A Sacred Poem

Life: A Poem

A critical care holiday poem.

Poem: A Lewis Thomas View of Medicine

Dr Grace Dammann had devoted decades of her life to the compassionate care of AIDS patients in San Francisco, California, when, on May 21, 2008, a head-on vehicle collision on the Golden Gate Bridge nearly took her life. When she not only survived but came out of a coma with all of her mental faculties intact, Grace, her family, and her doctors agreed it was nothing short of a miracle. Her path...

Double-Scope Peroral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM) for Esophageal Achalasia: The First Trial of a New Double-Scope POEM

With the accumulation of clinical trials demonstrating its efficacy and safety, peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) has emerged as a less invasive treatment option for esophageal achalasia compared with laparoscopic Heller myotomy. However, the difficulty in determining the exact extent of myotomy, a critical factor associated with the success and safety of the procedure, remains a limitation. Al...

Sacred Space

A space can be sacred, providing those who inhabit a particular space with sense of transcendence-being connected to something greater than oneself. The sacredness may be inherent in the space, as for a religious institution or a serene place outdoors. Alternatively, a space may be made sacred by the people within it and events that occur there. As medical providers, we have the opportunity to ...