Arthur M. Lauretano, MD, MS, FACS
Author of Do The Right Thing
According to a study by Professor Christopher Boyle at the University of Exeter in the U.K., I owe my adult daughter and son a big apology. I have damaged them. I have instilled in them a distrust of me. They are left to question anything I have taught them, and any wisdom I may have tried to pass on to them. You see, when they were little, I told them that Santa Claus was real.
Sitting in the ICU, one week before Christmas, a word came to me: POIGNANT. The word is defined as “evoking strong emotions,” with some sources more specifically defining it as “evoking strong emotions of sadness.”
It was the former, broader definition that came to mind as I surveyed the twelve rooms in the unit. The patient I was seeing had had an airway reconstruction for sleep apnea. She was struggling to eat because of the changes in her throat, but she was improving and would be home well before Christmas.