(no subject)

So I have my wallet. I was stressing about that all day yesterday and ate too much and felt kind of physically lousy, so I'm glad that's resolved.

I'm *still* having some pain in my foot, and Danae suggested that it's probably time to have a doctor look at it. I want to get Howard Brown (a major LGBTQ healthcare provider in Chicago) set up as my primary care provider anyway, so I'm going to give them a call at lunch.

I have missed volunteering at the animal shelter for three weeks in a row and feel like a bad person because of it. I haven't managed to get enough sleep this week, and that doesn't help my mental state either.

But today, with most things figured out, located, and planned for, I'm feeling pretty decent. And I have a photography date with Erik after work today! And food and board games with Danae, Erik, and my family tomorrow!

(no subject)

I'm reading the first popular-audience history book since leaving school and my level of credulity about it in comparison to peer-reviewed history amuses me.

When I read Timothy Gilfoyle's "City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920," for example, I figured there was a 99% chance that any individual bit of data in the book was true and could concentrate any analytical thought on his suppositions and conclusions.

Reading Jim Bowman's "Good Medicine: The First 150 Years of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center," basically every single time I read an assertion of fact or, especially, supposition based on those facts, I wonder about how thorough his research was and how much to trust his narrative. My assumption is that the broad strokes are probably pretty reliable, but before treating any important details or conclusions as fact I'd want to confirm them with another source.

Regardless, as part of gaining familiarity with the archives I'm working with, I want to get a good working knowledge of the institution's history.

(no subject)

On a related note, a couple sources suggest that one early Rush luminary, Dr. Nicholas Senn, conducted experiments on himself. He implanted material from a patient's cancerous tumour into his body to prove that cancer is not transmissible, and had an assistant use a rubber tube and bladder to squeeze hydrogen into his intestines through his anus as part of experiments to show that intestinal perforation could be detected in this way.

I wonder what an IRB would say?