It has been my privilege to try to help thousands of patients since becoming a doctor in 1963. Many are memorable for variety of reasons, some good and a few better forgotten. The royal and famous bring interesting challenges, and I take the liberty of recounting some, albeit anonymously. I shall start with a call…
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Some time ago you kindly subscribed to my website http://petercottontales.com. That URL has been transferred to a new site which deals only with my children’s books about Fred the Snake. This new site https://drpetercotton.com is designed to accomodate my other personal and medical interests and general blogs. I recently posted 4 blogs about my journey…
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My first impressions of USA were very positive. Planes could not then fly directly from Japan to USA, so I was forced to spend a day in Honolulu, mostly on sunny Waikiki beach, watching bikinis throw frisbees. The contrast from the grey (often raining) constrained Japan was impressive, and was further emphasized next day when…
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I arrived in Tokyo at last on May 23rd. For my non-medical readers (if there are any, I thank you), I should explain again that my reason for being in Japan was to explore their progress in the development and use of flexible fiberoptic endoscopes to examine the human guts (esophagus, stomach and intestines, small…
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Thanks to those who read and commented on part 1, our stay in Iran. The family returned to England on May 15th, and I got ready to go to Japan. I had some time to spare, so planned to see a few places on my way. My first thought was to fly to Moscow and…
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Like many people I imagine, I have spent spare Covid time sorting old photos and memorabilia. I came across my battered journal of my journey around the world from (almost) 50 years ago. No doubt you would like to hear all about it…… I was in my final years of specialist training in gastroenterology with…
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A change of plan for Fred the Snake book 6. Rather than touring USA sights as we thought recently, Fred the friendly snake has decided to go camping with Jim, Perdy and Jack, and a few of his animal friends. I can’t wait to see how Bonnie illustrates some of the adventures, like this one…
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May 8th is forever VE (Victory in Europe) day, celebrating when WW2 ended in Europe 75 years ago (not until 4 months later in the Pacific). Since I was only just 6 years old when the war ended, I have rather few memories of those times and some may well be scrambled. My esteemed older…
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The world has imploded since my last ramblings less than a month ago. We are locked down, worried about family and friends, and especially those in harm’s way. As a retired physician I am acutely aware of the dedication of all those now in the trenches, and feeling guilty that I am not there with…
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A special reunion recently. Dorcas Chapman visited us from England and met up with Rita Oden/Koisch in Mount Pleasant, SC. They served and survived as my personal secretaries for a grand total of 40 years, Dorcas at St Thomas’s and The Middlesex in England 1970-86 and then Rita at Duke and MUSC until retiring in…
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