Monday, May 26, 2008
The hand is a common symbol on gravestones and other art. In some Native American cultures, it signifies a healer. In the Shaker religion, a hand holding a heart meant welcome. A hand is also a symbol of protection or power. On this gravestone from the Key West Cemetery, the finger pointing upward probably signifies a pathway to heaven. It seems to be pointing to the words "At Rest" while the words "In God We Trust" are at the base. It looks like the hand is resting on a book. The Bible would be the most likely book. So it could be demonstrating that the person is at rest in heaven, with God and trust in God as their support.
The urn stands for immortality. In the ancient Egyptian culture vital organs were placed in urns with the belief that life could be restored through them. The urn with a flame stands for undying remembrance (like the Eternal Flame by JFK's gravestone). The flowers surrounding the urn signify beauty and life and their temporary nature. The urn rests on top of a sword which is a common symbol for martyrdom or the military (often crossed). Given that the sword is facing down (towards the deceased) it probably stands for relinquishing victory, or maybe submitting to death.
Also from Key West, some humor in the cemetery. As far as graveyard humor goes, this is actually a somewhat common one. Gravestones in Texas and New Jersey carry the same message. Spike Milligan (an Irish comedian) had "I told you I was ill" (in Gaelic to make it church appropriate) engraved on his.
This is a foot stone from my own family cemetery. My grandparents received a card with this poem and had it engraved on my uncle’s foot stone. The poem (written below for easy reading) compares life to a rose that grows beautiful and strong until it follows a beam of light through a crevice in a wall. It continues on the other side, just as beautiful but out of our site.
Looking at how others grieve and memorialize their departed loved ones makes me think about how we, in the field of hospice and palliative care do the same for patients we have lost.
The Rose Beyond the Wall
Near a shady wall a rose once grew,
Budded and blossomed in God's free light,
Watered and fed by the morning dew,
Shedding it's sweetness day and night.
As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,
Slowly rising to loftier height,
It came to a crevice in the wall
Through which there shone a beam of light.
Onward it crept with added strength
With never a thought of fear or pride,
It followed the light through the crevice's length
And unfolded itself on the other side.
The light, the dew, the broadening view
Were found the same as they were before,
And it lost itself in beauties new,
Breathing it's fragrance more and more.
Shall claim of death cause us to grieve
And make our courage faint and fall?
Nay! Let us faith and hope receive—
The rose still grows beyond the wall,
Scattering fragrance far and wide
Just as it did in days of yore,
Just as it did on the other side,
Just as it will forevermore.
By A. L. Frink
Monday, May 26, 2008 4
Saturday, May 17, 2008
We hope over the upcoming weeks and months you will enjoy learning and exploring the more "creative" side of palliative medicine! As a way to get things rolling we thought it'd be fun to spend some time thinking about our top 10 palliative minded films. As you may imagine, the decision was tough. There are actually a lot of movies out there that deal with things like death, grief, mortality, etc. We tried to have each film cover a particular unique theme. We'll undoubtedly spend time in future posts exploring these great films.
Please comment if you have used these in teaching, or there are films you think should be in the top 10, or if you think the list should be reordered.
For now, here's Pallimed: Arts & Humanities top 10 palliative care films:
Plot summaries courtesy of the Internet Movie Database; Titles link to the film preview
10. One True Thing (A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she is forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.)
9. The Fountain (Spanning over one thousand years, and three parallel stories this is a story of love, death, spirituality and the fragility of our existence in this world)
8. Big Fish (A story about a son trying to learn more about his dying father by reliving stories and myths his father told him about himself)
7. Life as a House (When a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son)
6. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed)
5. The Sea Inside (The real-life story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 30 year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die)
4. On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying (Four part PBS series by journalist Bill Moyers that focuses on end-of-life care in the US)
3. Two Weeks (In this bittersweet comedy, four adult siblings gather at their dying mother's house in North Carolina for what they expect to be a quick, last goodbye)
2. The Doctor (Jack Mckee is a doctor with it all: he's successful, he's rich, and he has no problems...until he is diagnosed with throat cancer)
1. Wit (A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer)
Saturday, May 17, 2008 34
Thursday, May 1, 2008
“Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.”
Robert Motherwell
As this is the first post of the Pallimed: Arts & Humanities Blog, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell all of you why we feel this topic important. Why art and palliative care? What do the two topics really have to do with each other?
First of all, themes common to palliative care such as death, grief, and chronic illness are also common themes in the arts. People have been getting sick and dying since the beginning of time and they have been making art to memorialize the occasion for almost as long. It seems like such a great fit to talk about these topics together.
