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    Voices
    Voices
    Voices
    Ebook167 pages59 minutes

    Voices

    By Jan Hahn

    ()

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    About this ebook

    In a sparsely furnished office, a family physician sits waiting for his patients. None come for judgment. A few come for advice. But all ask simply to be heard



    Some come once and are never seen again. Others return repeatedly as they struggle to resolve the challenges confronting them. Some are successful and some are not. Some leave triumphant; others in despair.



    Dr. Hahns career spans three decades and thousands of miles. During this sojourn, he has worked in big city emergency rooms, tertiary care intensive care units, jails, an Indian hospital, a small rural hospital, nursing homes and a

    small town office.



    His patients have come from all walks of life and every station. Their stories are many, varied, and deeply moving. VOICES captures in ink the thoughts and feelings of men and women struggling to be heard, to wrest meaning from

    their lives and to cope with lifes imponderable misfortunes. When people open up their hearts and let us glimpse, ever so briefly, their souls, we hear their voices.



    Dr. Hahn was born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts and was raised in Vineland, New Jersey. His father was the towns obstetrician and his mother was a nurse. After graduating from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in sociology

    anthropology, he moved to New York City to attend Mt. Sinai School of Medicine (1973- 1977). He then attended the University of Texas Medical Branch Hospitals family practice residency program in Galveston (1977-1980).



    In 1980, he joined the Indian Health Service and was stationed at Cherokee, North Carolina. In 1984, he moved to Lenoir City, Tennessee to start a private practice. Since 2001, he has been the medical director of the Lenoir City office

    of Cherokee Health System, an organization which provides integrated care (behavioral/medical) to rural east Tennesseans.



    In 1991, he started a battered womens program which was expanded in 2006 to include a homeless shelter for women and children (Ivas Place). Dr. Hahn lives with his wife, Dr. Heather OBrien, a veterinarian. He has three daughters

    - Micah, Avital, and Mara.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateOct 26, 2010
    ISBN9781452026022
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      Book preview

      Voices - Jan Hahn

      © 2010 Jan Hahn M.D.. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      First published by AuthorHouse 12/17/2010

      ISBN: 978-1-4520-2601-5 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4520-2602-2 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2010906946

      Printed in the United States of America

      Bloomington, Indiana

      This book is printed on acid-free paper.

      To the reader,

      The structure of this work is quite straightforward.

      In a sparsely furnished family physician’s office, patients arrive alone to tell their story.

      What is important to this doctor? Only that which is important to his patients –

      nothing more and nothing less.

      Some come once, never to return. Others frequent his office repeatedly as they struggle to make sense of what has befallen them.

      None come for judgment; a few for advice; but all simply to be heard.

      On the left facing page are notations of several types:

      VOICE OVER – introduces the speaker

      *- commentary on how the poem is to be read

      **- personal reflections of the writer on the meaning of the poem

      Readers may very well wonder if each poem represents a single patient. In a few instances, this is the case. But most of them are composites based upon repeated contact with people who have contended, in their unique ways, with common crises.

      I have been privileged to have had no less than 150,000 patient encounters (100 patients per week – 50 weeks per year – 30 years).

      Despite our differences, at the end of the day, we confront the same basic issues of life and living.

      Contents

      NERVES

      ALZHEIMER’S

      PAIN

      BUSY MAN – PART I

      BIZYWOMAN

      TRUST

      MISSION TRIP

      DESIGN OR LUCK?

      RETIREMENT

      BREAKIN’ DOWN

      CUT AND DEAL

      THE OPERATION

      WEIGHT

      DREAMS

      WRONG TURN

      TO HEAL

      ANSWERS

      MISTAKES

      SIX LETTERS – PART 1

      WINGDINGER

      MORPHEUS

      AN AFFAIR – 1

      FIRST THINGS FIRST

      AUTISM

      CUT AND DEAL – PART 2

      MEMORY

      GONE

      BUSY MAN – PART 2

      A SPIDER’S WEB (OCD)

      TOUGH TIMES

      MOVING ON

      FREEDOM – PART 1

      AN AFFAIR – PART 2

      ACCIDENTS

      WHY AM I HERE?

      THE THUMB

      REVERIE

      HEADACHE

      VOICES

      FROG

      MEMORIES

      SIX LETTERS – PART 2

      ‘TIL DEATH DO US PART

      THE WORKINGS OF THE HEART

      MYSTERY

      DOCTOR

      THE WALLS OF JERICHO

      ON FISH AND THOUGHTS

      THE PLAY – ACT 1

      FREEDOM – PART 2

      SAVED

      AND I’LL DIE SOON

      CUT AND DEAL – PART 3

      SIX LETTERS – PART 3

      BUSY MAN – PART 3

      ANGELS

      BLOOD PRESSURE

      A POINT IN TIME

      LOST

      QUESTIONS

      A GOOD KID

      SCHIZOPHRENIA

      OBSESSION

      EXIT – STAGE LEFT

      RECONCILIATION

      RETRIBUTION

      DIRECTION

      A GOOD DAY

      FATE

      FOREVER GONE

      DEATH

      HOME

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      APPEARANCES

      Beneath the mirror surface of the placid sea,

      Roll waves too fierce to safely plumb.

      Thus, doth calm countenance masks a troubled heart

      And cheerful mien, a wounded soul.

      VOICE OVER

      Rose – what brings us together today?

      *She begins very matter-of-factly but quickly anger bubbles to the surface, reaching a crescendo in her caustic put-down of the doctor.

      **What does a person really want from life?

      First - that their basic needs be met – food, clothing, and shelter.

      Second - that they are not subjected gratuitously to abuse – physical, sexual, or emotional.

      Third - that someone, one day, loves them for who they are.

      Fourth, but no less important than the others – to be respected – not because of who they are or what they provide but simply because, in the words of the Bible, they were fashioned in the image of God.

      Rose says as much in this bitter accounting of her life… . .

      NERVES

      I was born thirty-five years ago, come September.

      Nashville, I believe, or maybe Memphis.

      First child of a sixteen year old girl and a no-name

      Creature of the gutter.

      One night stand – don’t reckon he is alive anymore.

      I got his temper or so my mother says.

      By twelve, I had five fathers – if that is what you call a man that

      Screws your mother.

      Two taught me sex their way. (Let’s not go there today, Doc.)

      Pot, coke, acid – tasted all by sixteen.

      What other pleasures are there, when life is only pain?

      Left school in tenth

      What it taught, I had no use for.

      What I needed to know, it could not teach.

      I have two sons: Jason from Robert and Eric from Thomas.

      Or perhaps it was the other way around.

      No matter. Not seen either for years.

      I smoke two packs a day and drink only at night.

      How else

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