A cartoonist remembers M*A*S*H, 30 years later

My new Pinterest page

On Saturday I started up my own page on Pinterest. This site has been gaining popularity over the past year or two. My page has photos of things that interest me. More items will be added over time. You can check it out at http://pinterest.com/donbarrie/.

My M*A*S*H Challenge, The Conclusion

Late last week, I achieved my goal of watching all 11 seasons and 251 episodes of M*A*S*H. I was able to do this in less than six months. The show that reminded us that war is hell, while making us laugh on occasion, has become one of my favourites.

Following from Part 2 of my blog series, here are my top episodes from the remaining six seasons:

Season 6: “Fade Out, Fade In” (1977)

The one-hour Season 6 opener introduces a new surgeon to the 4077, Maj. Charles E. Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers). The character was created for the series after Larry Linville, the actor who played Maj. Frank Burns, decided to leave following Season 5. It also signaled the series' transition from being a comedy-driven show to a serio-comical show, or dramedy.

Season 7: “Point of View” (1978)

One of the series’ most innovative episodes is seen from a wounded soldier’s point of view. What I also like about it is that it doesn’t contain an annoying laugh track!

Season 8: "Life Time" (1979)

Another innovate episode shows the surgical team frantically working to save the life of a severely injured soldier not far from the MASH unit. What makes this episode innovative is that most of the story is told in real time, with a clock ticking at the bottom right hand of the screen.

Season 9: "The Life You Save" (1981)

By Season 9, the series was starting to show its age. This season's finale is one of the stronger episodes from this late period. Winchester, who often appears self-centered and unapproachable, has a deep, spiritual experience when he is almost killed by a sniper. He then becomes obsessed with death, and starts talking to soldiers who have gone through near-death experiences.

Season 10: "Where There's a Will, There's a War" (1982)

Hawkeye (Alan Alda) is unable to leave an aid station due to heavy shelling. Fearing that he may not return alive, he starts making out his Last Will and Testament. Scenes with his co-workers and friends are shown as he makes his bequeaths.

Season 11: "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" (1983)

The two-hour-plus series finale, directed and co-written by Alan Alda, is set in the final days of the Korean War. The main plot involves Hawkeye seeing psychiatrst Dr. Freedman (Allan Arbus) following a traumatic incident on a bus. Meanwhile, Klinger (Jamie Farr) helps a Korean woman look for her family, BJ (Mike Farrell) is discharged and an explosion gives Fr. Mulcahy (William Christopher) some hearing loss. There's also a story where Winchester teaches some North Korean musicians how to play classical music. The whole episode runs the gamut of emotions, and I'm satisfied with the series' conclusion. "Goodbye" still holds the record for being the most-watched TV show finale ever. (Coincidentally, the 30th anniversary of its initial broadcast is this Thursday, February 28.)

Honourable mentions include “The Merchant of Korea” (S6), “The Smell of Music” (S6), “The Party” (S7), “Rally 'Round the Flagg, Boys” (S7), "Inga" (S7), “Good-Bye Radar" (S8), "Dreams" (S8), "Blood Brothers" (S9), "Death Takes a Holiday" (S9), "Blood and Guts" (S10), "The Tooth Shall Set You Free" (S10) and "As Time Goes By" (S11).

My final M*A*S*H blog will focus on my thoughts on the series, along with the top 10 best episodes.

My 2013 Oscar predictions

Okay everybody, for the first time ever I am posting my Oscar predictions. These are the predictions I am making for the most popular categories in the 2013 Oscars airing this Sunday, February 24:

Best Picture: Argo

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Best Original Song: "Skyfall" (Adele Adkins/Paul Epworth), Skyfall

Best Animated Feature: Wreck-it Ralph

I'm not putting any money down or taking part in any Oscar pools. I'd prefer to place a gentleman's bet instead.

The True Story of Kid President

What the Diamond Jubilee Medal means to me

TV personality George Stroumboulopoulos (left) presented me with the Diamond Jubilee Medal (Feb. 6, 2013)

Earlier this month, I was one of only a few Canadians to receive a Diamond Jubilee Medal. In my case, it was for my community involvement with disability organizations such as Lights Camera Access, a group that supports people with disabilities looking to work in the performing arts or in mainstream media.

The medal was issued as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s 60^th anniversary as the monarch of Britain and the British Commonwealth. The medal recognizes significant achievements and contributions made by Canadians during her Diamond Jubilee year. The year concluded this month with a final medal presentation at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall.

