Stories of the Heart, Mind and Soul

By Andrew Opritza

Stories of the Heart, Mind and Soul is a collection of stories and thoughts of a wide variety of subjects. Some are about my 3o+ years of practice as an MD Internist; some are about subjects of interest to me, and some concern historical figures and events and also poignant stories of the stuggles of the human condition. Lofdoc
Biography,Autobiography, Informational, Humor,Curiosity, Adventure, Fiction, Non-Fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781678017538

Book preview

Forward:

The past few years have been traumatic for our author Lofdoc, i.e., Andrew Opritza, MD. He has written many short stories, some mysteries, many fictional, and some non-fictional, but for the past 14 years his consuming passion has been to battle and overcome the dreaded serpent known as Alzheimer’s disease, which attacked his lifelong angel wife of 68 years, Janice.

It was a battle that Lofdoc thought he must not lose. He had fought many medical battles for countless thousands of patients over the past thirty years as a physician in Internal Medicine. During her difficult battle to survive for the past fourteen years our author, her loving husband, spent every moment by her side to comfort her, and fight her adversary. Sadly, her battle against impossible odds was lost two years ago, and her loving husband, now at the age of 95, was set adrift on the turbulent sea of sorrow. He was determined to honor her with words of love and respect until he is reunited with her again. 

THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE THAT MATTER

Have you ever wondered or thought about how you were doing in life? No, I’m not talking about having a car when you were 16 years-old or if the boy or girl next door thinks you’re a cool cat. I’m referring to a time in your life when you had managed to improve skills and emotional growth comfortably within yourself and are able to see, feel and react to the world’s impact on folks around you. I guess, I am asking if you have ever experienced a time in your life when you realized that the world around you function not with momentous starts and stops, but with just the little things in life that may have seemed trivial at the time but may become of great importance later on.

Very early in my life as I and many other young persons reasoned, life was my oyster… it was a time for me, not for you or them, and oh to be sure there were also a few thoughts about other’s needs, but were soon forgotten. It was a time to receive love not give it, it was a time for getting, not giving. Yes, everything that happened in my early life was a major event – there was no time for small stuff.

As the years silently slipped by, life’s experiences and realities tended to change my early outlook on life. I began to realize that the world didn’t revolve around me, and that most events around me were not major events, they were pleasant everyday activities and that little things in life did matter.

During the early years of the 1940’s World War II was raging and I, being 17 years of age, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in December 1944 and hopefully would help the war effort in some small way. Remarkably, my enlisting in the Navy opened the door for me to enter the world of medical science, when I and many others in Navy boot camp were enlisted into the naval medical corps when the war effort drastically needed more reserves. I mentioned this time period experience in my life because it began my future life’s endeavors as a physician who realized that to be able to be a successful healer there must be sincerity, knowledge, honesty, interest and caring, and most of all have patience to consider all detailed information no matter how minute. To solve a patient’s illness – i.e., little things, facts, in the patient’s life history were critical to solve a problem – and save lives.

After twelve years of intense training in various medical studies such as Premed basic subjects, medical school, internship and three years in my specialty of internal Medicine, I Practiced solo for over thirty years. During my many years of family practice, I adhered to sound medical, and honorable principles of behavior. I tried to listen to, and understand, what the patients were telling me about their problem no matter how insignificant it appeared to be. Although careful history taking is time consuming and at times irrelevant, it is the only way to obtain the true understanding of the patient and patient’s difficulty. Of course, there were many times even after many hours of searching that a solid conclusion wasn’t possible, but many times the early knowledge was critical for later understanding, and eventually, saving the patient’s life. Let me give you an example of from where I speak.

One morning, I had just entered my office at 8 am when a long-term patient that I knew well called. She, a fortyish young lady called to tell me that she has a little cough. After telling me about the cough, etc. I normally would have thought that her cough was an innocent cough like everybody seemed to be having from a cold. But two things were alarming to me about her calling about a cough. Firstly, I had known her for several years, and knew she would never call me for just a little cough. I also knew she would only call me if she truly was worried that something bad was happening to her. So, I asked her to come in immediately. After carefully evaluating her for the cough and her general condition, I honestly thought that she had – ‘just a little cough’. But I couldn’t understand why she called me early in the morning – it wasn’t what I would have expected her to do, so I decided to send her down to the local hospital emergency room for evaluation and a chest Xray. A short time later, the emergency room physician called me to tell me her chest Xray was normal, and that she checked out ok, and that they will send her home with a little cough medicine

