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The Life and Times of Michael C. McGoodwin
Table of Contents and Introduction

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts.
(from Shakespeare's As You Like It)



Michael McGoodwin March 2000
Michael McGoodwin March 2000


Sections Appearing On This Page

Overall Table of Contents For These Memoirs

General Chronological History

Childhood 1944 – 1957
Earliest Years 1944 – 1950 
Elementary School 1950 – 1955 
Junior High School 1955 – 1957

High School Years 1957 – 1961
High School Education and Experiences 1957 – 1961 
Summer 1961 
Rebecca Cardiff's High School Education and Experiences 1958 – 1962 

College Years 1961 – 1965
Freshman Year in College 1961 – 1962
Summer 1962
Sophomore Year in College 1962 – 1963
Summer 1963
Junior Year in College 1963 – 1964
Summer 1964
Senior Year in College 1964 – 1965
Summer 1965

Medical School Years 1965 – 1969
First Year of Medical School 1965 – 1966
Summer of 1966 in Physiology
Engagement and Marriage 1965 – 1966
Second Year of Medical School 1966 – 1967
Third Year of Medical School 1967 – 1968
Fourth Year of Medical School 1968 – 1969 

Medical Internship Year 1969 – 1970
Internship at the University of Colorado Medical Center
Life in Colorado Beyond Internship

Indian Health Service Years in Alaska 1970 – 1972
Journey to Alaska 1970
Life in Anchorage and Environs
Becoming Parents 1971
Other Leisure Trips in Alaska
Grand Tour of Europe 1972
Serving in The Indian Health Service (USPHS) 1970 – 1972

Residency Years at the University of Washington 1972 – 1976
Moving to Seattle June 1972
Life in Seattle and Environs 1972 – 1976
Residency in Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Washington 1972 – 1975
Residency in Nuclear Medicine at the University of Washington 1975 – 1976
General Observations on Diagnostic Radiology and Private Practice
Career Decision and Job Choice 1976

Radiology Practice Years in Bellingham Washington 1976 – 1978
Moving to Bellingham June 1976
Life in Bellingham 1976 – 1978
Radiology Practice 1976 – 1978

Radiology Practice Years in Seattle Washington 1978 – 1994, Part I
Moving to Seattle January 1978
Education, Entertainment, Careers, and Interests of Our Children 1978 – 2009 
Resort, Athletic, and Outdoor-Oriented Recreational Activities 
Other Travel, Cabin, and Extended Families 
Domestic, Cultural, and Esthetic Life in Seattle and Environs 
Puget Sound Radiology Group Practice and Dynamics 
Radiology Leadership Tasks, Positions, Staff and Administrators 
Professional Organizations, Journals, Meetings, Conferences, Education, and Teaching 
Quantitative Obstetrical Ultrasonography and MOBUS
Malpractice Matters 
The Zenith of My Medical Career and Prosperity: 1985  

Radiology Practice Years in Seattle Washington 1978 – 1994, Part II 
Introduction 
Radiology Practice Years 1986 – 1990:  Early Impact of Evolving Illness 
Partial Disability and Its Impact 1990 – 1994 
Final Months of Radiology and Resignation 1994
Disability Insurance
Facing Unemployment and Unplanned Retirement
References on CFS That Were Available in November 1990 

Retirement Years, 1994 - Current
Exploring the World of Computer Science and Information Technology 
Forays into the Professional Field of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 
Resort, Athletic, and Outdoor-Oriented Recreational Activities 
Other Travel, Cabin, and Extended Family Events 
Domestic, Cultural and Esthetic Life in Seattle and Environs 
Professional Organizations, Journals, Meetings, Conferences, and Education 
What Next?  
 

