Back to France for Memory, Murder and Mystery
Sam and I fly to France tonight to make a second pilgrimage back to the boarding school I went to half a century ago. But it’s more than a trip down memory lane. This time, I am aiming to make sense of the extraordinary history of the French village of Le Chambon-Sur-Lignon, especially as it […]
Bad Blood: Worse than deception is false premise that more blood tests prevent disease and death
Debbie and I recently devoured the audio version of this summer’s hottest read: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal reporter John Carryrou. It’s a mesmerizing business thriller about the rise and fall of blood-testing startup Theranos, a Silicon Valley unicorn with a one-time value of […]
Déja Vu All Over Again: Three Physicians:
Yesterday I had one of those déja vu all over again moments. That’s a joke, of course. But there’s a good bit of truth to it when you’re over sixty-five and have a lot of memories AND you’ve specifically recalled certain of the most special memories over and over. Let me illustrate: 1973: Sam and […]
Granite foundations bridging the divide between Stonington and Brooklyn
{Update from Sam} In case you think that I am only concerned with old age pensioners, death, and dying, here’s a thought on a different subject. I can’t look at, drive over, or walk on the Brooklyn Bridge without remembering that it is built with granite from Carver’s Harbor on Vinalhaven, a small island community […]
Getting to Your Happy Place: How Long Does It Take?
This stretch of months, this time, this moment right now is the happiest I’ve ever been. It’s taken five years to get here. I’ve crossed, separately, and together with Sam, some dark canyons since 2013. We left D.C. five years ago with the intention of reinventing ourselves. Yes, for a final act. When you start […]
First Dispatch From My “Book Tour”
Sorry for the radio silence since publication day on Feb. 6, 2018 of At Peace: Choosing a Good Death After a Long Life. I’ve been on my “book tour” (please note the small letters and quotation marks). This was not a Book Tour with red carpets, black limos, personal assistants, and the exchange of pleasantries […]
Write an Amazon review of Sam’s book: At Peace: Choosing a Good Death After a Long Life!
* Add your review to Sam’s Amazon book page! – Debbie * Sometimes you have to go for it, as my youngest grandchild is doing with his first birthday cake. His oldest sister verbalized her baby brother’s thoughts as he reached for the remaining cake: “Hmm… this looks promising.” Today is pub date for my book, […]
Sam’s book on end-of-life decision-making to be published Feb. 6, 2018!
{Update from Debbie} It’s almost here! You’ve still got time to pre-order Sam’s book, At Peace: Choosing a Good Death After a Long Life, before it’s published on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. Pre-ordering pushes up his Amazon rankings and is hugely helpful in promoting his book. And if you’re reading this after that date, you […]
Dissonance: from middle-of-the-night emergency to an impersonal system
When I was a practicing physician, there was nothing more meaningful or rewarding than a middle-of-the-night emergency endoscopy, usually completed successfully (although occasionally not), when a patient’s esophagus was cleared of obstructing food or a bleeding ulcer was clipped and cauterized. The tension of the scene would dissipate with the team’s collective sigh of relief […]
How Sam’s book fits into the end-of-life discussion
As I wait for the publication date (Feb. 6, 2018) to arrive, my mind is playing tricks on me. I wake up at night, asking myself if I have made one of several central points in my book. In the morning, I remember I have. Other books on end-of-life issues are popping up or recently […]