Normally, I would have agreed, but something wasn’t right, so I decided to close the office and went to the emergency room to reevaluate her. The emergency room doctor was irritated with me, to say the least. After re-evaluating her, I still had no reason to keep her in the hospital. Since her habitus was such that, she had a relatively short neck, I decided to have a lateral Xray of her neck to check her airway. The lateral view of her neck revealed a thin sliver of oxygen airway. So, instead of sending her home, I put her in the intensive care room and ordered a standby surgical tray to do a tracheotomy if needed. I then ordered adrenalin and IV cortisone. Her response was immediate, her cough cleared quickly.

When she was better, I again sat down with her and patiently rehashed her history that had led to the time her cough began. Finally, the reason for her cough was established. It was after cleaning her dentures and reinserting them in her mouth that morning that she developed the cough – she was hyperallergic to her dentifrice. 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Not too long ago I stumbled on an article about a man walking along a sandy beach. As he walked, he saw a boy repeatedly bending down, standing up, and then extend his arm as if throwing something into the ocean. The man, curious, approached the lad and realized the boy was picking up starfish and throwing them back into the ocean beyond the incoming crashing waves. The man then introduced himself to the boy and asked him why he was throwing starfish back into the ocean. The lad calmly replied as he continued throwing starfish back into the ocean over the crashing waves "the sun is up and the tide is going out, if the starfish remain on the sand they will die.

The man was amazed, and said to the boy there are thousands of starfish all over the beach will saving a few starfish make any difference? The lad then picked up a star fish and threw it far out into the ocean over an incoming wave, and turned to face the man and said it made a difference to that one. Yes, the wise lad taught the inquisitive gentleman a lesson – that even a child can make a difference and save lives.

Later on, the day after reading that story, I couldn’t stop thinking and wondering how many persons would have cared enough to stop and save an innocent marine creature as the young lad did? He truly made a lifesaving decision for a little starfish – he made a difference!

There is no question most people would admit that they would feel good if they could do something that would ‘make a difference’ in the world or for someone, but many would then sheepishly smile and say if I could. But if that same person happened to be a mother or a father or a caregiver they certainly are ‘making a difference’ of immense value, and doing so on a daily basis for their children as they grow and become adults. Yes, that lad on the beach with the starfish was so wise, he did make a difference for that one starfish. The difference that the lad made for the starfish may have been small in the scheme of things, but it was of immense value for that one starfish. Interestingly, the decision or the need for making a difference isn’t a compelling need for most folks early in life because most folks are intent on fulfilling their own destiny, but unknowingly, they are truly making a difference by just doing mundane everyday activities.

Of course, it goes without saying, the phrase making a difference can be a two-edged sword because making a difference should always be for good, not evil.

There are many stories about someone making a difference. Some of the stories are true and some may be fiction but true or not, they all reflect the goodness of making a difference. There is one story that embodies the virtue of making a difference ---

The story of an ancient king…

Many years ago, King Do-good decided to test his subjects by placing a huge bolder that blocked a commonly used main dirt road to see if someone would move it off the road. He then hid by the side of the road to observe. Soon, he witnessed many travelers approaching the boulder on the road and watched them simply walk around it and say let someone else move it off the road. Eventually, a  poor elderly peasant approached the boulder paused and then struggled mightily to move the boulder off the road, after he had moved the boulder off the road, he saw a purse that was laying under the huge bolder with a note and a purse with gold coins from the king  –  the note -- you made a difference, you have earned many gold coins. The moral of the story, well, there really isn’t one except to say that we all make mistakes in life but if we learn from our mistakes, we will make a difference by simply doing what is possible and reasonable.

My own true story titled ---

THE MIRROR OF TIME LONG PAST

I wonder, how many of us would have the courage, or for that matter, the need to look back over time for the expressed purpose of self-evaluation. What, you might legitimately ask would be the purpose of self-flagellation? Well, I suppose there would be no real reason other than it would be like an artist stepping back to evaluate his latest painting. There is no doubt that most of us will, or should, step back at one time or another to assess our lives as unique creatures on this earth.

For no apparent reason my thoughts flashed back to a time of my early youth. I remembered those high-flying spirited feelings of invincibility, of being impervious to injury – of feeling immortal! Ah, such wonderful times they were! I suppose the fact that as we grow older, we tend to lose recent memory and retain long-term memories has something to do with my recollections of the past.

There were other reflections that were more difficult to review. It is of some interest that my early feelings and attitudes have come full circle. I find it totally disconcerting at this time of my life to look back to a time when cruelty to animals was an accepted practice i.e., abuse in laboratories, and yes, even disregard for life in general.

My thoughts then raced back to a time when the getting stage of my life was of paramount importance. It was important to not only to win the marble game, but to get all the marbles. It was important to obtain an education, to receive love -- not give it. It was a time of I – me – us and not you – they – them.

There was an early period of adulthood when certain questions needed to be asked such as who am I?’ Where am I going? Is there a God’?" And not least, will girls like me? I remember attempting to smoke a pipe thinking it would make me look grown-up and important. I can still feel the burning on my tongue and lips and the coughing spasms! Suffice it to say that phase didn’t last too long.

Later in mid-life, most of the questions that were so tormenting during those early years were never completely answered but were to some degree tolerable, and in some circumstances even comfortable. This was the using stage!!

Finally, in my fading elderly years, the need for accumulation had long past, and my need to help others was of greater importance. I had reached a contented compromise with those unanswered nettlesome youthful questions. I had entered the ethereal phase of life belatedly, when the need to ‘make a difference’ was so important. It has been said that learning from our past mistakes enables us to avoid future errors. Yes, the turbulent seas of life are a constant source of new danger. In the final analysis, we must all be the captain of our ships of life. 

Perhaps Shakespeare said it best:

"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing."

And finally,

We are all actors on the world’s stage. It matters not how many acts there are, but how well we did the play.

PS

There are over 2000 different species of starfish, these unique marine animals have various different colors, shapes, and sizes. Starfish, also known as Sea Stars, are one of the most beautiful looking animals in the ocean. They have a surprising anatomy, with no brain or blood, yet are able to digest food outside their bodies.

SOCRATES THE PHILOSPHER LOVER OF WISDOM

The life and death of the Greek philosopher Socrates was not unlike all other living creatures who have or will have lived on this earth. Although each life travels different pathways in life, all lives terminate at a predetermined time and place. The only difference is that each earth - traveler is a unique entity who is motivated and driven by a unique spark that only God knows the direction it will flame after birth. This story is a true history of a man who lived many centuries ago who’s unique ‘spark’ led him into controversy, enlightenment, everlasting fame -- and ultimately a painful death – the man’s name was Socrates, the philosopher.

Socrates was born 469 BCE and died 399 BCE. He lived in Athens Greece and grew up during the golden age of Pericles’ Athens, the age of culture, education and democracy, 469 to 429 BCE. He fought for many years in the Peloponnesian war as a hoplite, a foot soldier, with bravery and distinction. Early on, he showed great interest in the writings of contemporary philosophers. Eventually, he was recognized as a prominent philosopher in Greek Athens, but his style of teaching was considered strange because his method involved not conveying knowledge, but rather asking questions after clarifying question, until his students arrived at their own understanding. He wrote nothing on paper himself, so all that is known about him is filtered through the writings of a few contemporaries and followers most notably his student, Plato.

Socrates rarely revealed any opinion of his own as he brilliantly helped his discussers dissect their own thoughts and motives for example, one of Socrates greatest paradoxes was when he helped his students explore ‘whether weakness of will doing wrong when you honestly knew what was right’ – ever existed. No, he thought otherwise, he believed that folks only did wrong when at the moment, the perceived benefits seemed to outweigh the costs. Therefore, the development of personal ethics, is a matter of mastering what he called the art of measurement i.e., correcting the distortions that skews one’s analyses of benefits and cost.

Socrates’ presented himself as a questionable persona to the people of Athens during his final years of his life. He was well received and was thought to be brilliant by some citizens of Athens, but for many citizens, this unkept, barefoot gadfly was an anathema ill-suited to their cultured life style. In 423 BC, the playwright Aristophanes presented his comedy play THE CLOUDS where he depicted Socrates as an eccentric intellectual who is continually trying to get out of paying bills, and running a small school teaching young people to torment their parents, and to get out of debt collection by using rhetoric.

