2. Depression, stress, infections, cancer and the gruelling treatments, spinal injuries, war and cultural
intolerance, relationship decay and emotional pains seems to involve more and more people we know;
and how often do we find ourselves periodically sinking into despair while we contemplate the realities
and complexities of today’s living.
My mother developed mouth floor cancer recently and received invasive neck clearance surgery and
immediately thereafter developed dire post-operative intensive care complications; following this she
was subjected to months of radiotherapy and is now very weak in remission and is depressed, but in
spite of all these necessary but dreadful interventions she maintains a joyful sense of humour. I dedicate
this book to her and to anyone out there that is suffering from cancer, experiencing anxiety, having
problems of any nature and those who are finding it difficult to cope.
Humour has healing properties; it can generate pleasure at any moment in time, it can reboot your mind
so you can appreciate the things you have around you and temporarily forgot about, it crosses cultural
boundaries and it can reduce stress and tension.
Dissecting Humour is filled with supposed urban legends and we hope these stories will help you escape
from reality and allow this bizarre humour and laughter to gain new perspective.
Norman Cousins, in the Anatomy of an Illnessas Perceived by the Patient, suggested laughter therapy and
found that ten minutes of laughter could give him two hours of pain-free sleep.
We hope Dissecting Humour gives you a good six hours…
3. With the fascination of Medicine and a series of related urban legends, together
there unfolds a volume of humorous medical short stories, Dissecting Humour.
