Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Downward Spiral, Meghan Hickey

Akesis

There are still moments when I find myself folding inwards: sinking, spiraling, struggling. I become attacked by my own intrusive thoughts. I’ve been my own monster all along.

It took me a long time to understand that progress is never linear. And I bring that idea into my PT practice. I want my patients to understand that set backs, both mental and physical, can occur throughout the healing journey. I often tell my patients expressing anxieties and concerns to observe the way they speak to themselves. Our self talk is influenced by our subconscious mind, and it reveals our thoughts, …

Deeply Rooted, Maryam Nahidian

Akesis

I captured this photo on my first solo hike, a very memorable moment for me. I was tired and questioning why I was putting myself in this position. No one would know if I turned back, but I would. Right at that moment, I stopped looking down at my feet and looked up at this scene. “Oh wow,” I said. The trees, strong and tall, but that was not what captured my attention. It was the roots. Exposed, intricate, and vulnerable and I realized at that moment that this scene portrayed me. The journey has been an uphill climb that …

Aching For Sacred Spaces, Arjun Mann

Akesis

This image was made in early 2021, inside a local cafe that was operating takeout-only. It is a space that is very dear to me, one in which I spent countless hours (pre-pandemic) studying and reading, rejuvenating and relaxing with friends.

Recently, as I browsed books while waiting for a latte to-go, this scene caught my eye. The warm light pouring in through a large window fell over my favorite table, marked as "unavailable" by the chairs perched upon it. It would remain, understandably, unavailable for months to come. I was reminded, as I so often am these days, of …

Aurora Stronger, Sarah J. Stengle

Akesis

For my Integrate Clinical Experience class, we were asked to complete journal entries based on our experiences, podcasts, and/or APTA modules. This was one of my entries about a podcast on allyship in the field of physical therapy that can also be applied to any medical field. The podcast can be found at http://podcast.healthywealthysmart.com/pod-cast/ episode 499. This entry is about my personal experience during the peaceful protests and riot that ensued after the unjust murder of George Floyd. Dr. Adrienne McAuley suggested I submit this work to Akesis to share my experience and my personal beliefs change after I decided …

Resignation, Kaline E. Mulvihill

Akesis

I have struggled with anxiety and depression for most of my life. At first, I didn't understand it. Then, I was embarrassed by it. I chose to hide my struggle. It became my own silent battle. A battle I was slowly losing. In March of 2020, the world shut down. A dark, suffocating cloud began to settle over all of us. Life as we knew it, completely changed. At first, I thought I was handling the drastic life changes. I thought I was simply adapting. Then it happened, I lost control. My body physically prevented me from sleeping. It was …

The After Math, Amy L. Courtney

Akesis

Poetry reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic

How Covid-19 Showed Me The Importance Of Patient Education, Katie Lamar

Akesis

This is a personnal reflection upon how COVID-19 impacted me and highlighted to me the importance of patient education.

A Battle For Hope, Kaline E. Mulvihill

Akesis

I have friends and family members working in all aspects of the medical system. They are PAs, PTs, nurses, doctors, caregivers, and support staff. They are on the frontline in the brutal battle against Covid-19. This is their story. It is a story about fear, duty, strength, and finding hope. While we adapt to this new normal and cope with the ever-changing landscape, we have to remember that we are all in this fight together.

No Sneezing In Public, Anonymous Author

Akesis

Poetry relating to compassion during COVID-19 pandemic

Broken With Nature, Meghan Bowler

Akesis

This is a short reflection on two separate periods of intense mental and physical self-healing. Nature removed me from the imprisonment of my own mind around 8 years ago, only to fall back into its grips after a recent hip surgery. Hiking/physical activity was the only form of therapy that I was vulnerable enough to let heal me. It would break me down mentally and physically while rebuilding me at the same time. Some information was derived from personal journal entries but all are very relevant to each and every hike I take today.

