15th USTMD70

 

 

15th USTMD70 e-magazine, February 8, 2015

Featuring: The Sapphire Class Reunion   JAN 2015

PAPAL AUDIENCE WITH USTMD70 CLASS

 

 

 

Moments…

“Who was Manuel Veranga?”
By Charles Dunifer M.D

The mirror is your one run-of-the-mill full length variety constructed of sturdy oak in a black lacquered finish sporting Late Victorian vintage. I found this treasure in one of my weekend jaunts in search of garage sales from an old mystic who confided in me that the mirror has magical powers and that at the right moment     (at the stroke of midnight) and with the right incantation, it can literally travel one to the past (Awesome!).  I bought it for it had some real re-sale value and not that I believed in the old coot.
At my place, awakened from a deep slumber after a night of unbridled lust and passion, I glanced at my Phillip Patek which registered midnight, the witching hour! I then looked at my partner who was soundly asleep with the Mona Lisa smile etched on her face and I thought, “Wait a freaking minute, how come women could prolong the ecstasy of lovemaking long after it’s over and done with?” I felt a tinge of jealousy. I felt used!“ My thoughts were then cut short with the temptation of testing my mirror at the foot of my bed and as if challenging me to go ahead and try it. And since it was the right time, I felt compelled to do so.
I stood myself before it and carefully uttered the magic words: ” Mirror, Mirror, on my floor, Who has the best memory of them all? ” An eerie silence fell upon the room… then an answer came out out of the mirror. ” Knoweth thou that thou has it.” In perfect 15th century English (Cool!) A green smoke quickly then filled inside the mirror which dissipated quite quickly as it has appeared unraveling a path to the past (the plot thickens). I felt somewhat eager to step in and so I stretched my one leg and suddenly found myself inside the mirror trekking the path that led me to a familiar building which I recognized as my old Medical School edifice with its “Ars Longa, Vita Brevis” motto on its facade. (Totally Rad!) Then the path led me through a walkway that ushers into our Charity Hospital! A wall calendar announced that it was May,1968, the start of our Medical Clerkship year! Then, I overheard voices, gossipy ramblings of an awful event! The name “Manuel Veranga” and the word, “Murder” lorded over  these gossips. A dirge-like Beatle number could be heard from one of the patients’ radio,”…Hey Jude, don’t make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better…”
The story went like this: Our Clerkship class was given an assignment to write any disease condition and that it has to be TYPEWRITTEN. It was for our Medicine ll subject,” And well you know that  it was you, Hey Jude, you’ll do…”By  sheer bad luck, Mr. Veranga did not have a typewriter.But his girlfriend had one.”…Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders…Na..Na..Na..Na..Na..Na..Na..Na..Na. So in that  fateful afternoon, in his girlfriend’s house, while she typed away his report, two armed men broke into her place with the intention to rob.”…So let it out and let it in, Hey Jude begin. The movement  you need is on your shoulders…”but something went deadly wrong.”…Na..Na..Na..Na..Na..Na..Na..Na..Na “Our classmate tried to resist and was shot dead!” Hey Jude, Don’t be afraid. You were made to go out and get her. The minute you let her under your skin, then you begin to make it better…” A much livelier Beatle ditty ensued,…”Obladi…Oblada.. Life goes on Bra. La..La..How the life goes on. Desmond has a burough in the market place. Molly is a singer in a band. Desmond said to Molly, “I like your face and then he took her by the hand…'”

“O come let us adore Him” by Lynne

T’was  a night in cool December
while  the world in deep slumber
The Angels’ song joyful rejoicing
For the  promise His birth ,fulfilling

Gifts of gold , frankincense and myrrh ,
Kings  from the East did bring , offering
Stable  lined with hay ,grass  and fir
Babe in the manger ,wrapped swaddling

Shepherds amazed  astounded ,sheep ,oxen too
Babe ,maiden ,young man , they had no clue
Miracle unfold on the holy night of long ago
Is this He ? How could it be ?  He ,so poor as we .

