by Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger on July 10, 2011
While most of us were celebrating the July 4th weekend with friends and family, barbecuing, watching fireworks and ushering in the summer, a teenage girl was brutally murdered. The chilling death of 18-year-old Lauren Astley appears to have been at the hands of her former 18-year-old boyfriend, Nathaniel Fujita. Both teens come from Wayland, Massachusetts, which I often refer to as “Pleasantville”–simply because nothing much seems to happen here. Our little enclave feels like a safe haven from [click to continue…]
July 10, 2011
by Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger on September 29, 2010
Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly in a state of flux. We awaken to the idea of change or transition when we are struck by something significant – loss, divorce, illness, vacation, birth, or death… Suddenly our worlds have shifted. We see and interpret events through a different lens, perhaps for the moment, perhaps forever.
Change shifts us from one state of being to another. Whether physical, emotional, situational, or spiritual, the human experience is about being in transition. Change is natural and inevitable. It can lead to improvement [click to continue…]
September 29, 2010
by Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger on August 30, 2010
The short conversation on the phone left my husband, Martin with a look of shock. “What was that about?” I asked. Martin stood in silence, took some forced deep breaths and softly spoke. “There’s been an accident. A terrible accident.” As it turned out, one of my son, Max’s dear childhood friend was killed in a car crash hours before. He left a party in the early morning hours feeling it would be safe to drive. He got into his car, still slightly intoxicated from the night before neglecting to put on his seat beat. He drove off and almost immediately crashed into a tree. He wanted to get home; it was such a short distance. This was a great kid who made a terrible decision.
My son was on his way to a concert in Boston, ready to savor his last night in town and then finish up the packing [click to continue…]
August 30, 2010
by Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger on August 10, 2010
Years ago I conducted workshops and seminars to physicians at the Boston University School of Medicine. The well-attended meetings were about “Who Takes Care of the Physician?” This subject continues to warrant attention, however I’ve come to realize that nurses, aides, home health care providers and our reliable family members, also need to be cared for. They too need tools for their own self-care during these stressful times.
Of course the primary focus is on the sick or post-operative patient, but little attention is paid to the family members that are in the trenches day in and day out with their loved ones. The responsibilities thrust upon the spouses and children can be not only overwhelming, but disorienting [click to continue…]
August 10, 2010
by Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger on August 9, 2010
Getting a difficult medical diagnosis is challenging at best. Elizabeth Kubler Ross wrote extensively about the five stages of grief that accompanies the experience of loss. Although her work originally described the reaction to the death of a loved one, the same cycle applies to those experiencing health issues [click to continue…]
August 9, 2010
