Abstract
At age 70, I was a master of the universe. I was riding a motorcycle up the Adriatic coast and playing guitar in a rock band at the House of Blues in New Orleans. I thought I would live and work forever, or until I was found dead slumped in a nurses’ station somewhere. Then, in a few seconds, it all changed. Some of this change was due to bad luck and bad timing, but most of it was due, ultimately, to age.
What follows is a chronicle of this saga, written in the first person. I have lumped some similar facts into smaller bites and glossed over others to make the narrative more readable. I describe the rise, the crest, and the decline and then analyze the options available to me and how I managed to find something meaningful from them. Hopefully there is something of value here for others facing similar situations.
“Ah, but I was so much older then.I’m younger than that now”.
Bob Dylan. My back pages. 1964.
“Traveling eternity road
What will you find there?
Carrying your heavy load
Searching to find a piece of mind”
The Moody Blues, “Eternity Road,” 1969
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Derfel A. McGill’s medical program put on ‘probation’ for falling short of standards. Montreal Gazette. June 17, 2015. Available at: http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mcgills-medical-program-put-on-probation-for-falling-short-of-standards.
Thompson HS. Fear and loathing: on the campaign trail’72. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks; 2012.
Gonzo: The life and work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson [DVD]. Magnolia Home Entertainment; 2008.
Hemingway dead of shotgun wound; wife says he was cleaning weapon. New York Times. July 3, 1961. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/07/04/specials/hemingway-obit.html.
Weber B. David Foster Wallace, influential writer, dies at 46. New York Times. September 14, 2008. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/books/15wallace.html?_r=0.
Hawley N. Fargo, season 1, episode 1, aired April 15, 2014 (FX).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Crippen, D. (2016). “Fire in the Belly”: Youth and Exuberance. In: Crippen, D. (eds) The Intensivist's Challenge. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30454-0_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30454-0_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30452-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30454-0
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)