The One Thousandth Blog
By
Leonard Zwelling
Whether the count is accurate or not, the statistics section on my web page counter is indicating this is number 1000.
I am not at all sure of the significance of that, but it does boggle my mind. The blog has had over 1 million two hundred thousand page views over the years (I think it must be about four or five now) since I began making entries back in my days at MD Anderson. I am not sure whether my posts as The Old Dog are included in the count. They were written when I was worried about retaliation from the DePinho crowd and wrote under a pseudonym at times. No matter. It’s all out in the open now and this is a milestone of sorts, I guess.
Mostly I have to thank the readers who have followed my musings over these years, especially those who have told me that they took heart from what I noodled during the Dark Days of the FORDs.
I think that things may be looking up now as the sense of oppression is gone and tomorrow only waits for Dr. Pisters to install his leadership team and to operationalize his vision for MD Anderson once he articulates it.
This is a time of tumultuous upheaval in the leadership of the country and to some extent of the world itself.
In America, we have a president who appears to be unstable at times and a buffoon at others. He does not seem to articulate a clear vision for the country other than Making It Great Again, whatever that means. It may mean making it great for him using Russian money, but Mr. Mueller will hopefully get to the bottom of that. As for Stormy Daniels, I cannot quite get the fascination with her given all the rest of the things Trump has done, but if she makes him uncomfortable, go for it, girl!
The shifting Cabinet appointees and other in and out White House personnel give any thinking American a sense of queasiness and uncertainty akin to being on a political roller coaster with the occupants of death row. There is fear the ride will never end or, at some point, the car that we are all in collectively will leave the rails. Let’s hope not.
I will try to stay on the sidelines commenting on what I see before me at Anderson, in medicine, in healthcare and in the world. I will go on writing if you go on reading.
Thanks for everything, especially those who write me by email or by comment on the blog. I always welcome the feedback. It’s always educational and frequently humbling. And that is not a bad thing for a blogger.
Here’s to a few more posts and a few more books. Please do pick up a copy of the revised version of my first book now called Congressional Malpractice. It tells the tale of my year on Capitol Hill, how I got there, and what I learned about myself, MD Anderson, and the federal government in the journey.
L’chaim!
