Paraganglioma in the Organ of Zuckerkandl

-From the New England Journal of Medicine “Images in Clinical Medicine,”

While studying the CAT scan

I picture Groucho Marx

as Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush

offering a diagnosis to Emily Upjohn:

“I see you’ve got a Paraganglioma

in your Organ of Zuckerkandl,

and that’s a candle I’d like to light!”

Emily blushing, “Oh Hugo, you know

just how to set a girl’s heart on fire!”

Off screen, the scan is no joke:

a young man with belly pain

plus blood pressure numbers

so high even Hackenbush

would have thought to triple check them.

And though you might be someone

who has never tackled a CAT scan,

I guarantee you won’t miss the red

paraganglioma in the Organ of Zuckerkandl

beside the aorta, the way Doc Williams’

red wheelbarrow is glazed with rain

water beside the white chickens,

a silly line I recite to 10-year-olds

who laugh like I’m funnier than Groucho.

So let me light a cigar and honk

Harpo’s horn to celebrate

the surgical teams’ skill,

the miracle of CAT scans,

and a fully recovered patient

ready for another day at the races.

Dr Berlin has been writing a poem about his experience of being a doctor every month for the past 28 years in Psychiatric Times in a column called “Poetry of the Times.” He is an instructor in psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts. His latest book is Tender Fences.