- With Mayo Clinic oncologist
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
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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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Jan. 19, 2011
Even superheroes have limits
By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
It's very easy to look at other people and have a sense of envy. You know the type — people who seem to have it all, are popular, financially secure and professionally revered. But at the end of the day, they're still human and they have limits like everyone else. This was brought home to me recently by a chance encounter.
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At a wonderful social gathering, there were several individuals I knew casually. One gentleman was a "rock star" in our profession, an acknowledged speaker, a revered scientist whose opinion was sought after by corporations and security agencies. He always keeps a suitcase packed and has a James Bond lifestyle.
He shared with our gathering that his professional year is so intense in terms of proposals and writings that by October he is completely exhausted. He's learned that if he doesn't take off time in November and December he won't have the energy to keep going.
Another important lesson here — you must recognize your limits. You only have so much energy and so much focus. If you allow yourself to become worn down, you won't be able to use your gifts and skills to serve those who depend on you.
So as you head into this new year, remember you have an opportunity to take care of yourself. Don't let it fall by the wayside, because if your health deteriorates nothing else really matters.
5 comments posted
April 19, 2011 3:22 p.m.
I just wish only my mom while take off and have a break, because she works so much that sometimes she doesn't have time for her kids, I'm the oldest of 6 kids and the youngest is 4. And I know she wants to be able to provide for us but its also good to take a break sometime.
- Kierra
January 28, 2011 8:51 p.m.
This post is a little late but it's ironic that I just now had time to read this article and the following is an e-mail I just sent to my son. "Took a mental health day off today. Have worked the past 2 weekends and probably 43 hours thru Thursday on grading projects and getting grades posted. Ridiculous system requires 60 plus clicks to post grades and that's after all the grades are entered. Take that times 19 sections and the probability of a typo i.e. do it all over again, is pretty high for the old and slow one. Not the way I want to end my career, but trapped in a place where I finally can make a decent living. So I take the occasional day off to rejuvenate and go back at it. I went for a long walk today, not my usual brisk pace, but a steady pace and let the rhythm of it settle my frazzled brain and begin to let my basic thought patterns reemerge. After that I took a 3 hour nap and I'm starting to feel some energy seeping back into my physic.
- Chuck
January 25, 2011 11:56 a.m.
Off to Arizona and the sunshine for a couple weeks. Thanks for the reinforcement.
- carol
January 21, 2011 5:34 p.m.
Great points and this goes for people who are caregivers and spend 100 percent of their energy on taking care of a loved one. Yes, it's important "work", but if you don't step back and recharge now and then, you won't feel good and won't be as effective.
- Allison
January 20, 2011 1:50 a.m.
Excellent point that you make with this article. I struggle with this myself in that I tend to push myself hard for too long often resulting in near burnout. I'm going to make it a point this year to pace myself a bit better.
- Stephen
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