- With Mayo Clinic oncologist
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Edward Creagan, M.D.
"The magic of the electronic village is transforming health information. The mouse and keyboard have extended the stethoscope to the 500 million people now online." — Dr. Edward Creagan
The power of the medium inspires Dr. Edward Creagan as he searches for ways to share Mayo Clinic's vast resources with the general public.
Dr. Creagan, a Newark, N.J., native, is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hospice medicine and palliative care. He has been with Mayo Clinic since 1973 and in 1999 was president of the staff of Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, was honored in 1995 with the John and Roma Rouse Professor of Humanism in Medicine Award and in 1992 with the Distinguished Mayo Clinician Award, Mayo's highest recognition. He has been recognized with the American Cancer Society Professorship of Clinical Oncology.
He describes his areas of special interest as "wellness as a bio-psycho-social-spiritual-financial model" and fitness, mind-body connection, aging and burnout.
Dr. Creagan has been an associate medical editor with Mayo Clinic's health information websites and has edited publications and CD-ROMs and reviewed articles.
"We the team of (the website) provide reliable, easy-to-understand health and wellness information so that each of us can have productive, meaningful lives," he says.
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Stress blog
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Dec. 12, 2009
Tidings of stress and frustration
By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Most of us know what we need to do to preserve our health, wellness and serenity. We know that we must take care of ourselves. We know that we need adequate rest and nutrition. We know that we need to manage our time and stress. Yet despite this knowledge, we often stumble and lose our way, as I did recently.
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Before departing on a professional trip for several days, my wife and I decided that, for once, we would send out holiday cards before the end of December. We poured through several hundred photographs and selected a dozen to use for our cards. I created a folder on the desktop of my computer and put the pictures in it. This isn't rocket science you're thinking, but let me tell you the rest of the story.
After a few minutes, the doorbell rang for a delivery. It was an important package that required photo identification and signing multiple forms. It was 15 minutes before I went back to the computer. And then the phone rang. It was a telemarketer asking if I would participate in a quick survey. I respectfully declined, but there went another five minutes. I hastily completed the work on the photos and hurried off to prepare for the trip.
Upon returning, I couldn't remember how I'd labeled the folder. Nor could I remember where I'd put it — was it on one of the three laptops or one of several jump drives. After much time and irritation, I was able to find the folder and finish the cards. What should've taken a stress-free and pleasant 25 minutes evolved into 90 minutes of frustration that probably eroded the lining of my stomach and raised my blood pressure.
Although I often warn others about the pitfalls of multitasking and the tyranny of the urgent, I didn't heed my own advice. It was a good reminder that if we don't eliminate distractions and focus on the task at hand, even a simple job can come to feel like a burden.
5 comments posted
February 26, 2010 1:11 p.m.
Trugie: My heart goes out to you and your husband. My father was an alcoholic. Every day I prayed he would come home sober. For the first 28 years of my life, he came home drunk 5 nights out of every 7. It seemed so hopeless. Then I got involved in a 12 step program. That helped me so much. He continued drinking until the doctor issued an ultimatum to him. Stop or die! In the meantime, Al-alon helped me to help myself and to stay centered in the middle of a storm!
- Barbara A
January 24, 2010 12:22 a.m.
My husband has been coming to Mayo for several years with a calcium difficiency disease. He is also an alcoholic. I need support in hoping with his toxic, negative mood. It has affected me in not knowing if he will ever get cured and also he is compounding things by drowning his troubles every evening. I am second in his life, alcohol is first. I think I am just getting angrier by the day. I tried to be supportive to him but he made jokes of it and said he did not need any help. He has already had one pit tumor removed, and several operations on his legs. I just am at my wits end. I am mad at him for failing me (by neglecting our marriage) and I am angry at God for beginning to take him from me. He has an incurable disease. Does anyone want to talk? I check in my computer each evening.
- Tuggie
December 14, 2009 9:34 a.m.
Truly what you have written about is UNWANTED multitasking. Door bell rings. Then the Survey Call! There are far too many people all scratching for a buck/and scurrying around us that make us nervous ....It's all the gadgets and radio waves that make us nervous and stressful. It's having to change software to constantly keep up and keep a desktop and laptop and have three different phone numbers and then wonder why we get telemarketers on all of them, and all seem to call at crazy busy hours...like dinner or meditation time. I really don't think it's multitasking either. I think the world needs to teach the type B personality to keep up with the type A"S at least you can cope...me I would be screaming out the front door if I couldn't find my "file".
- stella
December 13, 2009 8:09 p.m.
How many times do we type A's try to do sixteen things at once? How counterproductive! It's so much better to concentrate on one task at a time. Barbara A."Cry Depression, Celebrate Recovery."
- Barbara
December 13, 2009 6:04 p.m.
Unfortunately, too many of us are in this self-induced stress crisis. I've taken classes in stress management over the years, but it never becomes automatic. Lots of Luck!
- Lew
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