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"I'm consulted informally and assist by
answering questions," she explains. "I'm a
resource but, unfortunately, I don't have time
to formally go in and set up their programs."
Indians, often working on pitchers whose
seasons are especially punishing and who
benefit from the method's ability to promote
recovery through anti-inflammatory and
endorphin release mechanisms. She never
mentions her patients, however, to anyone
including Ian due to HIPAA laws.
even patients," says Friedman.
taneously delivering the feeling that she has
no patience for nonsense. Trained in Eastern
medicine by her Korean mother, she devel-
oped her own passion for its tenets and felt
the natural progression would be to build her
career around it. Her three-year-long clinical
training came from masters in Beijing where
she learned its methodology while also com-
ing to appreciate how TCM varies between
regions with long practice histories in Japan,
Korea, China and Taiwan.
ment-mandated requirement that all treat-
tabase within 24 hours of a patient's visit. The
outcome is an enormous trove of rich data
to mine. This later proved to be a substantial
source of Starkey's evidence to support merg-
ing the Eastern herbal therapeutic modalities
with Western medicine. "Herbs are like drugs,"
she points out.
meet?
2012. They matched and began communicat-
ing, but Friedman wasn't necessarily looking
for a long-term relationship. Rather, he was
heeding his friends' advice to date around
and have fun.
intimate gatherings with friends." She says
she was looking for companionship, maybe
some dinner dates, but her career consumed
a great deal of her time and interest. Further-
more, she was not inclined to get married,
and she "definitely wasn't sold on the idea of
having a child."
hour max, she must meet at the destina-
divulged. The first date with Friedman lasted
nine hours.
Friedman grabbed some folding chairs from
his car, enabling them to continue hanging
out. Later, they migrated to Luchita's on W.
117th Street for dinner. They saw each other
every day the following week, meeting
wherever they could, often just for short visits
because of their busy schedules. Even Fried-
man's week-long hospital containment could
not keep them apart. She stayed with him,
helping him through his pain management.
Starkey.
laughing a lot together. Starkey says she
found someone who is "loyal to a T," someone
who "has my back." Friedman notes how he
enjoys how she's very comfortable with who
she is and has no façade. He likes how he can
let down his guard with her.
"He gives me space," she says.
Each reports being very plugged in to the
example, she's a foodie, and I just eat."
nels, "catching 12 shows at once," knowing
what's going on with each, all while messing
with his phone and iPad. Starkey didn't even
have a TV in her lake-view apartment. The
water was often her focus, and she'd stare at
it for long stretches with a book in hand. She
also went to sleep early.
each other. But Friedman admits that Starkey
would not have liked the former version of
himself, the one that was wiped out along
with his motorcycle in the accident.
toward an unknown destination, with no end
in sight." The accident forced him to slow down
in every way, and to start noticing things
he'd previous missed, like some red flowers
on the median between the north and south
bound lanes on I-271 that he had driven past
hundreds of times on his way to Columbus.
"They looked beautiful," he says of the surprise
discovery.
favorite age, my head is in the best place. My
(paralyzed) arm is a permanent reminder of
everything good in life. My outlook is differ-
ent I have empathy and compassion now.
I firmly believe the accident is the best thing
that ever happened to me. Every decision I
make goes back to that incident. I think about
it hundreds of times each day. It's made life
far simpler." The constant pain provides a
perpetual reminder, too.
his Rolex watch on and off with no trouble
using his teeth, and now he wears easier-
to-put-on bow ties, in addition to pre-tied
neckties.
I think. I don't even notice his arm." However,
they both laugh at how the deficit absolved
him from diaper-changing duties. "That's the
only time I'll ever say I'm handicapped," he says
with a chuckle.
paramount. "I live in the underbelly of society
and see some of the greatest tragedies in life
Starkey says she likes bringing him relief
by drawing a salt bath and "giving him an
acupuncture treatment afterward." She's now
insisting that he acquire a hot tub, too.
a "soul partner." Neither had to give anything
up, and they gained an intertwined future.
Case closed.
Edwards, MD Center for Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine, Lead Acupuncturist
Photo credit: Steve Travarca, Cleveland Clinic Center for Medical Art and Photography.
Photo credit: Cleveland Jewish News