by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 8, 2024 | Miscellaneous Musings
Fred Hargesheimer visits with pupils of the Airmen’s Memorial School in Ewasse on Aug. 2, 2004, during a visit to the southwest Pacific island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. As a World War II U.S. Army pilot, he was shot down over the Japanese-occupied island...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 7, 2024 | Miscellaneous Musings
February 1st was “World Leprosy Day” and I confess, I did not have that on my calendar. I have actually seen a patient in the wound center with leprosy. It’s endemic in Texas and about 200 new cases are reported each year. I thought the way that the leprosy awareness...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 22, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight, Miscellaneous Musings
It’s the holidays so most people can expect to watch the scales move up. A WebMD article about holiday weight gain suggests that the problem is not that people gain a lot of weight during the holiday season but that they gain a little every holiday season —...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 22, 2022 | Miscellaneous Musings
Nearly every week I see another initiative focused on clinician burnout and depression, and the holiday season is often a particularly difficult time. However, I’ve started to wonder if the reason we struggle emotionally is not because we have too many problems, but...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 20, 2022 | Miscellaneous Musings
My daughter, Laura Moore, just graduated from Colorado State at 31. I am posting this to encourage all the parents whose children are following a non-traditional path in life. Laura gave the student response at her graduation and she briefly mentioned her struggle...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 7, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
Today is the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. We can vaguely understand how the Greatest Generation felt by comparing it to the impact of 9/11 on our generation. However, as terrible as 9/11 was, it doesn’t compare to the attack on Pearl Harbor. On the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 22, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
I read Nathaniel Philbrick’s book Mayflower and it’s the antidote to self-pity if you need to snap out of it at Thanksgiving. We forget that when the Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving, what they were thankful for was just being ALIVE. I’d like to focus on different...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 15, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
Are you feeling a little sorry for yourself today? You probably have good reasons. How is self-pity working out as a coping mechanism? If you’d like to try a different approach, I know someone who can show you how. One of my heroes informed me that today is national...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 6, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
“I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.” –Anne Frank It’s easy to think that one’s mood is determined by one’s circumstances, but Anne Frank didn’t believe that. Depression and despair, hope and happiness are the by-products...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 5, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
My wonderful nurse Jessica came up with the idea of a “Thankful Bulletin Board.” There are paper “leaves” available at the check-out desk so that patients can write down anything for which they are thankful, even if they are not yet healed....