Special Topics

Parents, Ancestors, and Origins
My Father
My Mother
My Younger Brother Scott D. McGoodwin

On Music and Musical Experiences 
Music in the Air 
Struggling with Piano Lessons 
Junior High School Band 
High School Experiences 
College, Medical School, and Alaska Years 
Performing Comes to an End 
Concerts, Opera, and Courses 
Books, Web, and Other Resources 
Sharing Music with Our Children 
Movies and Music
Other Musical Genres 
FM Radio and Metropolitan Opera

On Religion and Morality
Early Exposure to Christianity 
On the Existence of a God 
Violence Associated with Abrahamic Religions 
Benefits of Christian Life, Spirituality, and Morality 
Conclusions 
 

Adventures With the Immune System

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Undifferentiated Autoimmune Syndrome 
Introduction and Disclaimer  
Medical Terms, Definitions, and Abbreviations  
CFS / FM / UAS Symptoms, Testing, Diagnoses, Treatments, and Course  
Questions Regarding the Progression and How to Label My Immune Disorders   
Mini-Advice to Health Professionals 
Causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
 
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma ("Lem") 
Possible Early Symptoms and Signs of Lymphoma 
Small Bowel Obstruction and Follicular Lymphoma 
Risk Factors for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Chemotherapy and Attitude Adjustment in 2005 
Progress in 2006 – 2012
Acknowledgements
Images of Lem the Lymphoma
 

Introduction and Purpose of These Memoirs

I have led a quiet life pursuing my professional career while it lasted with some success but without much drama or publicity.  I've been on no major military campaigns, won no Nobel prizes, written no great books, and served in no high office, so writing these lengthy memoirs might seem pretentious or pointless.  But these are (in part) merely the stories of one man's life experiences: his origins, growth and maturation; his courtship, marriage, and family life; his journey through the complex worlds of science, medicine, and the humanities; his modest triumphs along with mistakes and deep disappointments.  And a substantial part of the narrative is really not just about myself but about us—my wife Becky and some of my other family members.  I do not pretend that this is great literature.  Even so, there are compelling reasons why I have chosen to write down these observations:

I. Acknowledgements

I have especially wanted to acknowledge some of the many opportunities I was given and privileges that I enjoyed, and to give recognition and gratitude to the persons who generously helped and guided me along the way.  

II. Celebrations, Intellectual and Cultural History, Values and Critiques

There has been great love, beauty, and enjoyment in my life and surroundings, and I wanted to praise and celebrate what has brought me or my family such satisfaction.  I have therefore tried to describe:

III. Themes

Some favorite themes that I have dwelt on include:

Where I am aware of circumstances that I care about and that could stand improvement, I have offered a few strongly held opinions and frank criticisms, even some regarding matters of taste.  There are also a few choices that I have made in my life that prompt me to express regret that I did not do things differently.

IV. Potential Uses To Others

Some aspects of my life might prove instructive to certain individuals, whether related to me or not.  I have tried to offer a few useful words of wisdom based on personal experiences.  At times my reader might find these pages tediously bookish or academic in tone, but by trying to detail faithfully many of the interesting intellectual sources and influences contributing to my growth and development, I hope that some of these details might prove useful for others to consider.  Persons who are interested in the evolution of a somewhat complex scientific-medical career, and how it responded to various positive and negative influences, might gain useful insights that could help to guide their own career paths.  Those who are struggling with evolving or elusive chronic illnesses, such as I have experienced, might also find some useful information, or at the least a sense of solace or solidarity in what I have recounted.  And some of my story might simply be interesting through its description of challenges that had to be faced and in some cases overcome. 

V. The Urge To Preserve A Written Narrative

Finally, telling one's story seems to be a nearly universal urge at some point in life.  Because memory can be so fleeting, I felt compelled to record some personal historical notes, in part simply for future reference by myself and my wife in our dotage, as well as for the benefit of others.  (I am fond of Herodotus's stated purpose in writing his Histories—"that time may not draw the color from what man has brought into being" [transl. D. Grene 1985].)  Perhaps my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, or more distant family members might someday want to know more about my family and its origins.  My compulsion to write about my life was also triggered by my encounter with a malignant adversary, which concentrates the mind wonderfully.  The events and explorations of my life have seemed interesting to me, they will not likely be recounted by anyone else, I have had ample time available for writing during my early retirement, and I enjoy writing as a worthwhile pastime, so why not? 

