This week, I

>> saw a video of a woman undergoing a thyroidectomy with no anesthesia or analgesia. This film, shot sometime in the 1950s, shows Dr. William Kroger demonstrating the effects of hypnosis. His technique, frankly, makes me cringe, but the results (on this tape, anyway) are incredible: The surgeons are slicing open her neck and she’s laying there, still, without any tubes or lines entering or leaving her body. After the procedure, she awakens, smiles, sits up, and hops off of the table without problems.

Physicians have little difficulty believing that the mind can produce symptoms of pain and discomfort (”psych consult!”), though they balk at the idea that it can also relieve pain.

>> learned that there is apparently an eight-month old infant in the state of Washington who has been prescribed olanzapine (Zyprexa). This makes me angry.

>> realized (more fully) that I am soon moving to New York. I skimmed the ads on Craigslist and was thoroughly amused to read that there are 200 square foot studio apartments that rent for $1600 a month in Manhattan. And by “amused”, I mean “flabbergasted”. And by “flabbergasted”, I mean “kinda horrified”. And by “kinda”, I mean “really”.

I’m. So. Excited! (About moving to New York City. Not so much about finding a place to live.)

>> resumed running. I’m behind the pace bunny for my 1000-kilometer goal for 2008. (Never in my life did I anticipate that I would ever use the term “pace bunny”.) I blame the virus that infected my respiratory system for the break. I’d like to run at least one 5K in 2008… and it’d be nice to say that I ran one in Seattle. How about the St. Pat’s Dash?

>> learned a little about Sandor Ferenczi. He was a Hungarian psychoanalyst. He experimented with “mutual analysis”, where he would analyze a patient for a session… and then the patient would analyze him for a session. Oy.

>> resumed teaching. The medical students have returned from their holiday and they remain as curious, enthusiastic, and engaged as ever! (They make a good group. Their buoyancy rewards my efforts.)

(More stories to follow, Muse permitting.)