Author: Richard Rayner MD
“I know this life is a strange thing Can’t answer all the “whys” Tragedy always finds me Taken again by surprise”– -From “Love Will Find a Way” by Amy Grant It finds us. Young, old, wealthy, poor, educated, humble, proud. The waters of tragedy, suffering, and hardship leak into the homes of our lives, sometimes […]
The end is near! Not the end – at least I hope not, although across the globe this year has been (another) rough one. But it’s time to put that stuff aside for a moment and celebrate! Time to gather with friends and family and enjoy the good things and festivities unique to the season. […]
Award winning author Marilynne Robinson, in her book Home, has a character that laments that tears are so readily visible, that she would have preferred that God made them come out of a hand or foot. When I read that I thought it was a really bizarre concept and wondered how the author even came up with […]
It’s probably been decades since the first commercial for one of those medical alert devices hit the television air waves. The scene goes something like this: an elderly woman in her home, all alone, finds herself suddenly on the ground with no one around to help her get up. No problem! She has a new […]
I’m a Karmann Ghia. Like the car sold by Volkswagen until the early 1970’s which had a German chassis and mechanicals, but with Italian styling, I’m a product of a father of German heritage and an Italian mother. While we certainly enjoyed woofing our wurst, the flavor of my family was clearly more solidly soppressata. […]
The start of the New Year has long since passed, and no doubt some of those January 1 resolutions have collected a thick layer of dust on the shelves of our minds. What seemed so clearly necessary in late December may be acknowledged now, but the urgency has dissipated. No problem! The first of January […]
I’m not gonna lie, I miss the olden days. Not in the same way most mean when they say this. I miss something I never actually experienced, that being the time I’ve heard about when patients just took what the doctor said at face value and didn’t question it. Admittedly I’ve also heard how at […]
The Anticipated Games There’s no shortage of impact from the global pandemic our world has endured. Due to COVID-19, the “2020” Summer Olympics are part of the history that is 2021. As such, we got a chance to experience the Winter Olympics just a few months later. I love the Olympics. Although I’m someone […]
The Unanswered Message I missed the initial call. But when my phone rang a second time immediately after at 6:50 AM on a Saturday morning, I knew something was up, and it likely wasn’t something good. I felt this deep in my soul especially when the caller ID told me it was a patient with […]
From my earliest years I can remember my parents’ beautiful dancing. It didn’t happen often, but at the occasional wedding or banquet where “their music” was available, boy could Robert and Esther Rayner cut the rug. It was beautiful to watch. Neither fancy nor showy, it displayed an effortlessness and oneness that spoke of familiarity, […]
In the medical and emotional hurricane of COVID-19, certain clinical terms have become commonplace. “Asymptomatic,” “vector,” “mRNA,” terms previously used only by those in the medical and science fields are now part of the conversational lexicon of the English language. We’ve seen new terms develop also including the ill-defined “long-haulers.” This unfortunate group includes those […]
In the early 1960’s RCA promoted its new color TVs as “the gift that keeps on giving.” One had to buy the television first of course, but then there was the promise of potential years of enjoyment. Fatherhood is like that, too. Like anything valuable, it takes effort, a cost, if you will, to enter […]