In palliative care, we deal with (and experience) a lot of emotions: anger, sadness, frustration, relief, sometimes even joy. The arts are a great outlet for emotions. Many people journal or write stories to deal with emotional issues. We use art therapy to help our patients deal with their illnesses. As lovers of the arts, we see writing this as a little bit of self-care (an emotional outlet for us). We hope that reading this blog is a little bit of self-care for you, the reader, as well.
Just writing this will be a great learning experience for us. We hope you will learn something and then teach us something new through your comments. We’re definitely not art experts, just interested palliative care doctors, so we’re open to hear if you agree or disagree with the things we write. Ultimately, we hope this builds your interest in palliative care and the arts so you can share your enthusiasm with those around you.
Thursday, May 1, 2008 0
Monday, March 17, 2008
Amber Wollesen, MD
I received my medical training from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and graduated in 2003. I stayed on there for the 3 years of my internal medicine residency. In 2006, I was selected to be a Chief Resident. That was an important year for me. I discovered an interest in palliative medicine and got married to Wayne. In 2007, I ventured away from UMKC and joined a palliative medicine fellowship at Kansas City Hospice. Next year, I hope to work at a local hospital doing inpatient palliative care. My major palliative care interests are quality in palliative care and resident education.
Amy Clarkson, MD
I attended the University of Kansas for medical school and graduated in 2004. Family Medicine was an easy choice for residency and I completed 3 years with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Kansas Hospital, finishing up my last year as a Chief Resident. After spending one day with the palliative care consult team, I knew I'd found my niche in medicine. I'm currently finishing a fellowship in palliative care with Kansas City Hospice and will join the physician group of that organization next year. Any free time not involved in medicine is spent with my lovely 16month old daughter and husband.
Monday, March 17, 2008 2
The views expressed on this blog are solely the opinions of its contributors. They in no way reflect the views of our employers or any other institutions with which we are affiliated. Nothing on this blog is meant to be taken as medical or any other type of professional advice.
We do not host any of our own videos on this site. We do utilize already posted videos and we do post photos, quotes, and lyrics. If you have any questions or concerns about any of the material posted, please contact us. If you have the copyright on any of the material posted and object to it being used, we would be happy to take it down from our site or give proper credit.
Thank you so much for visiting our blog. The Pallimed: Arts & Humanities blog is the second blog in the Pallimed family. As the name implies, our focus is a little different from our sister blog. Our aim is to explore how the arts and humanities influence and are influenced by topics in palliative care.
Our goal is not only to provide enjoyment for you, the readers, but also to have some practical uses in palliative care education, such as use of a movie clips or art in palliative care lectures. We will do this by choosing examples of art, music, cinema, literature, television, theatre or other media with themes related to palliative care (for example: end-of-life, chronic illness, ethics, grief). We will post a commentary about the work and its relationship to palliative medicine (this may be obvious).
Our target audience is anyone in the field of (or with an interest in) palliative care, medicine, the arts, or humanities. While some information may be palliative care specific and assume a familiarity with the field, we hope that those with medical and non-medical backgrounds alike will enjoy our writings.
Who is Pallimed:Arts & Humanities?
Amber Wollesen, MD
Amber(dot)wollesen(at)gmail(dot)com
Amy Clarkson, MD
Amylclarkson(at)gmail(dot)com
What are the arts and humanities?
We realize that art means something different to every person and culture. We generally think of the arts as the products of creative activity. Humanities are defined as "learning or literature concerned with the human culture". I think for the purpose of this blog, we will take a very broad interpretation to the definitions of arts and humanities. Any aspect of the human culture and it's creative activity are potential topics.
How do you choose the topics you write about?It’s pretty much at random. We write about things that are interesting to us within the scope of this blog (arts and humanities). If you have things that you find interesting and you would like us to write about (or you would like to write about) please contact us.
How often do you post?
Our aim will be to post once per week.
Does Pallimed get referral fees for any of the links?
Pallimed does not get any referral fees for any of the links we provide. We do not participate in commercial advertising and so we do not accept any fees for advertising. We are all doing this on our own time without reimbursement.
What is a Spoiler?
A Spoiler is a line or paragraph that gives away the end or key plot element of a movie. We know that not all of our readers will have seen the movies we review. For that reason, we will hide any spoilers and place an asterisk on either side so you know they're there. We will also warn you when a spoiler is coming. It will look something like this: Warning: Spoiler ahead. Highlight to Read. *Spoiler info here*. Just highlight the text in between the asterisks if you want to know the end of the movie. Or watch the movie first and come back to read what we have to say.
How can I share my opinion?
Feel free to comment on any post. Pallimed has a comment function (at the bottom of each post) that allows you to give us feedback on each post. Just click on the link at the end of each post. We will also entertain guest posts if they fit into our aims.
We understand that the topics we write about are very subjective. You may agree or disagree with our interpretations. We hope you share your views with us.
