Iatric Odyssey

It was just a twist to the right while bending over four weeks ago which caused an ambulance ride to the ER for relief from the stabbing pain in my right hip/kidney area. Two days before, a similar but lesser pain took me to my Primary Care Physician who thought "kidney stones" and ordered a CT scan which showed no such. Then came the following over time:

five X-rays
two CT scans
one MRI (proposed)
one colonoscopy
six doctors and specialists
two hundred and sixty pain meds (mostly not used because of side effects)
fifteen muscle relaxing meds
one hundred eighty nerve meds
thirty anti-inflammatory meds
six mg morphine in the ambulance to ER
♫♪ and a partridge in a pear tree ♫ ♫

I sat in 5 waiting rooms with inner-sanctum exam rooms to match, waited for 2 hours max in one such room and learned to take something to read--preferably a novel since magazines may not be long enough for the wait. Household tip on those medical "gowns" you are asked to strip down and wear: tie all of the bows first and then put the gown on over your head with the bows in the back. This saves having to tie a bow in the middle of your back, or have the nurse do it-- which is worse.



This, the last place to visit, should have been the first since my problem was orthopaedic in nature. A lower spinal-column interference between the bones causing them to pinch nerves when the positioning is just right for a pinch. Four needles to inject some cortisone (another CT to guide the needles) and I am a happy camper (it's only been one day so we shall see as to the effectiveness of the shots)
This facility sees 500 patients on some days and is apparently central Missouri's place to go if you have any bone/joint problems --it is chock full of the walking wounded, like myself.
One of my problems with health-care in this experience (besides the fact that the offices cannot schedule patients very well) is that the record keeping is not ready for prime time. I had to three times pick up CD copies of CT scan and X rays from the hospital to carry them to specialists I was to see. Fill out a form and sign for my records and physically carry them to the appointment. Instead of a regional or even national data base of patient records which can be accessed as necessary by physicians, there are small collections of records at each doctor's office (usually paper) not available to any other doctor unless hoops are jumped through and luck is yours. My doctor will not give me some records but will fax them to another doctor at my request (if I am lucky, this works out). Much of this is driven by fear of being sued (as are a lot of procedures and tests not likely to produce any helpful results but done as CYA by the doctor) but all of it is unnecessary in this century of instant information. I am in hopes that the present Congress can update and modernize this system.

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The Hieronymus Bosch painting above is called "The Stone Operation" . In15th century northern European times montebanks (quacks) would propose cutting out stones from those suffering from stupidity or headaches or any number of cranial problems. They would make a little cut on the patient, present some bloody stones, and charge to rid him of the malady. Bosch, maybe the first surrealist, is making fun of this practice by showing tulip blossoms being taken from the patient as witnessed by odd people --I really like the inverted funnel on the "doctor" and the book on the woman's head. The text above and below the painting says: "Master cut the stone out. My name is Lubbert Das"

Years from now our medical system will seem just as antique to those, as the painting does to us now!!

Rainbow

The ubiquitous spring flower named from the Greek goddess of the rainbow. I am not sure how to describe the color -- or even if the color I see is the color everyone else sees-- but what first occurred to me was the crayola color "flesh" which I see has been changed to "peach". We could all agree on a blue or red but I am not sure how a glowing peach would be a common choice . (I just found that there are now 120 crayola colors and the big box now contains 64 colors (how are the colors selected for the box?) and has a sharpener on it).


Iris, would take messages from the eye of Heaven to earth by the arc of the rainbow. She was also a companion to females on the way to the other world; her duty to accompany the souls to the Elysian fields after life.
Taken from the stylized shape of the flower, the Fleur-de-Lis has symbolized France since the 13th century. The black iris (iridaceae nigricans) is the national flower of Jordan and cannot be taken from the wild lest ye be penalized!!


Henry W. Longfellow's take on it:

Thou art the Iris, fair mong the fairest,
Who armed with golden rod
And winged with the celestial azure, bearest
The message of some God.

Thou art the Muse, who far from crowded cities
Hauntest the sylvan streams
Playing on the pipes of reed the artless ditties
That come to us as dreams

O flower-de-luce, bloom on, and let the river
Linger to kiss thy feet!
O flower of song, bloom on, and make for ever
The world more fair and sweet.



"fleur-de-luce" ~ flower of light

My take on it:

Glowing walls of light into which I flow
peace and scents within
for a brief nap ..............
inside looking out

Breath

As I breathe in the air a billion years old
and capture the pith of life lived . . .
and living
feel a bond to all that was . . .
and is,
I am joined to the flow
and take my fleeting drink

Here, now, mine, ours, one --
souls in time held in airy solution

As I breathe out . . .
I am emptygone to the future time

a continuous journey

Symmetry

Inside Dome of the Imam Mosque of Shah Abbas I (1588-1629) (Masjid-e Jam 'e Abbasi) in Isfahon, Persia. He commissioned its construction in 1612 and it was completed in 1638 nine years after he died. But he did live to see completion of the enamel-tile mosaic dome which probably took most of the construction time. I couldn't find out the size of the tiles (there is no real scale to the photos) but am still looking.
This was the first capital of Iran, before Tehran, and it's mosques are considered the most beautiful and elaborate in the world. Some were damaged during the senseless war with Iraq in the 80's but fortunately most still exist intact. I have read that 94% of those in Teheran are poets, or at least consider themselves such; I don't know about what the 1.3 million in Isfahon consider themselves but I suspect a similar feature. What a wonderful aspect to be known for.

Iran is opening up to tourism apparently, and from Persepolis to Isfahon would be a trip to experience. see here




A Tibetan Buddhist sand painting. Unlike the structure above, this construction took about 6 days and 16 monks to complete and is destroyed shortly afterward to indicate the impermanence and temporary nature of life. I am impressed by the symmetry and mandala-like nature of each effort; and the yin-yang nature of the permanence of the Mosque and the impermance of the sand-painting.
I am also impressed with the idea that I can sit here in my cushy chair and observe each extreme of the possibilities!