University of Maryland School of Medicine - Terrae Mariae Medicus (Baltimore, MD)

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? 1 m On the pediatric wards of University Hospital the pathos radiating from the tiny tot whose tryp- tophane metabolism is distorted is compounded by the innocent pain in the expression of the slowly failing acute leukemic. The iatrogenic Cushing ' s Syndrome of the little glomerulonephritic cannot but cause a physician to think, There must be a better treatment. But, alas, as juniors on the pedi- atric wards we learned that tragedy after heart- breaking tragedy occurred because we of the medical profession are still in the process of dis- covering new diseases and groping toward their cure. So many challenges and who to answer them? Congenital anomalies of all sorts challenge the ingenuity of the surgeon. Metabolic diseases chal- lenge the biochemist and the endocrinologist. Neo- plasms challenge the radiologist, hematologist, and the surgeon. The observation that more and more children survive to live a normal life span does not allay the grief, special, profound, and par- tially suppressed that affected us all during our third year pediatric service. The fun of playing guns with Joey, and of help- ing Carolyn color her picture book poorly masked 29

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Pediatrics i .-as J ■ ' , d 28

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the feeling of inadequacy with which we were con- fronted as Rickey ' s leukemia bounded out of con- trol while he refused to play dump truck with his luckless Junior student doctor who was trying to cheer up the psyche in the little pain wracked body. But in the clinic during the senior year a differ- ent view was had. There pneumonia, otitis media, and pharyngitis which in years past had taken their toll of toddlers were being cured before the dread complications of abscess, meningitis, and sep- ticemia could lead to death. Lead poisoning, iron deficiency, and an occasional dehydration were diagnosed and adequately dealt with, thereby rein- forcing our confidence that we could help most children who needed our help. Amid the laughter which permeated the clinic atmosphere, we worked on behavior problems and found that not infre- quently dilantin and phenobarbitol enabled a child to succeed in school while he was outgrowing his problem. f: