Mandolin Christmas Music and Chemotherapy Infusions

       Today was an infusion day and at the request of some of the other patients I have gotten to know I took my mandolin and played Christmas music. I know it helps me and hope it helps them; they seemed to like it. I am the first patient ever there who has played the mandolin while getting an IV infusion. I’ve always believed there is some power in the music and the others seem to agree; at least it makes  a tough experience more tolerable.

        The mandolin Christmas book I work out of and recommend for players of all levels is Roland White’s. It is not too difficult and yet his liberal use of rich double stops makes it sound more complicated than what it is. So, thanks Roland for your help to make a group of patients happy today. You never know where all the mandolin will take you.

Dr. B

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International ‘Play it Again Sam’ Day

        One of our fellow writers, Ms. Karen Collum, has a son who is having open heart surgery today.  The boy is named Sam, and goes by the nickname ‘Possum.’  In the bluegrass world, I have dubbed him ‘Australia Sam.’

        He has an ASD, or atrial septal defect.  To break that down into real doctor talk he has a small hole in his heart they gotta patch, but he should be okay, ’cause as far as those things go, it sounds bad but most of the time they can fix it and the patient will do well.

         His surgery is today, so in the world of bluegrass we have declared this ‘International Play it Again Sam Day.’  We want him to get back to play and kid stuff pronto, and to leave all the fear and pain behind.  The good news is kids are very resilant and all odds are he will do just that.

        One time one of my children had surgery, though not this serious.  I had been a Doc a long time but I was not prepared for the helpless feeling.  Post-op all I could do was sit up all night and wait for the storm to pass.  She did fine, though.  Ms. Karen might feel like she’s leaving Casablanca in the fog and rain on a prop plane this evening,  but tommorrow the sun is gonna shine, and Sam is gonna play it again.  

        For that matter there are a bunch of kids out who face something similar today.  So I’m gonna send up a prayer that they have a minimum of suffering and life returns to normal very soon.

        I believe prayer and music have power to heal.  I’m sure someone has done a study and played music to post-op mice and realized they healed up faster than the ones without any social support.  So from the bluegrass community around the world, all the best Sam.  Play it again.

        My song of the day on FaceBook is Sam Bush’s ‘Brilliancy.’  At one time I had this one under my fingers, though no one can play it like Sam.  I’m gonna get out my mandolin and play it for Australia Sam as soon as I finish this post.  I hope my fellow musicans will do the same.  The writer world is much like the bluegrass one.  We all try to make sense of a crazy world through art.  I find both genres are often misunderstood so all us artists gotta stick together.

        All prayers to Australia Sam.  Play it again soon, kid.

Dr. B