A Face to Face the World

You just take it for granted.  That face that looks back from you in the mirror every morning.  It sends messages to everyone who ever sees you – are you happy, sad, friendly, angry – and can reflect your every fleeting emotion.  You smile, you cry, you laugh - it is how you face the world, and take it in with your eyes, your nose, your mouth.   As the Cleveland Clinic’s Head of Microsurgery Training and Director of Plastic Surgery Research Dr. Maria Siemionow wrote so eloquently in her book “Transplanting A Face.  Notes On A Life In Medicine”:

“Our faces are more than visages to be adorned or veiled.  They are essential to our communication with the world.  No other aspect of our anatomy is capable of even a fraction of the complexity of motion and emotion allowed by the muscles and tissues of the face.”

Yet precisely because our faces are so individual to each of us, in a medical world that saves lives with organ donation,  donating the face of one to another takes us into an area that makes some feel squeamish, others troubled.  Hearts, livers and kidneys save lives.  A new face will surely change a life, but also deliver high risk – rejection, infections, a lifetime of drugs to suppress the immune system.

Think about a person who has experienced severe facial trauma, who is not able to speak, eat or breathe normally, who feels like they need to hide from view because their appearance is greeted by many with horror, fear and rejection.  How could anyone who looks in the mirror in the morning to see a whole, healthy face not have some  empathy for the suffering, the harm caused by a life dealt this blow?

Medical and ethical discussions will follow the Cleveland Clinic’s pioneering efforts in performing the first near total face transplant.   For Dr. Siemionow, this is the culmination of decades of research, and a passion to help give those with the worst kind of disfigurement, who’ve exhausted conventional surgical treatment, who are debilitated and suffering the chance to live a normal life. 

It seems to me that the heart of medical ethics is about ending human suffering.  Through the big heart and courage of the recipient, the brave generosity of the donor’s family, and the dedication and passion of a team of doctors and nurses at the Cleveland Clinic, the door to a stunning new opportunity to end unimaginable suffering has been thrown open – shining the light on a a new face to face the world.

Deck the Halls

It’s both a joy and -sometimes- a chore to get all of the Christmas decorations unpacked, trees (yes, two) decorated, complete with working lights (always requiring at least one trip to the store) and other treasures put in their places.   But just as the family traditions shared each year connect us with Christmases past, so do the collected ornaments, many of them attached to particular people, places or events.  Here, the small plastic stable sheltering Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus given to me by my piano teacher when I was five years old.  The glitter on the roof is mostly gone, but the meaning of it is always new.  Other spots on the tree are reserved for the toilet paper roll angel, a gluey, glittery angel, a “snow” ball and the rest of the handcrafted gifts made in those early school years by my son – more precious than any Swarovski, Waterford or Radko bauble on the tree.  

Some ornaments mark a new home, a vacation, a life change.  All look like old friends when they emerge from their ten month hibernation in the basement.  And all bring layers of joy, memories, the special loves and friendships in my life.  For me, celebrating these cherished memories together with loved ones is the heart of the holiday season.

My dear grandmother, Henrietta Kucera, has been gone for many years now.  But every year, I make one of her holiday cookie recipes  to a very enthusiastic reception from my own son and the rest of my family.  I have prepared this for viewers before, but thought I’d share Henrietta’s Cinnamon Sticks one more time:

1/2 cup butter; 1/2 cup Crisco (I know, I know.); 2 scant cups flour; 5 Tablespoons sugar; 1 teasp. vanilla; cinnamon/sugar mixture for finish

Cream together butter, Crisco, sugar and vanilla; Add flour in batches; Roll a handful of dough at a time into a longer length (like you would play dough); flatten slightly with your hand, then cut into 2″ lengths.  The cookies should be about 1″ X 2″.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 15 to 17 minutes.  When cooled enough to handle, roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on rack to finish cooling.  Makes about 2 and a half dozen, and they disappear fast.  Fantastic with your morning coffee!

Enjoy all the sweetness, the memories, the music, the traditions of your own, and the true meaning of the season.