Doctor Patient Conversations

...

First adventure on the road was at the B--Hospital. A patient asks for some shots to get him through Peru. The doctor glances at a rough spot on the back of the patient’s hand.

“How long have you had this?"
“Two, maybe three months.”
“Not sure if that’s precancerous or cancerous, I’d like a biopsy.”
“What will the biopsy tell you?”
“The architecture of the cells. The structure and the depth of penetration of the growth. Whether it’s just precancerous, so we can just freeze it off with CO2, or if cancerous, determine if it’s aggressive or not. If it’s more aggressive, we must cut deeply, cut out a wider surrounding margin. Lab results will be back next week.”
“I’ll be in New York by then. You can email?”
“Sure. I’ll let you know how quickly you need to act. Different cancers require different treatments. They can’t all be frozen off with dry ice.”
______________
Voice-over
Doctor-patient consultations start off with the doctor observing and then asking quiet questions. When possible diagnoses are proposed, along with treatments, accompanied by any mention of c--- any patient gets a little apprehensive. Then, roles reverse: it is the patient asking most of the questions.

...

Why Dazai?

Shizuko finds out that Osamu is reading No Longer Human, Dazai’s last work.

...

Shizuko: Dazai? Why Dazai?

Osamu: Everyone’s reading him.

Shizuko: For what? He was so negative. All he talked about was dying. He’s dead.

Osamu: I can relate to his ideas. When he writes something like “The cold half pint of milk I drank each morning was the only thing that gave me a certain peculiar sense of the joy in life.” Dark, yes, but funny too.

Shizuko: Are you sure you’re not just identifying with him because you live only a hundred meters from where he drowned?

Osamu: Geography’s a factor, mm. But mainly I feel my life has no depth, no direction.

 

______________

Voice-over

Young people identifying with Dazai Osamu? That one so driven to self-destruction could write so clearly and powerfully. And influence a generation fifty years later.

Have Japanese young people lost their sense of mission?  Where has their sense of purpose in life gone? Can a limping economy and rising unemployment cripple the national identity?

Ironical that the Tamagawa Josui is scarcely a foot deep much of the time.

...

Green flowers mean...

Ludovic suggests a new signaling system.

...

Ludovic: The telephones are bugged and email is too dangerous. Cameras are everywhere. If I have a message I’ll leave a sign.

Marcus: A sign.

Ludovic: Yes. I’ll leave a plant on the stairs. If there is no message, there is no plant.

Marcus: What kind of a plant?

Ludovic: A discreet one. I am thinking of a small pot plant with green flowers.

Marcus: And where will the message be?

Ludovic: The usual place. Under the bridge.

Marcus: So I go to the staircase, and if there is a small plant with green flowers, then I go to the bridge?

Ludovic: Exactly.

______________
Voice-over

Just as spies need a protocol to pass information, so do we when we call a friend at the office.

“Can you talk?”

“Important?”

“Life and death.”

“Urgent?”

“Level orange.”

“Bit busy. Got someone with me. 10 minutes.”

Such signals are helpful, but not foolproof, they can interpreted or intercepted.

...

Artifacts

Laurence wonders if Dean is seeking another lost ark.

...

Laurence: You’ll be away?

Dean: Three months: July, August, September. Asia, South America and Oceania.

Laurence: And you have a grant?

Dean: To study ethnic minorities. Ones whose culture and language are in danger of disappearing.

Laurence: Culture’s a big word.

Dean: Not a big word. But a big field. I collect artifacts that represent a society.

Laurence: Artifacts.

Dean: Utensils. Pieces of art.

Laurence: If valuable then so much the better?

Dean: Not really. Flies start swarming, vampires seek blood. Seeking the commonplace, there is no competition from gold-diggers. I can do my work without getting into fights.

_____________________

Voice-over

The rain forest is disappearing, species are becoming extinct. Is the disappearance of minority cultures and their languages as big a threat?

Possibly not. Human beings are plentiful enough. But the common theme is diminishing variety.

What monocultures of agriculture, and lack of species differentiation, has in common with disappearing human cultures and languages is a concern that the world faces a decreased ability to cope with adversity.

...

Only see you once a year

Maurice and Ben meet at a conference

...

Maurice: Every year we meet, like this.

Ben: A long time, old friend. I often think about what you do for the rest of the year.

Maurice: I prepare. Then every year in June, I come to this conference and present my research.

Ben: And at the reception, we run around the room like it was a chariot race.

Maurice: An existential question. Are our once-a-year hyped-up conference selves the same as our everyday selves?

­­­­­­­­­­­__________

Voice-over

When you take the podium, mind you don’t let slip a loose roof tile.

When Douglas Adams gave the answer to the meaning of life as “41” had he been watching the less than benign galley scenes in Ben Hur where Judah Ben Hur is given that number? Quintus Arias: “Your eyes are full of hate, 41. That’s good. Hate keeps a man alive.”

...