My Lifelong Childhood

"What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are."                                          George Eastman (1854-1932)  Founder of Kodak, Photography Pioneer, and                                                 Rochester Philanthropist The city of Rochester, NY was never really on my radar.  I had never been there, had known no Rochesterians, and didn't even have a good idea of just where it was.  If you're from the greater New York City area, Upstate New York is considered anything above Westchester County.  Sure, I knew about Canton, Syracuse, Cherry Valley and the Adirondack Mountains but Rochester was beyond, in western New York.  I had a map of the st...

"I call therefore a complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly,       skillfully,  and magnanimously all the offices both private and public of peace and war"                                                                                 John Milton (1608-1674) The end of my formal education was coming into view as my last year of Pediatric Residency was to begin.  I was now a "Senior Resident" which involved mentoring the young doctors in the class below me.  It also came with acquisition of some administrative and leadership skills.  There were many mentors at Akron Children's Hospital but those I remember most were Dr. Joe Kastelic, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist who taught me humility and patience in the...

"Do you hear the children weeping, O my brothers,       Ere the sorrow comes with years?"                               The Cry of the Children   Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) Arriving to work at a large children's hospital was a totally different experience, everything being child-sized and child-centered.  Everything was about children and adolescents!  The patients ranged from premature newborns to adolescents, presenting the whole range of ailments and disabilities.  The first thing you learn is that a child is not a small adult but a developing and growing human being, hopefully cherished by loving parents, and testing the waters of life and growing into a competent and independent individual.  Were that always true.  This was to be my "work" for the remainder of my life, whether it was in healing them, listening to them, and, to this day, advoc...

A MEMORABLE YEAR Among new men, strange faces, other minds.                                 Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) 1974-75 This year was marked by change and, without change, there is little progress.  The experience of living in a foreign country and then returning to one's home is like putting on an old sweater or pair of worn out shoes.  There was no need to try to think in French, or use currency with a King's image, or beware of driver's entering the road from your right.  The formality of avoiding calling acquaintances by their first name, or foregoing the customary handshake, or feeling like an outsider was no longer there.  it was a comfortable feeling albeit a completely different set of rules.  Schlitz, Budweiser, and Rheingold did not cut it against the Belgian beers...and we certainly missed those moules with frites. As an Intern, I felt like...

SYRACUSE! "Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better."                            Quoted by Johnson, as from Richard Hooker (1554-1600), in the Preface to the                              "English Dictionary" Syracuse, NY       Speaking of change, among the most important stressors are changing location and professional status.  While not even close to the scale of death of a loved one, divorce, or emotional problems, they are up there on most lists.  The year 1974 was a sea-change for me, suddenly becoming a "professional", as well as the culture shock of returning to the US after 8 years away.  That being said, there were events we missed (family weddings, famous rock groups and music, social upheaval and rioting in the streets, protests on America's campuses, etc.)  Ev...