It is He . It is true . the promised Messiah
The Word made flesh . We heard from Isaiah
Walked,taught , healed , loved and died
The Son of God , obedient ,emptied ,offered

“O come ,let us adore Him”the Angels sing
“O come , let us adore Him ” , let us sing
Sing  loud , for all the heavens  to hear
All corners of the earth, the universe ring

“O , come , let us adore Him ” All come
Praise and honor to You we bring
Into our hearts ,welcome now ,Savior King
Trinity , three in one , accept our thanksgiving

Lynne Mariano
December 8, 2014

The Virgin and Child

Joseph and  Virgin came walking down the road
Pregnant with the Holy Child
” i need shelter for the night ”
“Please take me inside your heart”

“My time is close ,there is no place for us ”
Full of grace ,come and stay with me tonight
Warm thy hands by the fire so bright
In here, you’ll find welcome in my heart

Let me find mat , sheets and quilt
Witness to the sublime ,I’m honored
Joy to the world ,darkness no longer
God made man, the Christ is born

Truly ,He desires the hearts of man
Forever ,He ‘ll wait for open door
Together from moment to moment
heartbeat to heartbeat ,one

Oh, those Buffalo Winters

by  MINI, MD

I was already an Internal Medicine resident at the Philippine General Hospital
when the Kenmore Mercy Hospital accepted me for a one-year, rotating
internship. It was one of the two Mercy Hospitals in Buffalo. My hospital was
the one closer to Niagara Falls.

When I arrived in Buffalo, it was damp, cold and blustery but the air was
fresh. It was midnight. The hospital had conveniently arranged for a cab driver
to pick me up. On my arrival in the hospital, I was welcomed by three lovely
nuns. They were very nice to me. They gave me one of the hospital rooms. I had
no roommate. The next day, I found out that I was the only Filipino in the
hospital. The other two interns were Chinese and Korean male physicians. Their
English was hard to understand.

I am not particular about food & I can easily adjust to any kind of food. I
befriended some nurses and secretaries. They were very nice to me and they
treated me with great affection probably because I was a new arrival from
overseas. Too bad, I had lost contact with all my Buffalo friends.

What I dreaded most was the Buffalo winters. There were no mountains to block
the winds that swept unhindered from the North Pole. Buffalo was one of the
wheat-producing centers of the United States. They had a short summer and thus,
a very short growing season. To make up for that, outside the growing season,
the weather was too cold for bugs. Hence, the wheat production was not bothered
by bugs. Because of that, the wheat grown there was one of the best in the
world. They were able to grow the best strain of wheat. The population of the
city was small. I suspect it was because of the harsh climate. It takes a hardy
man to live through the long winters.

Among my experiences,

One wintry day, I went downtown to report to the county hospital. I didn’t
realize that, while I was in the hospital, a fast-moving and strong snowstorm
developed. I noticed that the city was rapidly being emptied by people. So I
decided to go home too. But I noticed that I was the only one left on the
street. Before the usual closing time, shops and the offices closed early and
very soon, the streets were empty. The weather was rapidly deteriorating that I
was the only one on the street with no shelter, no people and no vehicles
anywhere. It was rapidly getting worse. So, I thought to myself, “If something
happened to that bus and it did not come on time, I would surely freeze to
death.” I was well wrapped-up but it was not enough. That was an unusual day. I
saw that the temperature was minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit and there was a strong
wind to drop the wind-chill factor.

I don’t remember how long I waited but I was close to the limit of my endurance
when the bus came. I don’t remember now whether there were any other passengers
in the bus. The driver made no comments to me. Maybe, it was an ordinary winter
day for him. I decided then and there that I could not continue living in
Buffalo.

