Dr. Yonatan \”Yoni\” Peres acknowledges that being the son of former Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres can be a mixed blessing.\n\n\”The name helps open some doors,\” he said, \”but sometimes it closes them.\”
It\’s hard to imagine that I could have been less delectable.
As I write this, I look like James Coburn eating a lemon in a windstorm. Drunk. Not only does my face look red and crackly, it must be covered at all times with a Vaseline-like lotion, thick and greasy, giving me the appearance of someone who has just eaten a pork chop with no hands. And I lack Mr. Coburn\’s panache.
It is a bright, sunny day at Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services. In her office, medical director Dr. Susan Schmidt-Lackner is sitting on the floor with one of her young patients — not an easy feat for a tall woman in a long skirt, but the doctor is more interested in the little boy than in her own comfort. The child\’s mother, seated nearby, recounts her concerns, such as how her son can\’t tolerate the texture of most foods and is subsisting on a diet of McDonald\’s Happy Meals.
The reason I am limping is because of a small man named Shen Hsu. That\’s not entirely accurate. I went to see Hsu because I was limping. He performed a variety of ancient Chinese medical practices on me, including acupuncture and a form of massage that could easily be mistaken for torture. I\’m still limping. Now I\’m limping a little differently, on what used to be my good side.
For as long as she can remember, Dr. Beth Karlan has been driven to answer one elusive question: what is the difference between a normal cell and a cancerous cell? While the question is common among medical researchers, Karlan\’s progress in discovering at least a partial answer has been both heartening and a continuing stimulus to continue the search.
My mother called to give me an update on my aunt Ruthie\’s condition. She had a cancer-spotted kidney removed a few days ago,and the family Jew-Ex was hot with medical reports. My mother, whose curse it was to be the firstborn, was cursed a second time by havinga daughter who she used to liken to her sister Ruth whenever I stepped out of line — which was often, according to my mother.Ruthie\’s curse was to be born two years after my mother and to neverhave had a daughter.
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