Tides, Paul S. Eo

Akesis

This photo is an overhead shot of the waves breaking at Pine Point beach. This represents so much for me. In these times of uncertainty it gives me hope that the tides will eventually turn. And just like the tides, this too will take a turn for the better. It also represents the healing and cleansing qualities of the sea.

Motus Habitus: An Anatomical Ethnography, Michael Cyr, Jordan G. Lamb

Akesis

Although this project began long before the release of Akesis' Spring theme, it perfectly encapsulates adaptation in many ways. The response to the recent pandemic and the disruption to people's daily routines has caused us to reflect on the ways we experience our bodies and minds in the absence of work, recreation, sociality, and movement. Movement, a key to human health and happiness, has been greatly restrained as most of us are confined to our living quarters. Now more than ever it is important to acknowledge the effects of lifestyle on body and health and find creative ways to move …

Decision 2020, Rolene Yousefyan

Akesis

The materials used to create this piece were chalk pastels. The inspiration behind this drawing was the difficult decisions we all have had to make at some point throughout our lives. No matter the reason why we made these decisions, there is no changing them and they may forever change the pathways of our lives.

Hx Of, Bonni Boles

Akesis

My purpose in creating this comic strip was to tell a story that depicts some of the struggles I have had with the health care system and how a patient's history can go overlooked. I suffered from chronic insomnia for over 10 years before a licensed professional counselor, someone tasked with actually listening to me, helped me to get on medication to help with sleep. My mental health, and general health, problems became much less severe and more manageable after finally sleeping regularly.

Sleep hygiene has been found to not have much success with chronic insomnia. I didn't need someone …

Skull And Cervical Spine Study, Paul J. Mangiafico

Akesis

Anatomical drawings are a really fun way to understand and appreciate the structure and the complexity of the human body. The material used to create this drawing was a #2 mechanical pencil.

Twin, Amy L. Courtney

Akesis

Reflective essay about being an identical twin who no longer looks identical.

Remedy, Michael Cyr

Akesis

In keeping with this issues’ theme this piece is meant to highlight the subtle places terminal illness hides biologically, socially and spiritually and how and where it is expressed, sometimes despite the best efforts of the patient or caregivers. This piece also makes effort to convey the importance of humanity in medicine and highlight loving connection as an important part of the arsenal we use against sickness.

Hexis Habitus, Jessica Rehrig

Akesis

This photograph is one that was taken years ago after gymnastics practice. It was mindlessly taken: poor quality, out of frame, buried amongst memories saved in a rarely viewed album. At the time, it captured nothing more than a habitus, a commonplace that seemed unnecessary to freeze in time.

Years have passed since training, and our hands no longer serve as an outward reflection of diligence and dedication. Today those calluses exist in the internal habitus of our character, and in one mindlessly taken, poor quality, out of frame photograph.

Clay And Stone, Jess W. Rempel

Akesis

Clay handprints on a canyon wall in southern Utah, found after the people who made them had gone. The Navajo sandstone of the canyon wall dates to the Jurassic period, with a record of eons revealed by the water that carved the canyon away. People love to leave their mark on places that make marks on them: some of the earliest recorded graffiti in Pompeii simply read "Gaius was here." I enjoyed stumbling upon the hand prints which allowed me into the hikers' experience, and their joy could add to the lasting impression that place made upon me. Our experiences …

Corporeal Quintessence, Jordan Lamb, Michael Cyr

Akesis

In keeping with the theme of “Historia Habitus” this collection is meant to illustrate how the physical form is a living history, with every movement written into the striations of the human musculature. The old adage “you are what you eat” is easily extended to “you are what you do”. Contemplate the hours and repetitions that have gone into sculpting the highlighted regions of our model/athletes. We hope this collection stimulates reflection on what the body can tell you about your past and what your, or perhaps your patient’s, lifestyle can predict about the future.