It was in Kenmore that I went shopping for necessities in a grocery store which
was within walking distance. I was lucky that, at the store, an older, female
employee from the hospital offered me a ride home because it was snowing. I was
very happy. When I boarded her car, she told me that she had to stop by two
stores to pick up some stuff and another store to deliver something. It was too
late to back out. Besides, I didn’t know what it meant to drive in a snowy
night. On our way home, our car spun 360 degrees on the bridge but it came
back to its original direction. I thought we were going to go over the bridge
onto the crowded highway below. Actually, we almost did. That was very real
danger. I could have gone over the bridge to my death. It was a great adventure
but a frightening one. We continued on the icy road, skidding here and there.
The snow plows could not keep up with the falling snow which was piling up.

Halfway home, the car ground to a halt. So, we approached a snow plower to call
a tow truck. We stayed inside the car and the seat was cold. It was a snowy
night and all we could do was wait. After a long wait which seemed like an
eternity to me, we decided to walk our way back to the hospital as my friend
was familiar enough with the area. By this time, the snow was almost three-feet
high and I felt like walking in a maze of snow tunnels. Since I was sliding and
had fallen a few times, I was hanging on to my friend for dear life. Both of us
slowly and carefully walked the snow-covered streets until she recognized tall
buildings in the dark from afar. She said, “Hey, that’s Mercy Hospital.” She
noticed that, in certain streets, the wind was stronger so we headed for other
streets. This delayed us even more. So, that’s how we managed to find the
hospital. Finally, I reached my destination in one piece. These things really
happened to me.

Here are other experiences…

During one wintry day, my female attending and I went to another hospital in
the north. Normally, one does not drive during a blizzard unless you want to
commit suicide. But on our way home, we found ourselves suddenly in the middle
of a snow storm. The snow was so thick, we couldn’t see beyond the front of our
car. We kept on driving because we did not want to get stuck alone in that
lonely road. This was Buffalo and it was winter and there was very little
traffic on the road. We did not have cell phones then. Had we stopped, we could
not start from a standstill because the snow would blanket us fast. We were
driving slowly, but not too slowly as to get buried in that heavy snowfall.
Somehow, we reached home.

In Buffalo, before I went to sleep, I would always cover myself with several
blankets. This was Buffalo and I expected it to be very cold. One day, I stayed
behind to talk to the cleaning lady. By this time, I had already moved to the
interns quarters because other female interns had arrived. I casually mentioned
to her how cold my room was. She first checked the thermostat and then the
windows. The storm windows were missing! She immediately asked the maintenance
people to install the storm windows that same day. What a difference it made.

Turning on the shower was hazardous for me at first. I never encountered hot
and cold taps in the Philippines. It took me quite a while to learn how
multiple-control faucets worked. Nobody taught me how to use them. So the first
time I took a shower, I almost scalded myself, not realizing that I could test
the taps first using the bottom spout, rather than the shower. I suspect this
would be a common occurrence for newly-arrived foreigners.

I was invited to join a welcome party hosted by the city to new foreign
students and interns. It was nice of Mercy Hospital to submit my name to city
hall. Wine was available so I drank a little, then a little and a little until
I could not stop talking. I never drank wine before in my life. I also felt the
floor seeming to slide underneath me. I was surrounded by a few people who
seemed to enjoy my conversation or were they revelations? I found out later
that my host was running for election and eventually became the city manager. I
really made good friends in Buffalo.

My first winter was cold. I used to test the saying that “If I spit, the
spittle would be frozen before it hit the ground.” I thought that happened to
me.

Most of the people in Buffalo did not seem to be bothered by the really cold
and dry winter. One of the things that bothered me about the winter would be
how often I would get static electricity. Static electricity would jump out of
my fingers and were somewhat painful. They always startled me.

I applied to change my J-1 visa to an immigrant status since most of my family
were already living in New York city (NYC). When I was accepted in Buffalo, I
thought I would be close to them. It turned out that NYC was a 10 – 12 hour bus
ride from Buffalo. So, that made me feel very strongly that I should apply for
a residency position in NYC.

I had been going to NYC to visit my relatives many times and liked the hustle
and bustle of the city. I felt more at home in the New York crowd of
foreigners. So I applied to Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn and went for an
interview. They took me on the spot & I accepted it. I had planned to go back to
Buffalo that summer to bid goodbye to my friends. But I did not get that
chance.