A Soulful Journey

  "...some patients, though conscious that their condition is perilous, recover health simply thorough their contentment with he good ness of the physician." - Hippocrates In this sense we are all potential healers of broken souls.  Use your power wisely.

 A young doctor noticed a new medical book entitled, "What To Do Until he Doctor Comes." "The devil makes such books," the doctor called out angrily.  "Why doesn't someone write, 'What to do until the patient comes'??" We all have our perspective.  And our perspective comes from our needs.  It is critical that we remember everyone has different perspectives and different needs.

An old Jewish woman just turned ninety, became ill and called the doctor.  he examined her carefully and looked doubtful. “Can you cure me, doctor?” the old woman asked hopefully. “Dear Granny,” said the doctor soothingly.  “You know what happens when one gets older.  All sorts of ailments begin to happen.  After all, a doctor is not a miracle man.  He cannot make an old woman younger." “Who’s asked you to make me younger, doctor?”  protested the old woman, irritably.  "What I want is to grow older!”   Listen. Only then speak.

“The secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient.” - Francis Peabody 1925 Don't patronize.  Don't try to  summon up trite words.  Just listen and love.

"One should use a new drug as often as possible while it still has the power to heal."  - Armand Trousseau, 19th century doctor, France God has given us a world which holds many secrets.  It is said that there is no disease that has no cure.  Our task is to never tire of searching for that healing element.

Mr. Levine sent his only daughter to “finishing school” in Paris. When she returned to Cleveland she married and in due course was taken to the maternity hospital. When the obstetrician came to find out how she was doing, she moaned, “Mon dieu!  Mon dieu!” “Doctor, quick, she is giving birth!” gasped her father in alarm. The doctor indifferently shook his head and answered, “Not yet.” An hour later the daughter wailed elegantly, "Sauvez moi, Docteur!” “Doctor, quick, -- she is giving birth” gasped Mr. Levine frantically. A few minutes later a piercing shriek rang through the hospital. “Oy gevalt! Mama!” “She is giving birth now!” said the doctor. We learn so much in school and beyond that sometimes we forget who we are and where we come from. But it always comes back when need arises.   Remember.

A famous doctor visited a sick patient and after examining him he wrote a prescription.   He advised the patient to take it, boil it and drink the solution three times daily.   The sick man had great confidence in the physician and followed his instructions carefully.   But the medicine brought him no relief.   His strength gradually ebbed; his heart beat slowly, and his limbs were beginning to lose their powers of sensation and of movement.   The family anxiously criticized the doctor’s diagnosis. “He is an ignorant fool!” they shouted. Among those present was the grandson of the stricken man.   “Grandfather,” he said to the dying man, “did you take the medicine according to the way the doctor prescribed it?” “Most certainly, my child," the man moaned.   “I took the prescription, placed it in a pan of water, boiled it well, and then drank the water three times a day. The following day I dried the prescription, cooked it again, and drank the w...

An argument took place among the people of a small town as to who was more important, a doctor or a lawyer.  One group said a doctor was more necessary because he must treat the sick.  The other said that the healthy should be taken care of first.  The Jews always lost out with the gentiles because there was no lawyer.  The rabbi intervened and gave his opinion. "A doctor was essential as soon as man was created, when God cut out Adam's rib.  A lawyer came later on, when Cain killed Abel."

A man had a sick son. He sent for a doctor.   The doctor immediately came and, after a thorough check, ordered a prescription to be taken now.   The boy soon recovered. Not long after the boy fell ill again.   The anxious father called for the doctor.   The doctor asked, “Did you give him the medicine that I prescribed earlier?” “I tried but he would not take it.” The doctor replied, “Then there is nothing else I can do.” We know how to solve what ails us.  We have the answer.  Why, then, do we not take the cure?

A politician awoke after an operation and found the curtains in his hospital room drawn. ”Why are the curtains closed? Is it night already?” ”No,” the nurse replied. “But there's a fire across the street and we did not want you to wake and think the operation was unsuccessful.”   -Rotary Down Under  

"To the patient promise a cure, and to the members of his family give warning of grave illness. If the patient fails to recover, it will be said that you foresaw his death; if he is cured, your renown will grow."  -Archimatheus of Salerno, 11th century This is called "hedging your bets."  Still, there is a great truth in encouraging the ill.

God and the doctor all men adore When sickness comes, but not before; When health returns, alike requited. God is forgotten and the doctor is slighted. -unknown The trick to life is to appreciate every one, every moment.

An older gentleman was on the operating table awaiting surgery and he insisted that his son, a renowned surgeon, perform the operation. As he was about to get the anesthesia, he asked to speak to his son. "Yes, Dad , what is it?" "Don't be nervous, son; do your best, and just remember, if it doesn't go well, if something happens to me, your mother is going to come and live with you and your wife...." Funny, isn't it?  Perhaps what makes it  must  funny is we know that caring for another human being, no strings  attached , is not easy but is our  responsibility .

A woman with nasty disposition was operated on for gallstones.   One day the doctor met her husband on the street.   He seemed worried. “What troubles you?” the doctor asked.   “The operation was very successful.” “For me hardly so,” the man sadly replied.   “The stone are gone but the gall remains.” No science can make everything right in our lives.   Medicines do not save us.   Operations do not change us.   Only the willingness to change can change us.

When he was asked if he had seen Doctor Zhivago, Yogi Berra answered, “No, I feel fine. ” Every time you smile, you light up.

An elderly widow complained to her doctor of nervousness and did not really know what was wrong with her. "The best remedy I can give is for you to get married," the doctor advised. "How about you?" she brazenly asked. "My dear lady, we doctors only write prescriptions, we don't take them."

On the door of a doctor’s waiting room: “There is so much bad in the best of us And so much good in the worst of us That is behooves all of us not to talk about the rest of us.”

“A Jew was visiting his doctor, and listened to the following report: ‘There is an improvement in your general health.   Your legs are swollen, but I am not worrying about that.’ ‘Well Doctor,'  replied the patient, ‘if your leg were swollen, I wouldn’t worry about it either’. ” -          Friday Night Book 1933 If the mitzvah of “loving one’s neighbor as oneself” is real it means the pain someone else suffers ought to be what we feel.