from all over the world to Antarctica so that they will see for themselves what is so painfully evident. I was equally moved hearing about the dreams and aspirations of the young … Continue reading
Category Archives: Memoir
Have you ever imagined what the earth looked like in the beginning, before humans tinkered around with it? Antarctica offers us a glimpse into this primordial world. It is the last remaining truly wild place left on our planet. I can see why Sir Robert Swan, after skiing 900 miles across Antarctica over thirty years ago, vowed that he would devote his life to “saving” this majestic and wondrous place. … Continue reading
Come with me on a trip to the most remote and pristine wilderness on the planet—a frozen version of the Garden of Eden, a landmass the size of the US, Europe, and Australia, a place that has never known poverty or war, a place that is covered in ice—ice that is melting fast. The international treaty that protects Antarctica from exploitation ends in 2041—unless we can take actions that will extend the treaty for as long as humans walk the earth. Ever since Sir Robert Swan laid eyes on Antarctica after walking for 70 days to the south pole in … Continue reading
During a nine-hour wait in the DFW airport—lengthened by technical difficulties with our flight—I managed to attract three different people with medical problems. A man and his wife from British Columbia, seated next to me in the waiting area, began chatting with me. They had organized a running marathon on Antarctica—over ice, snow, and rocks—and had gone down there seven years in a row to oversee the event. The subject of Lyme Disease popped up because the man had suffered with the illness for nine years. Of course, I couldn’t help myself from diving right in. After the couple left … Continue reading
Before I began my internship, I could never have imagined some of the scenarios I would witness in the middle of the night in the emergency room. Nor would I forget them. The year was 1983. One night, halfway through my internship in family practice, I was on duty at Mercy Medical Center in Denver, Colorado. Just past midnight, the hospital had finally quieted down with a lull in patient admissions coming through the emergency room. It was a rare opportunity for me to take a time-out and put my legs up. Shortly after propping myself up on the narrow … Continue reading
I kneeled in front of John of God, took his hand and looked into his eyes. For an instant it was like looking into deep pools of love, but then his eyes rolled back in his head. He looked like he was completely “gone” and not in his body. Within a few seconds he scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to the translator. As an aide escorted me out of the room, the translator said that I needed “surgery” and special herbs. The journey to Abadiania, Brazil, had been long and exhausting for Gloria, Gloria’s friend … Continue reading
Once I changed the message on my answering machine, my patients began drifting back—at first in a little trickle and then, after several months, in a fast flowing stream like the ones that appear after the snows melt in the high country. One of the first patients to return, a well-known spiritual guide and psychic healer whom I had only seen once before and did not know well, remarked as she sat down, “There’s a lot of activity going on inside your head. I can see waves of heat coming out of your crown chakra. And I can see that … Continue reading
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” —from Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. About a week after the brain surgery—as predicted—clumps of hair came out and clogged the drain in the shower. I stared at the strands of brown hair lying at the bottom of the stark white porcelain tub. The back of my head—an area the size of a small grapefruit—felt nearly bald. I quickly steered my thoughts away from the frightful sight by assuring myself that the hair would grow back. But then my mind wandered right … Continue reading
The nationwide search for a neurosurgeon who could help me turned out to be a fruitless endeavor. Then something happened—reminiscent of a deus ex machina in a plot where a god swoops in to turn around a hopeless ending. I got a call from the office of Dr. Cameron McDougall, specialist in fistulas and aneurysm repairs, on the staff at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona—a short drive and plane ride away from Santa Fe. As I barely breathed in anticipation, I listened to the secretary say that Dr. McDougall had probably done more surgeries on carotid cavernous fistulas … Continue reading
“Mom, of course I’d forgive you, but it would be really horrible if you did it. You just have to be strong, Mom.” I could hear in Barrett’s voice that he was trying to be strong himself. “You’ve overcome some really hard things in your life and climbed some really big mountains. You’ve never been a quitter, no matter what. You’ll figure this out, Mom. I know you will. I mean, like, there are guys who come back from wars in Afghanistan, Iraq—wherever—with half their bodies blown off, like from the waist down, and they learn to live with what … Continue reading