Keep on Truckin’!
[Editor’s note: apparently the narrator still pines for his youth, as only a doofus would write such a corny title, a phrase that according to legend was last uttered by a bespectacled chemistry teacher in Dayton, Ohio on October 24, 1979, while dancing to “Disco Duck” during the high school homecoming dance. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi!]
Regular readers of these musings may recall my efforts at chronicling all of the peccadillos doctors propagate in the course of their dealings with the ill. I myself committed the sin of assumption last week while interviewing an 80-year-old man who had developed locally advanced cancer. I considered offering him combination chemotherapy in an attempt to relieve his shortness of breath and give him a chance to prolong his life (No, not prolong his life compared with garrotting him as sat there…Sheesh! Everybody’s a comedian!) As I obtained what we pros in medicine call the “social history,” I asked him what he used to do for a living.
“I own my own company and still run it,” he replied.
“Hey, that’s great!” I bleated, while that part of my brain where the famous Herr Doktor postulated the existence of the cruel jury known as the superego began to wail the following announcement:
“He just made an ass out of you and me!”
No one would convict me of the sin of insensitivity just because I assumed an octogenarian was retired, would they? If it wasn’t for decades of economic prestidigitation that encouraged most men over the age of 65 to call it quits I would never have assumed that my patient was certainly through with his life’s calling.
I began to feel new found respect for this man who, struggling with an illness destined to eventually take his life, nevertheless still wanted to work.
“You know what?” I said. “You’re my role model. I’m with you - just keep on truckin’. You know what people who love their job say, don’t you?”
He smiled and shook his head.
“‘I’ll retire one day before the funeral!’”
He is on treatment now with both chemotherapy and targeted therapy, and we’ll soon know whether or not his tumor is susceptible to the glorious, insidious treachery lurking within each of the billions of molecules now sluicing through blood vessels and, reaching the end of the line, knocking on the door of these most foul creations of life.
Let us hope that his medicine works as long and as hard as he has. Let them both stand side-by-side and face the task before them, with confidence that until the last rays of the sun vanish into eternal darkness, neither partner will ever admit defeat.
My name is David Leander and I work for the Cunningham Group. We have recently rolled out a new site, dedicated to physicians, by having up to date news, as well as info on Tort Reform, Risk Management, Practice Management, Med-Mal issues, among other things.
I was wondering, if it is at all possible, if you would be willing to link www.docadvocate.com to your site, and of course I would link back.
Thanks for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you.
Comment by David Leander — January 6, 2006 @ 8:47 pm
That’s a 10-4, Good Buddy.
Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
Comment by Carol — January 7, 2006 @ 3:49 am
There’s a smokey on your tail.
Call me insensitive, but I can’t imagine how assuming an 80-year-old would be retired could be construed as insensitive. I think anyone not of antediluvian origin would think “that dude’s pretty darn old to be working.”
Comment by Ali — January 13, 2006 @ 10:07 am