It is my hope that each of my readers will find something to enjoy in these pages.

Structure and Content of These Memoirs

Composition Dates: This memoirs project was begun in May 2005 and initially completed by December 2005—a time of chemotherapy conducive to reflection.  I have subsequently added content and made revisions each year for 2006 through 2012.  In spring 2009, aided by ever-improving Web resources, I made an especially thorough review and updating, and repeated this on a somewhat smaller scale in 2011 and 2012 and beyond.  I hope to continue making additions and revisions in upcoming years.

Structure: Somehow the project expanded to the length of a medium-sized book.  Even the original 2005 version contained over 150,000 words—the equivalent of more than 200 printed pages, excluding images and various documents in PDF format—and much has been added since.  My memoirs consist of a collection of hyperlinked HTML documents ("web pages") plus related photos and PDFs, and is designed for viewing in a Web browser, whether the files are stored on the Web or locally held on a hard drive.  Most of it is presented in more or less chronological order, but I have allowed myself, when making certain observations from earlier years, to jump forward to how my ideas on the subject subsequently evolved, or how the experience affected my later life.  I have provided many hyperlinks both to material found elsewhere on my own web pages, as well as to topics discussed on many outside web sites.  These hyperlinks will inevitably go out of date, but are mostly current as of 2014.  The hyperlinked structure allows me the freedom to offer optional and at times lengthy essay-like digressions where otherwise I might be forced to maintain a more rigidly compact and linearly arranged narration.  (The reader of course is free to skip these digressions.)  These memoirs freely link to resources on the wider McGoodwin.net website.

Images: For optimal display of photos, you should have a color video screen horizontal resolution of preferably 1024 pixels or greater.  In addition, I recommend the use of an up-to-date browser such as Mozilla Firefox that allows zoomed-out full screen display of high resolution photos that would otherwise extend far beyond the boundaries of the browser's window.  Most images utilize the sRGB color space, and it may be desirable to ensure that your browser is set to employ full color management, defaulting to sRGB.  To keep these pages compact and quickly downloadable, I have often included thumbnails of larger photographic images on many pages.  Please feel free to click on these thumbnails to see the intended larger image, and then use your browser's 'Go Back' function (or the keyboard shortcut, typically Alt-Left Arrow) to return to the web page displaying the thumbnail.  In some instances, the thumbnail displays only a part of the full image.  My goal of keeping this project simple, self-contained, enduring, and universally viewable even from a copy saved on a local hard drive has made it desirable to not utilize more advanced Web-related capabilities (such as Java, JSP, Javascript, or ASP, etc.) nor have I made use of more elegant but typically proprietary photo viewing capabilities.  Practical space limitations have prevented me from including photos of all of the important and cherished persons in my life.  Most of the photos and other graphics included have been taken or created by me or my immediate family members, or are school or work photos by unknown photographers, and in these cases I have not explicitly acknowledged the photographer.  In other cases where the photographer is known, I have acknowledged him/her in the photo caption or in the "Alt" HTML text description accompanying the photo (this text displays only in some browsers).  In some cases, I have made available higher-resolution images of photos also provided at lower resolution—click on these linked photos or the symbol HiRes to see these larger images.  (These are generally key family photos and are intended to give my own and other family members access to high resolution images I have, in case they might wish someday to make prints.)

