Medical Muse A literary journal devoted to the inquiries, experiences, and meditations of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center community Vol. 19, No. 1 • Spring 2014 Published by the University of New Mexico School of Medicine http://hsc.unm.edu/medmuse/ We are pleased to bring you this edition of the Medical Muse. This Medical Muse semiannual arts journal is meant to provide a creative outlet for members of the greater Health Sciences Center community: patients, practitioners, Is published twice a year, in the fall and spring by the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. students, residents, faculty, staff, and families. In this business of the scru- Submissions may be literary or visual, and may include tiny of bodies and minds, it can be all too easy to neglect an examination letters to the editor. Participation from all members of the UNM Health Sciences Center community. of our own lives. This journal is a forum for the expression of meditation, Electronic submissions may be sent via e-mail attach- ment to: [email protected] narrative, hurting and celebration — all the ways in which we make sense of Please include name and contact information. what we see and do. Founding Editors: It is our hope that in these pages you will encounter a range of experi- David Bennahum, MD Richard Rubin, MD ence from the outrageous to the sublime. What we have in common-binds Reviewers for this issue: and steadies us, yet there is much to be learned from the unfamiliar. Cheri Koinis, PhD Ann Morrison, MD We see the purpose of the Muse as a way of encouraging members of Erin Roth Norman Taslitz, PhD the Health Sciences community to express their creativity, and we encour- Advisor: age all to submit. Occasionally, subject matter may be controversial. It is Norman Taslitz, PhD never our intent to offend, however we wish to explore the full-range of Art Director/Designer: experiences reflected in our submissions. Paul Akmajian Unfortunately, due to space constraints we cannot publish every work Design/Layout: Laura J. Hall that is submitted in the print copy. We wish it to be known that our worst fear is that in selecting submissions we are discouraging the same creativity Thanks to Sandra Naranjo, Dept. of Internal Medicine we wish to foster. We therefore sincerely thank all those who have submit- The observations and opinions expressed by the contributors to Medical Muse are not necessarily ted in the past and ask that you continue submitting. Without your those of the editorial board nor the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. creativity and courage to share the Muse would not exist. All rights for works published in the Medical Muse revert to the author. – The Editorial Board Visit Medical Muse on the web at: http://hsc.unm.edu/medmuse/ Contributors for this issue: Arun Anand Ahuja Jeanne Favret Dawn Maxey John C. Russell, MD Caitlin Armijo Joe Francomano Rebecca Mayo Bradley Samuel, PhD Michael Benefiel Rachel Goldman Viki McCoskey Robert C. Schenck, Jr., MD Valentina Bonev Laura Hall Jessica McGraw Blake Spitzer Katharine Caldwell Ewen Harrison Flannery Merideth Cristina Vallejo Eric Chang Nikifor Konstantinov Susan C. Mirabal Kevin Vlahovich, MD Tiffany Chi Maureen Mahoney- Parisa Mortaji Paddy Whelan Marion Cook Barraclough, MOTS Sara Mota Dara Zafran Sylvia Ramos Cruz, MD Aroop Mangalik, MD Rosalyn Nguyen Kevin Dueck Elaine E. Manzanilla Page Pomo Cover photograph, "Fences inside Labor Camp at Auschwitz," by Robert C. Schenck, Jr. Dara Zafran ontained within this edition of the This is their first exposure to sustained Medical Muse are writings of second- clinical practice. Beginning in 2005, students have had Cyear medical students who participated the option to sign up for a special Narrative Strand of in a narrative writing project as part of their Practical PIE, in which they write once per week about their field Immersion Experience (PIE). experiences, and e-mail their reflections to a mentor During the summer between their first and sec- on campus who responds to their work. ond years of medical school, all UNM SOM students Some of the works are poignant, some are funny. disperse for eight weeks to rural and underserved Collectively, they bring us into the minds and parts of New Mexico to live in those communities hearts of the beginning practitioner: moments of and to work with community-based primary care awe, crisis, humor, disillusion, and initiation. providers. Medical Muse, Spring 2014 1 Clouds Beneath Me Clouds beneath me Poverty Clouds passing by Magic carpet Poverty we must remove Scratches my knees Over a billion whose lot must improve Need more food Both hands hold on Need more output Clouds beneath me More energy we need