Cal.E.'s Korner

C.: d..c. why did you have me put a print of a painting by Vincient Van Gogh at the beginning of the blog yesterday, and then tell me to print the introduction to one of the chapters in one of your unpublished manuscripts?

d.: As an inspiration, Cal.E.

C.:???

d.: Well, supposedly, Van Gogh would draw what he saw in his aura before a migraine. Later, he would go back and fill in between the lines and paint a picture. I don’t know much about art, particularly modern art. However, I can, at least, tell what Vincent Van Gogh was painting.

C.: Then, is that pretty picture that you put at the begiining of the blog a Van Gogh painiting.

d.: It's not, Cal.E., it's a picture of the H. pylori bacteria. It's only pretty because of the stains that scientists used to help them identify what it is.

Van Gogh's

technique, though, proves that something that can be debilitating can turn into something productive. One example of this in health care is the doctor who discovered what caused peptic ulcers, the H. pylori virus. No one wanted to test Barry Marshall and Robin Warren’s theory, so Marshall drank a culture that contained the H. pylori bacteria and developed a case of gastritis. This proved their theory to be correct, but it took twenty-one years for them to be awarded the Nobel Prize for this discovery.

C.: So, migraines and gastritis are two conditions you’re familiar with…

d.: Well, I am a nurse.

C.: Okay, but what was the significance of the excerpt that ran at the beginning of the blog yesterday? Did you write that while you were suffering from one or both aliments?

d.: Neither, but it did fit. Jay had a difficult problem to solve, and he had to rely on his experience in police work and his friends and acquaintances to help him solve it. It just shows that good things can come from difficult situations.

C.: How does that manuscript, The Color Gray end?

d.: It looks like we’re out of time for today, Cal.E., so that’s the end of this cat ta(i)le.

Please join us tomorrow for another edition of Cal.E.’s Korner.

C.: When you’ll answer my question?

d.: Tune in tomorrow and see.