Everything has a purpose

About a year and a half ago at the end of a clinic visit a patient of mine - seems almost odd to say that; she and her husband seem like friends, we have walked this PAH path together for so long - gave me an unusual gift. At first sight this seemed to be a good sized rock with a cut and polished face, like an agate. It turns out that this rather heavy object is in fact Coprolite, or fossilized dinosaur dung. I hoped this was not a comment on my clinical acumen! Knowing the good and jovial nature of these refreshing folks, I thanked them for this rare object and put it in my office, where it has sat ever since. Now I have found its true purpose! Hiking up and down the 21 stories of the Gonda building for an hour after work last night, I carried a water bottle in one hand and my precious dung in the other. It made quite an effective hand weight. After carrying it up and down the stairs, I felt somewhat like the object in hand, looked somewhat like the object in hand, and was tempted to utter a four letter description derived from the object in hand, but did not - Like Jimmy Carter, I have only sinned in my heart. The picture at right shows the aftermath of repetitive dung carrying. Little did you know, my jokester friends, that your dinosaur dung would help to propel me up Kilimanjaro and further the fight to cure PAH!