Last Friday I had the priviledge of conducting a Memorial Service for a colleague who died of cancer recently. She had worked as a night nurse at the cancer center where we both worked for over twenty years. Cindy was a rare bird. Outspoken, opinonated, and caring, she had amassed alot of goodwill among her patients, family, and colleagues that she worked with. During the Memorial service, one of the nurses shared a humorous story of attending a pajama party with Cindy. On the way to the party, Cindy insisted that they stop to pick up more beer. The car was full of women in their pajamas. Undaunted, Cindy strolled into the grocery store in the sexiest of night gowns and carted off two cases of beer as nonchalantly as you please.

Cindy was also an advocate for animals and the environment. She was known to go out and rescue abandoned and neglected cats and dogs and spend thousands of dollars in providing medical care and attention on them. Another co-worked remarked that she remembers Cindy talking her into going out one night from the hospital to feed an abandoned kitten. Another colleague related a story of a cancer patient's spouse who walked up to Cindy in the gift shop and thanked her profusely for literally saving his wife's life during a crucial stay at the center.

Cindy was a hero, in her own uncompromising way. She never married or had children of her own, and yet, in her own way she had become a mother to many four-legged and two-legged creatures. I salute you Cindy for the difference you made in so many lives. Blessings.
Chaplain Stephen Findley

Chaplain Findley is a Board Certified chaplain at MDACC, working with leukemia patients.

Marshal Scott's sermon was presented at the annual meeting of the Assembly of Episcopal Healthcare Chaplains:

The road from Jerusalem to Emmaus is seven miles. Cleopas and his companion walk that long road, walking in shock and bewilderment. Trying to make sense of it all, they are talking of the past few days, of loss and hope and mystery and confusion. They walk and talk, and realize they are not alone. Someone is with them, someone who at first seems clueless, and then seems to know more than they do about their subject. Once he is on their topic he explains to them the context for what has happened - how scripture predicted it, how prophets foretold it, how the love of God required it. He speaks and carries them with him, and suddenly the road is not so long. He stops with them when they ask. He sits at table, he breaks bread, he is Jesus - Jesus whom they know, Jesus whom they love, Jesus whom they mourn - and then he is gone. He is gone, but his presence continues to lift them up, and they run - they run as if their feet had wings - all that long road back to Jerusalem; and they remember that while he was with them their poor, sad hearts were not cold anymore.

Every hospital has a corridor that, at 2:00 a.m., seems seven miles long, and longest when we walk it with a grieving family. And as we walk with them, at first we seem clueless - we are clueless. But as we walk with them by God's grace we can reflect to them the presence of Christ. We may not break bread with most of them. We may not even share the same scriptures. But we can reflect that presence. We can provide a context, because we know what the Scriptures promised, what prophets foretold, what God's love has accomplished.

Every hospital has a corridor that, at 2:00 a.m., seems seven miles long, and longest when we walk it with a grieving family. But we can walk with them, as Christ walked to Emmaus. We can share the love of Christ, made visible in us; and by God's grace their walk can seem shorter; their feet can feel lighter, and their poor, sad hearts can feel less cold.

MD Net Guide has a piece on the Medical blogosphere that includes several interesting links and a great introduction to blogging:

...there comes a time in every physician's life when he or she just wants a place to tell a funny story, scream to the heavens about the frustrations of HIPAA compliance, complain about a recalcitrant patient, or otherwise blow off steam. "That's the beauty of blogs. If they want to be self-indulgent, they can," says Kevin Pho, MD (blog home: www.kevinmd.com). "This is not for business. It's for patients, but it is also for myself and other doctors, too." Dr. Pho, whose own blog is visited by some 200 readers each day, adds that "It's a way to argue and debate medical issues, whether it's the cost of practice or universal healthcare, [but] it's also just a way to keep in touch with writing"

Blogosphere is the collective term encompassing all weblogs or blogs as a community or social network. Many weblogs are densely interconnected; bloggers read others' blogs, link to them, reference them in their own writing, and post comments on each others' blogs. Because of this, the interconnected blogs have grown their own culture. Other terms in use include Blogtopia, Blogspace and Blogistan.