The (Sort Of) Cheerful Oncologist
Just discovered The Cheerful Oncologist, a blog by Craig Hildreth, M.D. It's a lyrical, sensitive, wry, at times spiritual window into the professional and personal life of a medical oncologist, along with amused news article reactions and weekly poetry posts (Yeats, Neruda, Shelley, Wilfred Owen...). It's chock full of anecdotes, musings and light analysis, all peppered with delightful similes and metaphors, alliteration, quotes, etc. He writes about medicine and language and life - a little slice of heaven.
I think it's fascinating in and of itself, but it's also a potential resource for Wilson writers. Hildreth includes descriptions of what he says to his patients and what they say to him, what tone he adopts, whether he touches them and where; of what he's thinking as they're speaking, or before, or afterwards; of treatment plans, side effects, rounds, appointments, consults, you name it. You aren't going to find most of that in articles or case studies. He seems to have a deep but restrained sympathy for his patients - a useful reminder that doctors can feel for the people they care for without crumbling or losing their senses of humor. And perhaps above all, there's a lot that's said implicitly, in his tone and the ways in which he approaches his work, that could be helpful in shaping how you depict Wilson in a story or even how you interpret his behavior on the show.
Still dipping my toes in the metaphoric water, but here are links to the posts I've enjoyed most so far:The other day I had some free time (always risky for a medical oncologist) and sat at my desk, contemplating [the phenomenon] of miracles. A sad, beautiful little think-piece on terminal cancer, life and a quiet epiphany while listening to a patient.
Rule number 18: The seriously ill patient's time is more precious than yours - don't waste it. Description of his interaction with a delicate new ovarian cancer patient, with Marvell and Shakespeare quotes. I think that epitomizes the whole blog.
Classical Rhetoric in Medicine: Epizeuxis. Linguistic geekery in a patient meeting.
P.S. The blog's previous home is blogsome.com. It may go back further than the scienceblogs site.
Anyone else know of good doctor-writer blogs?
ETA: elynittria, if I haven't thanked you enough already, let me say it again, because I'm now able to create and/or add RSS feeds like this one to my friends list.
I think it's fascinating in and of itself, but it's also a potential resource for Wilson writers. Hildreth includes descriptions of what he says to his patients and what they say to him, what tone he adopts, whether he touches them and where; of what he's thinking as they're speaking, or before, or afterwards; of treatment plans, side effects, rounds, appointments, consults, you name it. You aren't going to find most of that in articles or case studies. He seems to have a deep but restrained sympathy for his patients - a useful reminder that doctors can feel for the people they care for without crumbling or losing their senses of humor. And perhaps above all, there's a lot that's said implicitly, in his tone and the ways in which he approaches his work, that could be helpful in shaping how you depict Wilson in a story or even how you interpret his behavior on the show.
Still dipping my toes in the metaphoric water, but here are links to the posts I've enjoyed most so far:The other day I had some free time (always risky for a medical oncologist) and sat at my desk, contemplating [the phenomenon] of miracles. A sad, beautiful little think-piece on terminal cancer, life and a quiet epiphany while listening to a patient.
Rule number 18: The seriously ill patient's time is more precious than yours - don't waste it. Description of his interaction with a delicate new ovarian cancer patient, with Marvell and Shakespeare quotes. I think that epitomizes the whole blog.
Classical Rhetoric in Medicine: Epizeuxis. Linguistic geekery in a patient meeting.
P.S. The blog's previous home is blogsome.com. It may go back further than the scienceblogs site.
Anyone else know of good doctor-writer blogs?
ETA: elynittria, if I haven't thanked you enough already, let me say it again, because I'm now able to create and/or add RSS feeds like this one to my friends list.