When you have arthritis, you are constantly reminded of your limitations—by your doctor, your family, your friends and, of course, by your own body. And it’s true; we do have to protect our joints. But being too careful can take the zest out of living; never challenging yourself is not living at all. That’s why sometimes you have to break the rules just to feel alive…

To say that I am not photogenic is a kindness—in most pictures, I look as if I’m about to bite the photographer and I’m  real happy about it. But there is one picture that I’m very proud of: I’m lying on a boogie board after just barely surviving a huge (by East coast standards) wave and I’m grinning like hell. If I still had the picture, I’d post it, but I gave it to my rheumatologist. As usual, he shook his head in despair.
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Integrative Medicine seeks to improve medical care by combining the best of traditional Western medicine with mind-body-spirit approaches to health, and with complementary techniques (such as acupuncture and herbalism) that have proven efficacy.
Once upon a time, when all good stories began with “Once upon a time”, medicine was an art. It was something that was studied, pondered and philosophically approached, but it was an art. If you felt you had the gift or call, if you will, to heal people, to alleviate their suffering, you became a physician. It was an art because it was a talent that used many resources. This goes far back into our history, one of the most notable physicians being Luke, the disciple of Jesus. Yes, he was a physician. A doctor.
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