Passing clouds by Pollution we need to heed Turquoise streak Coal we need An oxygen sigh Nuclear we need Clouds beneath me Alternative we need Clouds passing by There are problems Prayer rug beneath me Cutting through the sky Coal is polluting Nuclear is contaminating Both hands pressed together Alternatives are limiting Clouds beneath me Food we need Clouds passing my Progress we need Side window – pretty Fewer people Hair blowing as we fly Fewer births Clouds passing by That is intimidating Clouds above me No one is talking Landing in Albuquerque No one is thinking Ground beneath me There is one solution Both hands rest No one is accepting No clouds passing by – Aroop Mangalik Blue sky surrounds me Dreams of clouds above me Passing high in the sky. – Jeanne Favret 2 Medical Muse, Spring 2014 Sylvia Ramos Cruz Sylvia Ramos Cruz Antarctica Blue-glacier washed obsidian stones I almost sink in them as katabatic winds crush me walking alone at Earth’s end Elephant seals slumber chin-strap penguins promenade Who minds wandering albatross and me? – Sylvia Ramos Cruz Medical Muse, Spring 2014 3 Dirt road with destroyed gas chambers in distance, figure 1-A. The Dust of Auschwitz By Robert C. Schenck, Jr. rowing up in a rural area, I always enjoyed going to was in this big city, and my father needing a place to stay for the big city of Denver. In the 1970’s, the trip free, where I met his college friend Bert Goldsmith. Ginvolved a long drive over two mountain passes Bert and Dad became friends at the College of the and through several tight tunnels all on two lane highways. Adirondacks in upstate New York in the late 1940’s. They We would make the journey for somewhat silly things like took classes together, cheated on tests when necessary, and used doors and bargain priced building materials not easily both dreamed of running their own restaurant or country found in the smaller mountain towns. With little income, club. It wasn’t discussed openly with strangers, but they my father became a professional at squeezing out every dime were both orphans. Although my father had been adopted from his monthly disability check as we created an empire of and Bert hadn’t, “we were related just a little after birth,” low rent rentals on the Western Slope of Colorado. Bert always joked when I asked why he and Dad had be- Denver was fascinating to me as a teenager from a come such close friends. “You see Bobby,” Bert explained, small town. The city itself was much smaller than today, but “my parents had sent me to America to serve as an inter- certainly the largest at that time outside of Dallas or preter in the War. I spoke fluent German.” He would Chicago. The miles of traffic lights, cross walks, and build- always smile as he reminisced, “I even worked as a waiter at ings made our escape from country life refreshing. And it the German Pavilion at the World’s Fair in 1939.” Bert was 4 Medical Muse, Spring 2014 Berkenau fences, figure 1-B. six years older than my father, was balding, wore tortoise My great grandfather had bought one of the early Brownie shell glasses, and always chewed on a cigar that was never lit. cameras and photographed the West that we still view today. Unlike Bert, my father had no real family history. Myriad images of railroads, forests, mines, cowboys, Native Dad had always wondered or lovingly justified why his Americans and our many relatives in Colorado were com- mother had given him up at birth, “I bet she was young and piled in ten oversized albums. My father, as an adopted boy, felt she couldn’t provide for me,” and interestingly he saw images of his adopted family, images that allowed him sensed that it was out of love that she had given my father to move from his yearning to meet a faceless mother to to the great state of New York, in 1926 Syracuse. As it would become an heir of a western way of life. Dad was destined happen, a wonderful family adopted my father, and in to move back to his ‘virtual’ home, Colorado, and was addition to an older brother, they gave him a ready-made, directed to attend the University of Denver after finishing detailed family tree. He was baptized Episcopalian and later junior college. learned that his older brother had been adopted at about Towards the end of their second year at college in the same time and they too, were amazingly close. My great upstate New York, Dad told Bert, “Apply to the University grandfather was a wealthy Denver businessman who had of Denver and I will make sure you pass math” and they sent his oldest son to Cornell in 1903 to become an always laughed as Bert recalled, “I got more money to go engineer with the intention to return to the family mining to DU than your Dad!” College was easy as the young business out West.