Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

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I began reading this book yesterday, partly the reason for the lack of blog post. The novel is a self-written case-study of Susannah Cahalan's "month of madness" in which she succumbs to an illness unknown by many healthcare professionals. Fortunately for Cahalan, a doctor on her team of practitioners was familiar with a contemporary study that identified the cause of a certain set of symptoms in young women.

Cahalan describes her symptoms as she lived through them. Although she does not remember much about her experience in total, she combines snippets of memories with extensive research into her case. She relies on several friends, family members, and healthcare providers' recollections and documents recorded during her period of illness to fill in the gaps. The result is a tale of determined young woman battling an illness that nearly claimed her life.

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As much as I want to go into details about the novel, I will leave it up to the discretion of the reader. It can be heartbreaking and hard at times to read, but it is well worth the time spent on it. I will, however, discuss a detail Cahalan writes about her neurologist. In discussing her case with the neurologist, he states he is unfamiliar with her diagnosis - despite it being publicized nearly everywhere in the media and in various journals of medicine for the last few months.

It is a fact that medicine is constantly evolving. Healthcare practitioners are (and rightly so) expected to follow the latest developments in medicine. Not only should healthcare providers be up-to-date with contemporary practices, they should understand them as well. Without understanding the developments, healthcare practitioners increase the risk of misdiagnosing their patients and decrease the level of care they provide.

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Although healthcare practitioners are required to continue their education, the most valuable practitioners will be the ones who actively seek to learn despite the various time and energy constraints all healthcare practitioners face. Ultimately, the importance of a doctor lies in their knowledge of medicine and humanity than their academic achievements.

Edge of Tomorrow

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Edge of Tomorrow begins by hastily explaining the current global situation: the world is under attack by aliens and humankind has developed robotic suits that help the army's soldiers combat the enemy. Amidst the chaos, two warriors join forces to strategize a way to win the war against the aliens. One of the soldiers, Tom Cruise, has the ability to relive the same two days - an ability his partner, Emily Blunt, had in a previous battle.

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The interaction between the two characters made me think about sacrifice, forgiveness, and humility. Cruise's character repeatedly sacrifices himself for members of his squad and for Blunt. The end goal of course, is the battle's victory. As the battle continues and Cruise and Blunt get closer to defeating the aliens, Cruise discusses the difficulty in proceeding. He tells Blunt that however many times they have succeeded, she always dies after a certain point. Blunt sacrifices herself on multiple occasions and Cruise must ultimately sacrifice his life to ensure victory.

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Of course, no science fiction movie is without a semi-happy ending. The overall "forgiveness" that occurs as a result of Cruise's sacrifice is expected. For what sacrifice is made without some form of benefit? Does that not defeat the purpose of it being considered a sacrifice?

I have been thinking especially about the things we, as children, do for our parents. Parents frequently talk about sacrificing things for their children, yet also expect something in return. A sacrifice is not part of a transaction. Or can it be? Think of the sacrifice God made for humanity. We, in turn, are expected to follow His Commandments. Or are we expected?

Some final thoughts on the matter: God is love. Sacrifices are made expecting nothing in return. Respect and love, however, are great ways to show thanks for the sacrifices that are made. Forgiveness should be given, not earned.

Universal Class

As I mentioned this past week, I have been exploring Scout, a Pierce County Library System online program for adults. In my exploration, I have discovered an online education website that is free through the library. I knew Tacoma Library System had it, but I did not know that PCLS did - as you can imagine, I was ecstatic!

The name of the website is Universal Class. If you have a Pierce County Library card, you should be able to access it for free. I hope that this information will be useful to those in Pierce County as well as those who may be interested to see if this option is available through the local public library system.

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I have been trying to keep up with my study habits this summer and thought, "what better way than to use online education?" I browsed the website for the kinds of courses it hosts and almost immediately signed up for Prenatal Care. I wanted to see what the courses would be like and thought the prenatal class would give me a good head-start on next semester's rotation through labor and delivery.

The courses are designed for anyone with a high school education and offer unlimited time for completion. In every lesson, there is the information which can be printed for later use as well as an exam (that is more like a quiz in my opinion). Some lessons have assignments which have the student review what has been discussed in the lesson. Some courses have more lessons than others. The course instructors tend to answer emails and return grades in a timely manner. The longest I have had to wait for a response was two days - and that was over a weekend.
Currently I am taking Organic Chemistry 101, Alzheimer's Disease 101, and All About Herbs. I have completed Prenatal Care and am concurrently taking a nutrition class through the Tacoma Public Library System's online education website.

Hiking with Saul

I use the verb "hiking" loosely in describing the long walk we took yesterday. I still feel a little shaky after the flu, so I thought of things that could get my brother and I out of the house and into an abnormally warm and sunny day. There are several parks nearby that I have yet to visit this summer and I decided on one that was a few blocks away.

Kobayashi Park, our park of choice for the excursion, is located in University Place near Chambers Creek. It is currently open while the housing structure is under construction. From what I understand, the property used to be owned by a couple who had a small house and pool overlooking the creek. The couple tried selling the house, but instead turned it into a rental home. The rental home eventually became too much of a liability and is now under construction. Supposedly it is being turned into a gazebo for public use. 

The park has two distinct sets of trails, the easier of which we explored. It was a good outing to say the least.

Our signature "bored" look. Well, close enough.