Your Twice-Monthly
Dose of Sanity:

Classified ads we don't want to see:

GI humor - a new meaning to the "Scope of Practice"

How do GI staff make excuses?.....But, but, but...
What do GI patients receive before arrival?.......prep school.
What do you call it when a GI Doctor reminisces?........retroflexion.
Favorite GI toast:......Bottom's Up!
Favorite GI movie:.....Gone with the Wind.
Favorite GI soda:......Candida Dry.
Favorite GI Toy:........GI Joe
Favorite GI Mouthwash:......Scope
Favorite GI Psychiatrist......Sigmoid Freud
Common personality type....Anal retentive
Common GI nurses name:...Peg
Reason GI doctors are late:.......they are always running behind.
GI mottos:...Ease "cecum" easy go., everyone is beautiful inside and out.
Why does everyone have a splenic and hepatic flexure?....One good turn deserves another.

Credit to the amazing Catherine Hassinger,CGRN of
Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, NJ!

Get another dose of laughter at RFS' Daily Dose of Sanity or the wild colon humor site ColonoscopyJoke.com

Got a funny medical joke or photo to share? Email it to us, and if we use it here, we'll give you credit!

Classified ads we'd love to see:

Alternate Punch Line Department:

A magician accidentally turned his wife into a couch and his two children into armchairs. He panicked and rushed them to the hospital.

He nervously paced the hospital corridor while his family underwent lengthy surgery.

When the OR nurse emerged from the operating room, the magician ran to her and implored, "Nurse, how are they doing?"

The nurse replied, "They're very comfortable, sir!"

(or for the PLR alternate..." they're fully recovered!")

Credit to Roger and Kathy Cawthon, The Cancer Connection, www.thecancercrusade.com)

Yes! I want my own subscription to Passionate HealthCare!

By subscription only! Please Send this ezine to any HCP (Health Care Professional) you know who wants to resuscitate their joy in their career. Then they can sign up for their own subscription, as our gift!

To print this newsletter out to share, please set your printer options to 'landscape' so you won't lose the tasty margins!

Passionate HealthCare seeks to resuscitate your passion for your medical career. Your only cost for this prescription? Please comment, complain or educate us twice a year at PLRaymond@RxForSanity.com.

Hello again, HCPs!

Yes, I took a PHC break for the entire month of July...sure hope you noticed...or perhaps you were taking a well earned rest too!

I'm back with even more medical humor, great solutions to your caregiver fatigue, and fascinating websites-- and your comments and jokes! Please email if you have anything you'd like to share!

Pat Raymond M.D. FACP FACG
Chief Enjoyment Officer, Rx For Sanity

 Yes! I want my own subscription to Passionate HealthCare!

Table of Contents:

A 'Pat' on the Back	The Sanity Store
Bedside Manners	Weird Websites
Health News You Can Use	Mock Medical Music
Where to Meet or Hear Dr Raymond

Summer Love

The love letter stayed crumpled in my purse for a month. I was afraid to open it.

I had identified the envelope immediately, by the gold ink and familiar handwriting inscribing my address. But I was afraid to open it…would I prove a disappointment to the sender? After all, this was to be our first contact in six months.

The love letter was from me. To me. As part of our New Year’s Eve ceremony, the members of my church had been assigned to write a love letter to ourselves, full of praise, forgiveness, and hopes and dreams for our future selves.

After filling both sides of the unlined 4x5 ½” sheet, we lovingly folded our letters and then sealed them in SASE, putting them in the care of our pastor, who was to mail them after six months had elapsed. As predicted, I was startled on receipt of the letter, having no recollection of the words I had labored over six months before.

I glowed with joy as I finally read the words from my past-self this morning. Past-me reminded me of the need to live and love fearlessly and joyfully in the present. She encouraged me to let past transgressions go. Goals that had been pushed to the wayside by daily time constraints got a fresh burst of juice. Dreams discussed in the letter had either been realized or were now revitalized. I experienced pure love. Me-love. The love that no one else can provide for you, that speaks to your heart.

