{"id":397,"date":"2015-02-10T20:21:01","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T20:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mc.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltmedicine\/?p=397"},"modified":"2021-08-11T19:41:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T19:41:40","slug":"gaudeamus-igitur-no-ii-therefore-let-us-rejoice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/gaudeamus-igitur-no-ii-therefore-let-us-rejoice\/","title":{"rendered":"GAUDEAMUS IGITUR, NO. II (\u201cTherefore, Let Us Rejoice\u201d)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Written by Andre Churchwell, M.D.,\u00a0<\/i>Homage to John H. Stone, MD\u2014Poet, Friend, Humanist, and Cardiologist\u2014 and John\u2019s Poem \u201cGaudeamus Igitur: A Valedictory Address.\u201d (1982)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let us rejoice in this celebration.
\nLet us rejoice in this end of a
\nBeginning and the beginning to a new end.<\/p>\n

Let us rejoice that the days of
\nHealing can now begin.<\/p>\n

For in healing our lives are made
\nMore meaningful.<\/p>\n

That to heal, we must be constantly
\nIn the moment, human and
\nDoubly humane.<\/p>\n

For in healing, we are connected to
\nHippocrates and Pasteur and Osler and Drew.<\/p>\n

For we who are gathered here
\nMust ease suffering
\nAnd know and care in equal amounts.<\/p>\n

We must know pathos, loss and joy fully;
\nFor they are always near.<\/p>\n

That from our connectedness, we
\nwill know
\nWhen death has entered the room.<\/p>\n

For we understand that no one
\nDies of a spider angioma and vigilance
\nWill be required to recognize
\nThe tracks in the snow, of the Silent MI.<\/p>\n

That God\u2019s rhythm, the ECG,
\nCan have peaked T waves
\nThat must be feared, recognized, and treated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
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That we must know diabetes and
\nIts acidosis and coma and all of its
\nDeadly ways.<\/p>\n

For we must know that hard work and
\nDisciplined, reassured, self-regulated thoughts and actions are
\npart of doctoring.<\/p>\n

We must know of Kussmaul’s Sign,
\nThe angle of Louis (Armstrong),
\nAnd Heberden’s Nodes.<\/p>\n

That Vanderbilt, this place of
\nManicured green lawns, gathered friends,
\nAnd enduring lessons, stands eternal
\nAnd, for you, will remain a repository of knowledge,
\nPeople and memories.<\/p>\n

For you will come to understand the virtue
\nOf giving a piece of yourself to every
\nPatient only deepens your healing value and effect.<\/p>\n

For you will sometimes not find
\nMcBurney\u2019s Point or Virchow\u2019s Sentinel Node.<\/p>\n

That you will find solace in the smile of a
\nChild and a letter from a patient.<\/p>\n

That DNA and science have a magnificence,
\nAnd you will be compelled by them to know more
\nBecause you care; and you will push
\nYour limits to see more, feel more,
\nAnd in all of this you will become a better doctor.<\/p>\n

That you will see frailty and seek
\nTo be wise and compassionate.<\/p>\n

That there will be times you will know what you don\u2019t know
\nAnd be obliged
\nTo know.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

For integrity is priceless and, oftentimes, humor
\nwill be your greatest medicine.<\/p>\n

That you will cross the \u201cinterpersonal
\nchasm\u201d between you and your patient with
\nlife stories and expressions of your
\nown vulnerability.<\/p>\n

For we will not only know \u201cThe Sounds
\nof Silence\u201d but also, the sounds Of Borborygmi,
\nOf Eructation, Of Peristalsis and
\nOf Hamman\u2019s Crunch.<\/p>\n

For we will know Amiodarone,
\nThat witch\u2019s brew, can cease the
\nQuivering of the fibrillating heart.<\/p>\n

Finally, let us rejoice in the
\nKnowledge of cavernous sinuses,
\nspots of Roth, and edema that pits.
\nLet us wade through fluid in the
\nCul-de-sac, feel the waterhammer pulses of
\nCorrigan, and know of Quinke\u2019s Blanching Pulse.
\nAnd in knowing these \u201cpearls,\u201d
\nWe may thankfully rejoice, that I am,
\nFinally, at The End.<\/p>\n

By Andre\u0301 L. Churchwell, MD
\nFebruary, 2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Andre Churchwell, M.D.,\u00a0Homage to John H. Stone, MD\u2014Poet, Friend, Humanist, and Cardiologist\u2014 and John\u2019s Poem \u201cGaudeamus Igitur: A Valedictory Address.\u201d (1982)   Let us rejoice in this celebration. Let us rejoice in this end of a Beginning and the beginning to a new end. Let us rejoice that the days of Healing can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vm-related-content","category-vm-winter-2015"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcDnub-6p","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3160,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions\/3160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}