Passing Through

This autobiography reveals a dichotomy of my life experiences. In my nineties now, I look back with appreciation of my life encounters. I hope that my writing conveys the real confrontations that I underwent. My college education took place at Monterey Peninsula College, UC Berkeley, and Stanford. These institutions prepared me for my professional career but not for retirement. Circumstances propelled me into bioengineering before it became a word, let alone a college degree. I was an original bioengineer. I worked alongside world-famous cardiologists and oncologists. It was a glorious time for me, and I would not trade those involvements. Although my professional life was filled with successes, my personal life was not. These events are discussed herein.

You can only imagine the contradiction between my professional life and retirement life. As a bioengineer, I was the innovator of ultrasound contrast and gas-filled bubbles too small to see with the naked eye. Such bubbles were highly echogenic to ultrasound so that echocardiologists could visualize blood flow within the myocardium. Juxtapose this to my work where I retired to a forest without any man-made features except for a logging road. I had to provide all the amenities required to live. Further, there was a four-hour drive to the nearest large town. Competition with wildlife was omnipresent. I survived, and my story is detailed herein.