It was during his final years that storm clouds gathered for Socrates, and it didn’t help matters that several other philosophers were being accused of criminal financial and other offenses in various areas of Greece at that time in 423 BCE when Socrates was accused of asking politico philosophic questions of his young students which resulted in the accusation of moral corruption, and for introducing new deities. For those offenses he was sentenced to death by an all-male jury, by drinking poisonous hemlock.

It was to no avail that he protested the accusations, and realized, that his accusers didn’t want to know his true person, and just before he drank the hemlock he smiled, because by Plato’s account, he was to die because of his commitment to knowledge, and not as others had written that he knew he was getting old anyway, age 72. He then spoke his final words The unexamined life is not worth living and drank the hemlock. He then walked around with his friends until his legs were too numb and weak, he silently laid down and waited until the deadly hemlock poison reached his heart.

There has been one question about Socrates that has been asked many times over the past many centuries was why didn’t Socrates ever write his views for posterity? There has never been an answer and probably never will be one, but it is believed by most scholars that Socrates and many others during Socrates’ time felt that talking face to face was the only true reality to be unaltered, not scribbles on a sheet of paper that allows for corruption of the intended thought.

I Don’t believe my short account, or any other’s account concerning Socrates’ life should end without witness to a few of his wise aphorisms. It was an honor and a privilege for me to honor such a noble mind.

Socrates’ Aphorisms:

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

Be as you wish to be seen.

I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds ‘discuss people.

And some healthy advice ----Thou shouldst eat to live, not live to eat.

A SILVER DOLLAR

This is a story that would be worth a million dollars if measured in emotional satisfaction and joy of experiencing the goodness and the full measure of a fellow human being – yes, so it was when I received one silver dollar!

This is a story that evolved at a time when it was least expected from an unlikely source. So now please allow me the pleasure to tell you the story of – a silver dollar.

For the past many years, 8 years, I have been going daily to a nursing home to help my wife with her meals and other needs. My wife has been afflicted with a malady known as Alzheimer’s disease. During the many visits to the nursing home to be with my Angel wife I, a retired physician observed the pathos and hopelessness of many residents who were afflicted with the many and varied chronic illnesses of advanced age.

After many visits to be with my wife I had the opportunity to meet other visitors who had come to see their friends or relatives but there were many persons who never had a family member or friend come to visit them. I especially tried to acknowledge the forgotten few and eventually got to know them better and let them know they have a friend.

It was the meeting of a depressed person sitting by himself in his wheel chair with his head bent forward resting in his hands outside the nursing home as I was leaving the nursing Home that my story begins.

When I first met him, I’ll call him Joe, he was sitting in his wheelchair looking like he had just lost his best friend. He didn’t even look up when I asked him if he was OK, but he did wave his hand as if to say go on by I’m OK -- so, I did go on by.

I did think about him often afterwards, but didn’t see him for a few days, and wondered how he was doing. A few days later when I saw him again, he was sitting in his wheel chair as usual, but at a fair distance from the nursing home entrance, located on a short road leaving the nursing home. I stopped my car, lowered my window, and called out to him Hi, how are you doing? This time, he looked up and seemed to recognize me, and said I’m doing fine. After hearing him respond, and my having other things to do, I drove on knowing that he considered me to be a friend,

One day as I was leaving the nursing home, he was sitting in his wheelchair outside the nursing home entrance, I think he had planned his daily routine so that he could be waiting for me to come out. I thought he was gratified to have a friend who cared enough to stop and acknowledge him so I stopped to chat with him. He surprised me when he said You know, I sure miss my wristwatch. I, puzzled, said really, why do you want a wrist watch you don’t need to know about time but even if you do there are plenty clocks around. He answered, yeah, I know – but I always wore a wristwatch in the old days – and I miss not having one on my wrist. Interestingly, I knew exactly what emotions he was experiencing because I, too, have lost so much. Yes, I too, had lost the reason for my existence when I lost my wife to illness thirteen years ago. So, yes, I did give him a wristwatch hoping that I helped him regain a small portion of self-worth he had lost.

The days following his receiving my modest gift, he seemed to have a better outlook on life, and I thought all was doing well in the world, little did I know what was to come next. A few days after receiving my little gift, he apparently had not forgotten that I was his friend who had befriended him. so, after lunch one afternoon, I was leaving the nursing home after