Blog, Heal, Teach–Feedback and Photos

Just want to share some feedback from  two of the participants in my workshop Blog, Heal, Teach at the Carver College of Medicine in Iowa and some photos. This response is from Dr. David G. Thoele: I really enjoyed this presentation and am now filled with ideas for starting my own blog in the future. Wendy [...]

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Immersion!

Three days of intense medical humanities immersion at The Examined Life Conference, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa in Iowa City!  What fun! There’s so much to say. Here’s a snapshot. First, the friendships I made are  the most precious take-away. The support that I received was so heartwarming and generous. Another big gift [...]

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English 1A Students at the College of Alameda Read myincision

This is the fourth semester in which students read and comment on myincision. I am excited they are joining me here and thrilled as I anticipate reading their comments. Their assignment for this medical humanities unit is to read my first-ever post “Why Horseshoe Crabs?,” choose four other posts, and complete the following exercise: For [...]

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Still So Much to Learn

I was explaining to my community college English class what the term medical humanities means when one of the student’s hands shot up. She told the story of a friend of hers whose baby had just had surgery to repair a cleft palate. The surgeon’s first words to the parents after the operation were the [...]

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The Healing Art of Writing

What an incredible reading I participated in at Open Secret bookstore in San Rafael, California this past Saturday night. Some of us published in the anthology The Healing Art of Writing, Volume One read to a super  supportive audience. David Watts, one of the editors as well as a contributor, introduced the event, making everyone [...]

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A Time for Sea Creature

I had the most wonderful blogpost in mind for this past Saturday morning. Just one more read-through of the article Friday night and…………….. Not so fast. Snail mail came early Friday afternoon, along with the letter that I had hoped I would never see—my rejection letter from the University of Nebraska American Lives Series. My [...]

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Our Magnificent Existence

Reading Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s book, My Stroke of Insight, A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, is teaching me so much. At age thirty-seven, Jill suffered a massive stroke, and she shares her courageous experience of recovery in this wonderful book. As healing is the theme of my blog and as I’ve been healing and working [...]

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Our “Fourth Quadrant”

Two weeks ago, I attended a storytelling workshop, Retracing Our Steps (But I forgot the bread crumbs), given by Dr. Hetty Rodenburg, a medical doctor from New Zealand. Her own personal story was one of the most moving and inspirational stories that she shared that day. Years ago, she had signed up for a workshop [...]

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A Lesson in Medical Humanities

Thank you English 1A Composition students at the College of Alameda for reading and commenting on my blog. It was wonderful to get to know you better through your responses to my posts and our discussions in class. I am looking forward to reading the essays that you wrote in response to a medical humanities [...]

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“The Bellow of a Resected Colon” by Roey Shmool

Wendy here. I’m so happy to introduce Roey to the readers of myincision. What follows is his brief biography and his autobiographical piece, “The Bellow of a Resected Colon.”  Please direct your Comments to Roey. I hope he hears from you. ********************** My name is Roey Shmool. I was born with Hirschsprung’s disease and had 7 surgeries [...]

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