Hello, and welcome to Pediatric House Calls. I am…
A Physician board certified in Pediatric medicine with Clinical experience including caring for infants, children and teens – well these days mostly children and teens up to twenty-one;
An Administrator experienced in top medical management for several national health insurance companies;
An Author of health care manuals, newspaper columns and even children's stories;
A Business Medical Consultant for drug companies, insurance companies and
physician practices;
A Veteran of the US Navy in the Vietnam era;
And…
I make House-Calls.
It might not be very often, but once in a while I run across a bit of “something good” on the internet.
Such is the case with a whole new bundle of what I would call “research summary statements” about vaccines and vaccinations from the leading research analysis team in the US, or perhaps even the world!
No, not the CIA, NASA or even Space-X – Read more →
I trained in the Navy during the Vietnam war. I wasn’t in the fighting, thank heavens; but, I pretty much saw all of its results and tried to fix as much as I could; but all of us knew who the real healer was!
Lately, I’ve been thinking about war again. It really doesn’t seem to have changed all that much – except: It just feels… “closer” somehow. And I don’t remember so much anger – at least around me.
It seemed to me that we were a bit more united back then, fighting the same battles, doing our jobs and Read more →
Our “Doctor number 26” in the list of most influential doctors of all time, Carlos Justiniano Ribeiro Chagas, lived in the late 1800’s, before the advent of electricity; so, at night had to study by the light of flames. His rituals, widely known by housemates, neighbors and other students, involved reading into the night for as long as two candles lasted.
His incredible work ethic would eventually lead to a medical degree after recovering from Beri-Beri, discovering the cause of three major diseases, having a disease named after him, two nominations for the Nobel Prize, his picture taken with Einstein and his photo on Brazilian money!
Read more →
For some reason I’ve been thinking about Celine Dion and Josh Grobin lately… well, not so much them, as the performance they gave once that really impressed me, and I just can’t seem to get out of my mind lately. Today, rummaging through my stuff I found it. The video I mean.
Watching it again, refreshes my mind why I liked it so much. And it wasn’t so much their performance as it was how skillfully they conveyed the meaning of the libretto – the words:
Nella mia preghiera – Let this be our prayer,
Quanta fede c’è – When shadows fill our day:Lead us to a place… Guide us with your grace… Give us faith so we’ll be safe.
I just seems to me, that today… in these days of so much uncertainty, and… dishevelment, that we (parents) need to plead for these things in great measure. And enable us to teach our children the skill to follow. Perhaps they’ll need it more than we do.
See the video…
Do you suppose that if we hide under the bed they won’t notice, and we can skip this year? Or… perhaps they’ll let us go back and do last year over, until we get it right?
What am I saying?!!! I can think of a lot of things I’d like to do over; BUT, I don’t think I could handle another election year!
2024 did bring new advances in pediatrics. We’ve got some new immunizations, a better understanding of sports injuries, a newfound understanding of the benefits of reading to even the smallest children, developments in cancer treatment, more options for treatment in some very rare diseases and some not-so-rare; but, surprise, we’ve still got a long way to go in education, nutrition, drugs and mental health in good ol’ ’25!
For me, I still wonder where the time went from when we were worrying about being stranded on an airplane during Year-Two-Thousand — just where did the time go? It’s been 25 years now!
[About this time every year things get a bit hectic around the homestead and we need to take a little hiatus. Hope you and everyone you care about have a perfect holiday season—wherever you may be! See you again in the new year.]
I trained in the Navy during the Vietnam war. I wasn’t in the fighting, thank heavens; but, I pretty much saw all of its results and tried to fix as much as I could.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about war again. It really hasn’t changed much – except: It just feels… “closer” somehow; and I don’t remember so much anger – at least around me.
It seemed to me that we were a bit more united back then; fighting the same battle, doing our jobs and just putting one foot in front of the other. Maybe there was this much anger, but I just was too busy to see it – or – maybe this is different.
Back then, if I forced myself to blur out all the big picture around and just look at the life right in front of me, I could love my job. Things seemed to… “matter” more; contact was easier and… more welcomed; actions were… more appreciated and less suspicioned; the occasional accidents, unintentional “slights” and even mistakes were less… uhmmmm… “exploded” upon.
My job is different now… a bit less “meaningful” and “urgent” in a way. It seems, inside me though, that I am the same. I mean, I still care the same; but, I just have fewer opportunities these days to express it.
Are we that much different now… really? We can still be nice… can’t we?
[About this time every year things get a bit hectic around the homestead and we need to take a little hiatus. Hope you and everyone you care about have a perfect holiday season—wherever you may be! See you again in the new year.]
Is it just me or did this year’s end-of-year holiday season just jump out and pounce on us about two months early?! It’s caught me a bit off guard this year; but, to tell you the truth, I’m going to breathe a sigh of relief when “this ones'” done, and we can start fresh on another one.
Here in “The States” it’s a designated end-of-year holiday commemorating the gratefulness that the “original European settlers” felt after finally pulling in their first year’s crops in a new land. Now, with over 500 years behind us and 2024 sensibilities, it’s easy to forget all the ancestral beginnings in favor of just being glad the “elections” over!
I hope you won’t mind me giving about the only quote I can remember from my youth which might be a bit appropriate for the occasion:
With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge
of our deeds, let us go forth and lead the land we love, asking His blessings and His help,
knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own. (JFK, inaugural address)
Thanksgiving – 2024
[About this time every year things get a bit hectic around the homestead and we need to take a little hiatus. Hope you and everyone you care about have a perfect holiday season—wherever you may be! See you again in the new year.]