Auscultation

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of excerpts from ‘The South’ by Jorge Louis Borges with reflection on the experience of critical illness, iatrogenesis and communication.  Work: Fever wasted him and the pictures in The Thousand and One Nights served to illustrate nightmares. Friends and relatives paid him visits and, with exaggerated smiles, assured him that they thought he looked fine. Dahlm...

Send us Fan Mail Description:  An immersive reading of excerpts from ‘Three Thoughts’ by  Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson with reflection on marginalization, the call to healthcare, courage and facing dragons.  Work: experts from Three Thoughts’ by Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson  "Who dares stand forth?" the monarch cried, "Amid the throng, and dare to give Their aid, and bid this wretch to li...

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of excerpts from ‘The Botanic Garden Part II: The Loves of Plants’ by Erasmus Darwin with reflection on dropsy, digitalis, heart failure and medical myths.  Excerpts  415 Bolster'd with down, amid a thousand wants,         Pale Dropsy rears his bloated form, and pants;         "Quench me, ye cool pellucid rills!" he cries,         Wets his parch...

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of excerpts from the short story ‘Iron Routine’ by Zitkála-Šá with reflection on healthcare disparities, authority and antagonists.  Excerpts ‘Iron Routine’ by Zitkála-Šá A paleface woman, with a yellow-covered roll book open on her arm and a gnawed pencil in her hand, appeared at the door. Her small, tired face was coldly lighted with a pair of large gray eye...

Send us Fan Mail Description:  An immersive reading of the poem ‘On Pain’ by Kahlil Gibran reflecting on total pain and spirituality in healthcare.  Poem On Pain by Kahlil Gibran  And a woman spoke, saying, Tell us of Pain.      And he said:      Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.      Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the...

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of the poem ‘A Visit to the Asylum’ by Edna St. Vincent Millay reflecting on mental institutions and windows. Poem: A Visit to the Asylum             Edna St. Vincent Millay  Once from a big, big building,  When I was small, small,  The queer folk in the windows  Would smile at me and call.         And in the hard wee gardens  Such pleasant men would hoe:  “Si...

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of excerpts from the novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro with reflection on professional caregivers, burnout and scapegoats.  Excerpts It means a lot to me, being able to do my work well, especially that bit about my donors staying “calm.” I’ve developed a kind of instinct around donors. I know when to hang around and comfort them, when to leave them to th...

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of the poem ‘To a Lady on Her Coming to North-America with Her Son, for the Recovery of Her Health’ by Phillis Wheatley reflecting on get well cards, health care disparities and how illness makes you meet so many people.  Poem To a Lady on Her Coming to North-America with Her Son, for the Recovery of Her Health.   INDULGENT muse! my grov’ling mind inspire,   A...

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of experts from Michel de Montaigne’s essay ‘Of Experience’ reflecting on his suffering from kidney stones with an exploration of the themes of reframing suffering, the historical treatment of kidney stones and illness narratives.  Passage: When it assaults me gently, I am afraid, for ‘tis then for a great while; but it has, naturally, brisk and vigorous exces...

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘My First Well Day Since Many Ill’ about a person going outside after being sick for a long time with an exploration of the themes of summer’s end, the denial of death, and reclusiveness.  Poem: My First Well Day Since Many Ill             by Emily Dickinson My first well Day — since many ill —  I asked to go abroad,  And take the Sun...

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of Mina Loy’s poem ‘Parturition’ about childbirth with an exploration of the themes of pain, motherhood and abstract language. 

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of William Blake’s poem ‘The Sick Rose’ about a child with a serious illness with an exploration of the themes of breaking bad news, brevity, and worms. 

Send us Fan Mail An immersive reading of excerpts about caregiving from Gabriel García Márquez’ novel 'Love in the Time of Cholera' with an exploration of the themes of the under-recognition of caregivers, the aging body and complementary therapy. 

Send us Fan Mail Add a bit of joy and perspective to your practice of healthcare with this humanities-inspired podcast that focuses the lens of art and literature to find fresh views on wellness and illness. Christopher Schifeling, a geriatric and palliative care physician and poet, shares immersive readings and viewings of artwork with a dose of humor. Enriching for any and everyone in healthcare...