The Journey Of Life, Rolene Yousefyan

Akesis

The materials used to create this piece were oil pastels. The inspiration behind this piece was the importance of mental health awareness along with our ability to grow and become who we are today based on our past experiences and history.

Our Histories, Our Horizons: A Letter To Our Readers

Akesis

Volume 5, Issue 1 marks a new chapter in the history of our narrative medicine journal as we realize an important goal of Akesis—establishing a foothold on the Portland campus of UNE. Our hope is that Akesis becomes a familiar name among students, faculty, and staff, and that our call for submissions and issue publications are events everyone anticipates and enjoys. This issue also welcomes six new editors to Akesis, students representing a diverse sampling of UNE’s graduate and professional programs from both campuses. The success of this issue’s call for submissions is due to the efforts of …

Overcoming The Overwhelming, Abigail Mae Riitano

Akesis

This piece was inspired by a CPC prompt that required reflection on where we feel we are currently as medical students and how it compares to our expectations before starting medical school. I believe this relates to the theme "always forward" as I reflected on my expectations and realized that I need to give my positive perspectives room to grow.

Not Now, Psoas., Kelly Mcguirl

Akesis

My psoas is always tight.

Sometimes I’m too intense.

My psoas reminds me with a collegial cramp.

Usually on my dominant side.

I notice, but push through, telling my psoas to shut the hell up, I’m busy.

When it’s quiet,

I notice and allow the guidance.

I soften and submit to a gentleness of mind and muscle.

The ease that comes is an honest breeze that carries me through.

A Home Death On Peaks Island, Chuck Radis

Akesis

I believe that those who die, particularly those like my patient Martha, can teach the living a great deal about “Always Forward.” All too often I find that the immediate family of the deceased becomes stuck in grief, unable to move beyond their loss. My patient Martha, by allowing her children to participate directly in bathing her after she passed was very wise in anticipating how powerful grief can be. She wanted the healing to take place even on the day she passed. And I have to think that her insistence that I come by the house the night she …

Oh Bother!, Jack Williams Phd, Med

Akesis

I often ponder those wonderful days of innocence, and I long to return there as I remember those magical places and things. What imaginations and lightness we had in those times! And our worries, when and if they existed, were like wisps of the wind. We would fall down, cry perhaps a little, then return again and again to the wondrous realities of play. As I have become "a senior citizen" in our often stodgy culture, I have come to realize that we never really lose those wondrous gifts....We just have to remember and work to remind ourselves of those …

Refill, Humza Ahmed

Akesis

The experiences we carry with us play a role in how we see the world. At times, those experiences are accompanied by the negativity, self judgement, and regret that can weigh us down and prevent us from becoming the strongest versions of our selves.

Sometimes, the solution involves finding an environment in which we can pour out our poisons, forgive ourselves for being human, and refill ourselves with positivity and hope.

The defining moment comes when you stare at the puddle of poison before you, and reflect on what you see staring back at you, behind the ripples of self …

Re-Purpose, Jordan Morrison-Nozik

Akesis

I would often take breaks from studying by walking along the beach, collecting any good seashells I would find. I started using them as plant holders, and enjoyed the hermit crab-like appearance.

Refrigerate, Alay P. Nanavati

Akesis

I just wanted to share my experience of burnout since beginning medical school. Given how widespread and common burnout is in the medical field, I felt like there would be many people who could relate to my experience. If my experience could help or even comfort anyone by the fact that they are not alone in the feelings that arise from burnout, it would make this piece worth the effort of writing for me. If anything else, I hope any readers can enjoy reading about the experience of a brand new medical student.

Mother Nature, Breanna M. Glynn

Akesis

Mother Nature is our greatest teacher in the lesson of patience and new growth. She makes us wait for the sweet moments, but when they come how lucky we are to bear witness to her beauty. She renews life, and breaths fresh air into the dead leaves that winter has plastered onto the ground. She reminds us that with death, comes more vibrant and boisterous life. We just need to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.