Go Retire Psychiatrist

Well, “Hello” to the Big Shoes Blues Show hosted by Ed English on his inaugural Friday night on KCCK radio 88.3 in Iowa!

Bobby D hung out with Ed for a short while at the start of the show. Ed flew just fine solo the rest of the evening. He’s got a great radio voice. One of the highlights for us was the song “100 Years of Blues” by Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite.

Ed’s tribute to Big Mo was the title of his show, Big Shoes, which is a reminder of how important Big Mo is to many fans of the Friday night KCCK blues show. Change can be a challenge.

That’s why the song “100 Years of the Blues” is a little nostalgic and a little ominous. On the one hand, it’s a celebration of tradition and on the other, it’s a recognition of the future coming straight at you—and looking at it calmly.

When I retired from consultation-liaison psychiatry, I missed it. I still miss it sometimes. But I never went back to visit my colleagues or the residents and medical students. That doesn’t mean I never looked back.

I can’t say anything about drinking like Bishop and Musselwhite do in that song. In fact, I consider myself lucky. My bladder knew something about booze that my brain didn’t. I peed out what I drank almost immediately—almost.

My successor, Dr. Michael Strong, MD, MSEd, and C-L Psychiatry Fellowship Director, did something I couldn’t do, which was to get the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship approved through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

The name of Ed’s show is the Big Shoes Blues Show—for now. I’m not so old that I can say I knew the Dead Sea when it was sick. But I know a little bit about change. It’s always on the horizon.