Today we watched the film adaptation of Wit, a play by Margaret Edson about a fictional English professor, Dr. Vivian Bearing, who is dying of stage IV ovarian cancer. Although my learning team pretty much unanimously agreed that the film was heavy-handed with regards to its portrayal of patient-doctor/healthcare worker interactions, I liked the film. I liked Vivian Bearing, an expert in the poems of John Donne who kept herself sequestered from the living during her career, choosing academics and research over human relationships–she is an intriguing protagonist. And she made it easier, at least as an audience member, to feel a little more detached from her suffering (as awful as that sounds) and, instead, to focus my energy on the embarrassment for some of the medical professionals. But I lost it when her former professor came to visit, crawled into bed with her, and read her The Runaway Bunny. I used to read Ramona’s World to my mother in her bed; I have good memories of that time.
I am thankful that, after group discussion, I met up with new Philly buddy Erin. We had a quick dinner at the Whole Foods two blocks from my house (a special treat, since I don’t let myself go there to buy groceries while I’m taking out student loans), and then went out to see Eat, Pray, Love. Would you believe I got a dollar off my ticket price for being a student again?!–ha! It was a healthy reminder to “smile with my liver”
that I still have a little crush on Mr. Javier Bardem (if I can find him hot even when he has the worst haircut and he’s digging a bullet out of his leg, that has to say something)
and that I could sure use a little gelato.
But for now, I should hit the books–haven’t thought about school since leaving small group at 5, and I have genetics homework.
anna in med school 