Sit down this week and write a love letter to yourself.
It doesn’t have to be long, but allow it to be from your heart. Share it with no one else. Dare to write of your pride in your accomplishments, forgive yourself past trespass, and dream of what your future-self might become. Seal it and stash it where you’ll find it early in the new year of 2006.

Today, dare to be beautiful to yourself. Write a love letter to your own heart.

Do you want another dose of Dr Raymond?
If you do, you'll need my book Don't Jettison Medicine, available at RxForSanity.com and Amazon.com.
Want to share some sanity in your medical newsletter? Dr Raymond's articles may be freely reprinted (see details at the bottom), and more of Dr. Raymond's most popular editorials are yours at Rx For Sanity Articles and at DontJettisonMedicine.com

Do you know someone who would enjoy this edition of Passionate HealthCare? We encourage you to Send it to a friend or colleague!

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. ~Dorothy Thompson

A ‘Pat’ on the back to…

Maria Pino, an Infection Control Data Analyst at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, who found two extra words I hadn't put in PHC's last issue's 23 colonoscopy-related wordsearch puzzle. Her prize was an autographed copy of Don't Jettison Medicine! For those still searching, the updated word list is: diverticulosis hemorrhoid insufflation polyp appendix colon rectal abdomen constipation biopsy villi bleb diarrhea cancer preparation digital cautery diverticulitis intestine glove firm nurse scope snare AVM. To construct your own wordfind puzzle, use the free program at www.WorldVillage.com.

Barbara Malley, who corrects my oft-times not so great grammar. She says: "On your site www.RxForSanity.com I noticed you spoke of someone laying awake. The correct grammar is lying awake. Since a huge majority of the populace makes this mistake, perhaps some day it will be accepted." Lesson learned.

Never too early to plan your CEU and CMEs: "HUMOResilience: Tickling Stress Before It Tackles You" on October 28-30, 2005. From the fine folks of The Humor Project, this fall program is designed to be fun, but not for fun. In a supportive, laughter-filled, relaxing yet productive environment, you will experience and learn the power and synergy of humor and resilience (what a dynamic duo!). Held at the picturesque Silver Bay Conference Center, a 700-acre National Historic Site ringed by majestic mountains on the shores of Lake George, this workshop is the longest-running and longest-funning humor program in the world.
See www.HumorProject.com for more info. (Will I be there? Nope, I'll be attending the ACG conference in Honolulu, but I plan for their Spring Conference in Saratoga Springs!)

Thanks for the feedback, all! Let's grow our passionate community- Send this fun newsletter to five of your colleagues so that they can be passionate about healthcare now!

The Sanity Store: Announcing Flush with Victory!

Your friends feeling ‘washed out’ by bowel prep? This is your solution!

Flush With Victory will keep your kindred content on their commodes. Each FWV contains the hilarious and amusing combo of the cult colon comedy classic Colonoscopy: It’ll Crack U Up and Potty Games, the wordsearch book from The Philadelphia Group. And if you respond in TEN DAYS, you’ll also get the coveted CCUU Button!

How much is the cheer of your friends and family worth? All this is only $7, but supplies are limited to first fifty respondents!

Yes! I can’t let this offer pass! Please send Flush With Victory to my door today!

Coming soon- Selected Doses of Sanity ('Car-College' edition). You asked for a way to use your commute time to 'make your ears wiggle', now come and get it! Join Dr. Raymond as she narrates 2 hours of your favorite exercises from her presentations. Laugh and learn! Reserve your 2 CD set now for the prepublication discount price of $20 by emailing PLRaymond@RxForSanity.com. We'll email you when available with a special coupon code to authorize your savings!

Bedside manners: Compassion fatigue article for your colleagues

Did your doc just yell at that patient? Slam that door? Get cranky all over you? He or she may be sliding down that slippery slope we call compassion fatigue. Share with them this great article "Burnout: Are You at Risk?" and resources from Medical Economics magazine at www.memag.com. Although written from a doctor burnout pov, there's great gravy here for all.