It all began for me on New Year’s Day. A friend called me and said she had received a package addressed to her office with my name on it. It had the official seal from the office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, David Onley. Neither of us knew what it was for. I speculated it was an invitation to David Onley’s farewell gathering since his term as the Queen’s provincial representative is ending soon. (Onley is a renowned advocate for the disabled, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him several times over the years.)

Me with David Onley (left), Lieutenant Governor for the province of Ontario

The package came with an invitation to the final medal ceremony, along with a letter from the Lieutenant Governor. The letter said I would be presented with this medal. When I read it through the first time I wasn’t sure I was reading it correctly. Somebody later pointed out to me that I was indeed getting this medal.

The reason why I experienced so much disbelief is because it all seemed too good to be true. To this day I still don’t know who nominated me. I even questioned whether I was truly deserving of such an honour. I also wondered if I should accept the medal since I haven’t always been a cheerleader for the monarchy.

So what does the Diamond Jubilee Medal mean to me? To me it validates that I am a Canadian with something to offer, and strives to set a positive example to other Canadians. Being able to share this medal with other honourees makes me proud and happy. It also tells me that I have made a difference, and that I need to keep on going.

When I decided to attend the ceremony and accept the medal, I wrote a message on Twitter, saying, “To whoever nominated me for the Diamond Jubilee Medal, I salute you… and thank you.”

This is one of my favourite love songs

A Love Song from Kid President

From the Archives: "Story on Bisphosphonate therapy" (1999)

This is a feature story assignment I wrote while I was a journalism student at Ryerson University 14 years ago. My Newspaper/Print professor liked it and gave it a high grade. We even talked about getting it published in one of the major newspapers or magazines. Unfortunately this didn't happen because I ended up losing the work, or so I thought at the time. This weekend I found it again while going through old items in my apartment. Now I want to share this story with everybody. Though some of the participants may not be involved with this treatment today, the content remains relevant and timely. - DB

Story on Bisphosphonate therapy (1999)

Donald Barrie

Carlos Medina is a happy six-year-old, but unlike most children his age, his bones break easily. Carlos was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, which affects about one in nearly 20,000 children born each year. In addition to frequent fractures, it causes progressive deformities of the arms and legs, and chronic bone pain. Lately, however, Carlos has been feeling stronger physically, thanks to bisphosphonate therapy.

Bisphosphonates are a group of synthetic compounds that are most widely used in the treatment of post-menopausal osteoporosis. They reduce bone turnover and suppresses bone resorption (a normal breakdown process that is excessive in some diseases including osteoporosis and OI). The most common bisphosphonates being administered to these children with OI is pamidronate, which is closely related to alendronate (Fosamax), used to treat osteoporosis in adults.

At Sunny View Public School in Toronto, physiotherapist Lynn Mueller takes Carlos out of his electric wheelchair and puts him on the floor. Mueller, skeptical of his mother’s claims about his increased mobility, asks him to crawl on the floor. Lying on his back, Carlos turns over on his stomach, and crawls gently on his hands and knees. Carlos then pushes himself off the ground, and sits in a kneeling position.

Mueller’s eyes light up, and so do those of the kids looking on. Another therapist watching him from a distance rushes to get her camera. “I can’t believe it!” the two therapists exclaim. “This is the first time I have seen him do that!” Mueller adds ecstatically.

“When Carlos arrived at Sunny View, he was very weak,” Mueller says. “Since the start of this school year, he has gotten stronger, and his mobility has improved. However, he has only been doing the treatment since August, and sometimes he gets too brave.” She notes that Carlos recently suffered a skull fracture when he tried to get off the toilet on his own.

“I feel less pain now since I started the therapy,” he says, as he gently touches the small bump on the left side of his head where he had the skull fracture. “It still hurts a little though. If I was not doing the drug treatment, it would probably hurt more.”

Prior to taking this drug, Carlos was unable to crawl or sit up on his own, and would get fractures at least every one or two months. Now he can use a walker in therapy, and he can grip a pencil more securely when writing.

Bisphosphonate therapy is still at the experimental stage in the treatment of OI. Carlos is receiving treatment as part of a research project being conducted by Dr. Francis Glorieux and colleagues at the Shriners Hospital in Montreal.

Last October, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published results of their initial findings, arising out of an uncontrolled observational study on bisphosphonate therapy. The study, one of the first to investigate the use of bisphosphonates in this patient group, involved 30 children who were three to 16 years old and had severe osteogenesis imperfecta. The children were administered the drug pamidronate intravenously. The results of the study found that chronic bone pain decreased, motor function improved, bone mineral density increased, and bone resorption decreased.

