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| A social hour shared sewing with Little Princess! |
Did any of you listen
to this live?
I wish I had!
It would have been just up my street but unfortunately
the holidays do not start until next week. Actually I did not know about it. If
I had I think I may have made a flying visit for what would have been an
amazing once in a lifetime opportunity.
It is lovely to listen to Dr Oliver Sacks talking
about the importance of story-telling in his life and especially the importance
of house visits in order to see the world that people live in.
It is also lovely to listen to Dr Sacks talking with such enthusiasm in his very English voice about
learning in a hands-on way and in a relationship. So conductive! He talks about
discovering who the people are that he treated throughout his life, always so
important for him before he could treat them.
He described a wonderful insight into migraine,
recalling a story about a patient whose decks were cleared for creativity by
the migraines he suffered and taking the tablets to prevent them removed for
this one patient the opportunity for a creative spurt of work. I know this
feeling and when I have read Dr Sacks before and now hear him describing this I
am reassured that the pain of that weekend migraine is worth it sometimes to
have that creative spell the following day.
He described how it was through his early work with
migraine patients that he became passionate about recording case studies. He
continued the family tradition of telling medical stories. He continued
throughout his live building relationships with his patients so he could tell
his stories.
How wonderful to listen to someone, my inspiration, imparting such
important information in such a wonderful “let me tell you a story” way.
Oh, how I wish I that I heard this live and even to
have dared ask some questions, but it is in some ways even better to have the means to listen to
it online as often as I wish. I find it so inspiring and will, I am sure, soon get back to writing
“short stories” of my own on my blog and for my books.
Notes
Dr Oliver Sacks -
'Narrative and Medicine: The Importance of the Case History'
1 comment:
Oh dear, I wish that I had known in advance too. It is not that far and I should certainly have gone.
It would have been interesting to see whether the evidence-basers were genuflecting there. Or whether his whoopsier fans recognised that his is hard science too. In a different 'Romantic' paradigm.
Keep up the good work,
Andrew.
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