Details, Moods, and Style: My style and purposes require that I include many details at times where they are available to me from old records or photos.  This is sometimes more to allow me and those close to me to reconstruct and recall our own past, rather than to inform strangers.  Because I am a detail-oriented person, yet records and recollections of my earlier years are scant, exploring my more distant past (before 1964) seemed like raking through an archeological dig, looking for bone and pottery fragments that would allow reconstruction of a coherent story.  I ask the indulgence of my readers who might find the minutiae at times excessive, especially when the narrative degenerates into mere lists of events, etc.—please just skip over this excessive detail and verbiage.  There are also far too many I's, me's, my's, and mine's in these memoirs, but this could not be avoided in such a personal narrative.  In addition to providing objective details, I have tried, however imperfectly, to reconstruct some of the subjective moods and mind-sets that applied during the various phases of my life, describing what seemed important at the time, even if now less important to me. 

These memoirs intentionally include some technical material and vocabulary that will not be familiar to every reader.  This is because: (1) I am writing in my natural style about what has interested me; (2) I have always been interested in bridging the gaps and barriers in our culture between the sciences and the humanities; (3) I don't wish to dumb down what I write in order to assure the comprehension of the least knowledgeable reader; and (4) I am writing some sections about specialized areas of knowledge, such as physics, radiology, or rheumatology, that are likely to be of interest only to a limited subset of my readers anyway.  Moreover, because I enjoy teaching and piquing intellectual curiosity, I hope that the reader encountering unfamiliar words, concepts, places, historical events, etc. might feel motivated to look up some of these and thereby learn something new and useful from the time spent browsing here. 

My authorities for writing style and grammar are mainly the Chicago Manual of Style and the satisfyingly permissive Webster's Dictionary of English Usage.  I like to freely split infinitives and end sentences with prepositions, the banning up with which I will not put.

Source Materials, Emphasis, and Selectivity: Memory of the past can be highly selective or distorted, and my recall—certainly when compared to my mother's—has never been very good.  Fortunately I have a variety of records to draw on, specifically: a detailed oral history that I took down from my father and mother in the 1970s and 1990s; my photo collection; trip logs, letters, appointment calendars, and other papers; school albums; Web-based resources; etc.  Because I tend to want to view things as positively as possible and generally try to be kind to others, my vision may appear at times to be filtered through rose-colored glasses.  However, I hope that what I say here honestly reflects what actually happened in my past.  It would be inappropriate to discuss indiscriminately and in detail every subject that has touched me, ignoring how sensitive or private certain matters might still be to myself or to other living persons.  In addition, I have intentionally omitted the full names and birth dates of certain persons for various reasons.  I certainly do not wish to use these recollections to deliberately discomfort anyone.  There was discord over the years in my original nuclear family, a source of distress to me, but I prefer not to use these memoirs to dwell on such deeply personal material.  Although I might otherwise be inclined to say much more about the lives of my daughters and my extended family members, my desire to respect their privacy compels me to say probably too little about any of them.  I have encouraged each of my daughters, brothers, brothers-in-law, nephews, nieces, and other extended family members to write his or her own memoirs (or to provide some authorized recollections which would be suitable for inclusion in these pages).  What is presented here is therefore intended to be honest, meaningful, representative, appropriate for public presentation, extensive and often detailed, but not always exhaustively complete—how could it be otherwise?  Although I alone am ultimately responsible for the content of this memoirs project, I am pleased to say that Becky and Christie reviewed virtually every word of the original 2005 edition with me (and Wendy also read many parts of it), in order to help me maximize its accuracy and appropriateness.

Invitation For Comment: Of course I would welcome constructive commentary, different perspectives, additional facts, details, and anecdotes, or other corrections.  (Please send to the email address listed below if you like.)  In particular, if you believe that you or someone is unfairly represented in these pages, please let me know and I'll try to arrive at a suitable correction.  As long as I can still write, these memoirs will be a work in progress, revisable and expandable as new or improved materials and inspiration become available, so don't be too surprised to see some of the "facts" change.

Medical Advice Disclaimer: Please see an important medical advice disclaimer here.

Email Address for Michael McGoodwin

MCM at McGoodwin period NET
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