Sick You!
Andrew Schulman
Care Unit. I love medical humor.
I played guitar today for the first time in the SICU/Beth Israel
Medical Center here in NYC; this morning from11AM-12PM. I will be
doing this Wed's at 11AM and Fri's at 3PM for a good while. The music
therapy dept. director, Dr. Joanne Lowey, is devising a study that
will start in about a month based on my playing there (I wanted to
start playing ASAP which is why I started today) and it will be
written up and published in the journal "Music and Medicine" of which
she is editor-in-chief.
https://online.sagepub.com/cgi/register?registration=MMDSAGEPUBREG121808
http://www.wehealny.org/services/bi_musictherapy/index.html
A few quick observations. First, I would guess classical guitar is
probably the best instrument for this because it fits so well. As Dr.
Lowey explained to me in the two meetings I had this past week with
her, the basic need is for soothing music. The guitar's inherent
tonal range, portability, and repertoire is a natural. Also, as I was
instructed, tempos have to be mid-range and slower, so it makes this a
very do-able thing for a wide range of players. As long as you have
enough suitable repertoire and can play cleanly with a good tone you
can make a contribution.
I will be keeping a journal. Today I played some Carcassi to start,
then some Bach (Sleeper's Awake/BWV 140, Sinfonia/BWV/156,
Choral:Befiehl du deine Wege/St. Matthews Passion/BWV 244, etc.) some
choros music by Abreu and Reis, and improvised for a while.
The BWV 244 meant a lot to me personally because that was the piece
that had such a big affect on me when I was a patient in there in
July; I had it on my iPod and my wife played it for me several times
while I was in a coma.
Also on a personal note, when I got there two of my main nurses from
July were on duty; they were there the first night when I was
resuscitated, and one or the other was there for most of the 9 days I
was in the ICU (I found out from them that I got zapped with those
electronic thingys just like on TV, I had wondered about that).
They didn't recognize me at first, both said they realized who I was
from the sound of my voice - of course, I'm 40 pounds lighter and I
didn't look all that wonderful that week, unshaven and pale as ghost.
But it was great to see each other again.
Also, if you've ever visited a place you spent a lot of time in when
you were a child and then returned as an adult many years later and
observed that things looked a lot smaller than you remembered, you
know what I saw today. In my memory of the day after I was awoken and
took my first walk with a walker (one of those aluminum things with
wheels that you see old folks using) it seemed like from my bed to the
end of the hall was about 50 yards. In reality it is about 20 feet.
As one nurse said, being very sick and on a lot of heavy drugs changes
the way you see things.
So, what I observed today after playing was that it clearly helps the
staff, they appreciated having live music, as did the family members
at the bedsides that I saw. None of the patients were in a coma, but
only one was awake and alert. The testing of the effect on the
patients of live music will start soon and I'll know more about that
when it is underway.
Finally, it felt very good to do this, to volunteer the time. I've
spoken to 2 other guitarists this week that have played in hospitals,
one also in an ICU (this ICU also has people from the music therapy
department playing there sometimes, but they weren't there in July
when I was a patient). I urge anybody who can do this to do so, it's
a great way to share your love for music.
Andrew
Curmudgeon
wrote:
> Sick you is how the hospital types pronounce SICU/Surgical Intensive
> Care Unit. I love medical humor.
>
> I played guitar today for the first time in the SICU/Beth Israel
> Medical Center here in NYC; this morning from11AM-12PM. I will be
> doing this Wed's at 11AM and Fri's at 3PM for a good while. The music
> therapy dept. director, Dr. Joanne Lowey, is devising a study that
> will start in about a month based on my playing there (I wanted to
> start playing ASAP which is why I started today) and it will be
> written up and published in the journal "Music and Medicine" of which
> she is editor-in-chief.
>
Andrew, you're doing a good thing - mazel tov. A suggestion - eschew
Brouwer and the like. Odds are folks won't find it very restful.
Andrew Schulman
> Andrew, you're doing a good thing - mazel tov. A suggestion - eschew
> Brouwer and the like. Odds are folks won't find it very restful.
>
>
Andrew
JPD
wrote:
> Sick you is how the hospital types pronounce SICU/Surgical Intensive
> Care Unit. I love medical humor.
>
> I played guitar today for the first time in the SICU/Beth Israel
> Medical Center here in NYC; this morning from11AM-12PM. I will be
> doing this Wed's at 11AM and Fri's at 3PM for a good while. The music
> therapy dept. director, Dr. Joanne Lowey, is devising a study that
> will start in about a month based on my playing there (I wanted to
> start playing ASAP which is why I started today) and it will be
> written up and published in the journal "Music and Medicine" of which
> she is editor-in-chief.
>
Good stuff, Andrew. I hope you keep us updated.
Andrew Schulman
> Good stuff, Andrew. I hope you keep us updated.
>
>
Lowey said it could take 1-2 months to get all of that together. She
wants to develop this program, live music in ICU's, so it can be
organized in a way that can be exported to hospitals around the
world. And my two main doctors at Beth Israel, Dr. Martin Karpeh/
Director of Surgery and Dr. Jerome Tolbert/Director of the
Endocrinology Department, are not only totally supportive of music
used as medicine, they think it will become an increasingly important
part of the medical field.
I told them I am willing to be involved with this for a long time as
long as I don't have to eat any hospital food.
Here are some links to what Dr. Lowey is doing:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/musicinstinct/video/music-and-medicine/music-therapy-for-infants/76/
http://voices.no/mainissues/mi40004000140.html
http://www.aarp.org/aarp/broadcast/aarp_radio/radio_prime_time/articles/music_and_medicine.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2009/0629/1224249721881.html
Etc.
Andrew