Echo of the widow Dimanche
The registrar stood open-mouthed next to the professor. Before them was a twisted unicorn’s horn, an echo of that owned by the widow Dimanche, who sold water-cress in the streets of Paris. The patient was unmoved.
Plans were made for the removal of the horn. The patient nodded and thanked the doctors.
The registrar whistled as they walked away. “A shame there were no students today, eh, Prof…”, he said.
The professor’s eyebrows raised, “No students?”. The professor smiled as they walked on, “we are all students, my boy, we are all students…”
Madame Dimanche, also known as Widow Sunday, was a French woman living in Paris in the early 19th century. At the age of 76 she began to grown a 24.9cm horn from her forehead before it was successfully removed by a French surgeon. A wax model of her head is on display at the Mütter Museum.
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at The Alfred ICU, where he is Deputy Director (Education). He is a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University, the Lead for the Clinician Educator Incubator programme, and a CICM First Part Examiner.
He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives. He was one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) has been recognised for his contributions to education with awards from ANZICS, ANZAHPE, and ACEM.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Bluesky, he is @precordialthump.bsky.social and on the site that Elon has screwed up, he is @precordialthump.
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