Dr. Glorieux has extended the study of the effect of pamindronate to other children with OI. “We are currently following more than 170 patients suffering different types of OI,” Dr. Glorieux says. “It includes all the departments involved in the care of patients with OI. [We] aim to respond to all their needs, not only the medical management of their condition.”

As director of research at Montreal’s Shriners Hospital and professor of surgery, human genetics and pediatrics at McGill University, Dr. Glorieux has treated people with OI for the past 25 years. He found other medical treatments for OI unsuccessful, so he turned to bisphosphonates after seeing their effects in animal studies and in adults with osteoporosis.

The main concern against the use of these drugs in children was that it could affect growth. So he started treating very severe patients for whom height was not an issue. He discovered that growth was not arrested.

When a person like Carlos goes to Montreal for the treatment, it is for a three-day period every four months. During his first visit, the doctors made a small cut inn his hip to get a sampling of his bone structure. For the next three days, Carlos had pamidronate taken intravenously for six to eight hours each day.

Dr. Horacio Plotkin, one of Dr. Glorieux’s colleagues and co-author of the report in the NEJM, said in a phone interview from Montreal that the only side effect to pamidronate found is an “acute phase reaction.” It is a flu-like syndrome patients often experience the first time they receive the drug. This reaction resolves in 24 hours, and usually does not reappear with new infusions.

There are no other similar treatment facilities in Canada. Dr. William Cole, chief of Orthopedic Surgery at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, says he is supportive of Dr. Glorieux’s study, and has referred patients to him. At this time, however, there are no plans to open a similar treatment facility in Toronto, as the treatment is still experimental. The Shriners Hospitals in Los Angeles and in Springfield (Massachusetts) are providing the treatment to selected cases.

Since Dr. Glorieux began his bisphosphonate therapy clinic in 1992, OI children from the United States, France, Brazil and Kuwait have come to Montreal for the procedure once every four months.

“There is no plan to end the study. All patients are improving, so we do not want to discontinue the treatment,” Dr. Plotkin explains.

The long-term benefits of bisphosphonate therapy are not known, and the knowledge of side effects is limited to seven years at the Montreal clinic. “It is probably the only treatment so far that is able to produce significant and positive changes in the quality of life of the patients,” says Dr. Plotkin, currently co-chair of the Pediatric Committee of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research. “It is not the ideal treatment, and active research is taking place to find better treatments. Currently, we are only accepting patients under four years of age in Montreal, due to the overwhelming demand.”

As a 25-year-old adult with OI, I expressed personal interest in bisphosphonate therapy to Dr. Plotkin. But he cautioned me that bisphosphonate therapy may be less effective for anyone whose bones have stopped growing. Alendronate would be most appropriate for adults with OI, according to Dr. Plotkin.

At present, there are no reports that confirm the benefits of bisphosphonate therapy for adults with OI. In the long term, Dr. Plotkin believes it could help strengthen bones and reduce the likelihood of recurrent fractures later in life, when bone loss occurs with age. One serious side effect of alendronate is that it may cause esophagitis (i.e. an inflammation of the esophagus).

Both Dr. Glorieux’s paper and the editorial commentary in the NEJM make clear that bisphosphonate therapy is not a cure for OI. It reduces the rate of fractures, and improves bone mineral density as seen on X-rays. According to the editorial commentator in the NEJM, this treatment provides cause for cautious optimism. It strengthens the bones, but may not enable the more severely affected patients to walk. For some patients, walking is not their primary concern.

“[Dr. Glorieux] seemed to be so determined that I would walk and that’s not a big priority for me. It took a while for them to understand that,” insists Kristin Hayes, a 15-year-old who has been having bisphosphonate therapy since 1997. “I wanna get stronger but walking [to me] is not that important… After my first two treatments, my swimming coach noticed my endurance ad speed had suddenly improved, and, of course, bone density improved.”

As she hadn’t had bone pain or a fracture for four years before starting the treatment, the effects were less dramatic than those seen in younger, more severely affected patients.

In Dr. Plotkin’s view, bisphosphonate therapy has opened the door for new treatments, has increased the interest of the medical community in the disease, and he hopes it will lead to a change in the lives of patients with OI.

It has already given hope and strength to Carlos and his mother Eusemia, who feels more confident knowing her son is benefiting from the treatment. “The doctors told us that we could stop the treatment at any time, but we will keep going with it, because it is making his bones stronger,” she says as Carlos sits in his chair watching television at home after a long school day. “Carlos has become so confident since starting the therapy that he thinks he can do anything. He is not strong enough yet to walk on his own, but the doctors said someday that may happen.”

-30-

Happy 60th Anniversary to Disney's Peter Pan!

RIP Ed Koch, 105th Mayor of New York City