So, I had an interesting weekend. Harriet and I drove up to Philly on Friday because I was hosting a meeting (which was really terrific) to discuss ways to better develop the conditional cellular reprogramming technology developed by Dick Schlegel and reported in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine. The article has generated substantial attention, and I congratulate Dick on his extraordinary accomplishment.
Harriet and I later met our son Ken and his wife Sarah at their apartment in Center City Philadelphia. Ken had been having abdominal pain that localized in his right lower quadrant of his abdomen for about four days – classic signs of appendicitis. He had insisted on putting a full day of work (he is a veterinarian), but Harriet, Sarah and I basically dragged him to the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital ER at about 8 pm. There we stayed until the decision was made to perform a laparoscopic appendectomy at about 4:30 am. We drove back to my father’s house in Yardley, and then returned to the hospital in the morning. I had forgotten how unpleasant it was to be “on call” for 24 hours.
After being moved to his room Ken was fairly miserable due to abdominal pain, but was discharged in the mid-afternoon, and is feeling better as of Sunday evening. It is truly remarkable; when I trained an appendectomy required a minimum five-day hospitalization and a recovery period of 2-3 weeks. If all goes well, Ken will be back at work in a few days, though he won’t be permitted to lift heavy dogs for a few more weeks. Harriet stayed in Philadelphia to help out and I drove home on Sunday afternoon.
The work week was not without its moments as well, though I was out of the office more than is usual for me. On Monday and Tuesday I participated in the Georgetown University Executive Committee Retreat at the Cosmos Club. Tuesday evening and Wednesday were times for deep reflection and family as we observed the holiday of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement that is a day of fasting as well. One of the most moving readings is from Isaiah (58: 1-14), and includes the powerful phrase, “Is this not the fast I seek?…Is not this the fast I look for: to unlock the shackles of injustice, to undo the fetters of bondage, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every cruel chain? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into your house? …If you remove the chains of oppression, the menacing hand, the malicious word; if you make sacrifices for the hungry, and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then shall your light shine in the darkness…” If that is not a call to action, I don’t know what is, and this perspective has animated my own life and career in so many ways.
I returned to the work world renewed and refreshed on Thursday, traveling to an all-day meeting in Boston. I got home by about 8:30 in the evening, did a bit of work and got ready for Friday, where I crammed in a week’s worth of meetings into one day before piling into our car at 6 pm not suspecting that our weekend would include an emergency room adventure. But, all’s well that ends well.
Have a great week.