Weird websites: The Survivor Movie

Nothing to do with Rudy, the fat naked guy, or Boston Rob. Friends of mine, Roger & Kathy Cawthon, are both cancer survivors. Diagnosed within six weeks of each other nine years ago, they underwent more than a year of aggressive medical treatments to which they added their own complementary therapies of faith, humor, nutrition and exercise. They now speak of their experiences to both medical and lay audiences. The Cawthons recently assembled a 3 1/2 minute inspirational movie which is great viewing even if you have not experienced cancer.

Check it out at www.TheSurvivorMovie.com. I challenge you to view it without experiencing a healthy cry, then pass it on to all those you know who need it.

If you enjoyed this edition, please Send it to a friend or colleague!

Health news you can use: Bad to the bone?

Ten million Americans over the age of 50 have osteoporosis, while each year approximately 1.5 million people suffer a bone fracture related to osteoporosis. Will one of them be you? The Surgeon General says that if we do not take immediate action, by 2020, half of all Americans over age 50 will have weak bones from osteoporosis and low bone mass!

All HCPs need to redouble their efforts to improve bone health by eating healthy, engaging in weight-bearing exercise, getting tested for bone density, and spreading more information on bone health. For some fact sheets to print up and pass out, visit http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/bonehealth.

 Please start sending my own subscription to Passionate HealthCare

Mock medical music

Here at PHC, we're worried about a possible Avian Flu epidemic this fall. However, SARS came and went without much incident, so maybe we'll be lucky. To prepare, grab some spare face masks and hum along with "Baby You Can't Hide That SARS" by Malcolm Higgins,a gem from the Am I Right song parody website:

If you have any MMM songs, share the lyrics with us at PLRaymond@RxForSanity.com, and we'll credit you!

If you enjoyed this edition, we encourage you to Send it to a friend or colleague!

It's time to go! (It seens that everyone is specializing these days!)

Gastroenterologist, broadcaster, speaker, and writer Patricia L. Raymond MD FACP FACG of Rx For Sanity is author of "Don't Jettison Medicine! Resuscitate Your Passion For The Career You Loved". DJM is a joyous workbook of thirty exercises that will help to resuscitate your passion for caregiving. It's available, along with her unique joke anthology "Colonoscopy: It'll Crack U Up!" at the Sanity Store at www.RxForSanity.com or at Amazon.com.

She is a frequent speaker and workshop leader at national and international conventions, teaching medical caregivers techniques of self-care. As host of NPR's regional live radio program, "Housecalls", she encourages our patients to step up and accept responsibility for their own health, every Friday at noon (EST). You can tune in for live streaming audio!

Attention Meeting Planners! Already booking into 2006, but still available for winter holiday parties, Dr. Raymond brings her passionate message to "Health Yourself" to conventions, regional meetings and Grand Rounds. Keep her in mind- even if you have a last minute cancellation. Dr. Pat Raymond delivers high-content, interactive programs that are lots of fun. She gives away great door prizes. And, most importantly, she will make you look good. Call 757-547-0368, write PLRaymond@RxForSanity.com or visit www.RxForSanity.com for details on her programs!

Where to meet or hear Dr Raymond: When will she be in your neighborhood?

Pittsburg PA 09/11 Teleconference on EMR 09/13 Little Rock AR 09/17 Baltimore MD 09/28 Virginia Beach VA 10/01 New Jersey 10/15 Honolulu, HA 10/28-11/3 Suffolk VA 11/14 Norfolk VA 11/15

2006 dates Tuscan AZ 1/5-1/8 AATH, Austin Tx 2/16-19 Chesapeake VA 3/14 SGNA, San Antonio Tx 5/22 Albany NY (tentative) 10/14

Email for information on how to attend, or to 'piggy-back' your presentation into Dr. Raymond's travel plans, or even to take her to lunch or dinner (you drive, she'll buy)!

Tell a friend about our nifty main website, Rx For Sanity.com!	Or give your friends the whole poop about colonoscopy at ColonoscopyJoke.com!

What're you waiting for? Get Passionate HealthCare now!