The Pause : Precious Pockets of Air for Key Workers

Emily Fong 2020 | The Pause I | Surgeons in the tea room, St John's Hospital, LivingstonHow weird is time right now? In the same breath it feels like both a moment and a lifetime ago that I was observing head and neck surgery at St John’s Hospital in Livingston. In many ways this time to reflect has been extremely valuable for re-evaluating purpose and intention. The purpose of my presence in the operating theatre was to observe what many patients experience in their treatment journey for head and neck cancer, via the approachable medium of drawing. As an honorary member of the Emmerson Lab, I report back to Dr. Emmerson and her team what I have seen, a way to connect them to the patients the science aims to influence. My particular focus is their focus; the salivary gland, and this project is about communication, community and flow in more ways than one. So here I am going with that flow.                                                

                                                 

Emily Fong 2020 | The Pause II | Surgical nurse in the operating theatre, St John's Hospital, Livingston

A month ago I was sitting with two surgeons in the tea room, them with their lunch and me with my sketchbook, vibrating with anticipation. Whilst one questioned the other about the difference between a genotype and a phenotype, I began to draw the bottom of a pair of surgical crocks. With my mind open to their conversation, I was reflecting on how precious this moment of pause actually was, relative to the focus required for the 6 hour surgery ahead. Once in the theatre itself, with a big smile I introduced myself to the team and found a safe position in the room to observe the setup of the operation. From here I continued to document the pause; the surgical nurses were taking a moment to breathe.                                                                                                                         

Now from a distance, in the context of Covid-19, these drawings, simple and even a little mundane, have taken on a new layer of significance. Many of us are inhabiting this pause, doing our best to emotionally prepare ourselves for the next operation of finding new ways to mend and rebuild the world. At the same time, I am mindful of how precious these pockets of air are for the 'key workers' who are continuining to ensure the future is a place that we can occupy. I am very grateful for the scientific and healthcare professionals of our world, even more so than I was a month ago at St John's. I am also extremely grateful to the patients and their families who have allowed me the special privilege of witnessing and sharing their journeys.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Be safe, be kind and stay at home.                                                                                                                                 

Thank you for reading,

Emily                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

If you wish to join the next monthly online Patient & caregiver meeting from anywhere in the world with The Swallows Group, you can register your place via the link below. 

Ask the Experts, Open Session and local breakout rooms. 

Wednesday, 13th May from 19:00 uk

https://supportmeeting.eventbrite.co.uk/?ref=estw

Depth in the Digital : Emerging Forms of Community in a Pandemic

Observing The Swallows Group hosting the first online patient and carer meeting for head and neck cancer - April 8th 2020

In this current moment, our screens are the communal spaces in which we gather. I am not sure about you but for me this is taking some getting used to. I am a listener, an observer, and I can find the introverted part of myself in a group Zoom room having not said a word for quite a while. Navigating the new cues of social engagement can be overwhelming at times. However, what I am enjoying about this moment are the questions that are arising around the ways that we build 'normal' and how we can harness our collective creativity to be curious and to lean in, looking respectable...at least from the waist up. 

On Wednesday evening of last week, Dr Elaine Emmerson and I were invited to attend the first online meeting for patients, carers and clinicians, hosted on Zoom by The Swallows Head and Neck Cancer Support Group. The meeting was attended by roughly 60 participants from all across the globe. And can I tell you, it was incredible. We heard directly from patient advocates and clinicians on the front line about how this pandemic is affecting the community. For two hours the World felt like a safe and supportive village in that space. I think that my favourite moment may have been when Chris Curtis, the Director of The Swallows Group, respectfully and momentarily muted an expert to remind them about keeping language accessible! I sketched while I listened. It feels like an important moment to document history as it happens in any way possible. 

With social distancing being the new norm, community is a precious resource for care and resilience, and both Elaine and myself were very grateful and humbled to witness this event. The clear message to patients and carers living through this pandemic is that you are seen and heard and that you are not alone. 

The next meeting is the 13th of May between 7-8:30pm (BST). You can register and join from anywhere in the world by sending your name and email to chris@theswallows.org.uk. For more info visit www.theswallows.org.uk. 

Be safe, be kind and stay at home.

Thank you for reading,

Emily

Visual storytelling above and below the skin

Microscopic skin studies from the Emmerson Lab, CRM | © Emily Fong 2020

As an artist in the laboratory and hospital it has taken some time to become comfortable with the new surroundings and for those surroundings to adapt to me in them. On this particular occasion in the Emmerson Lab at CRM, I felt very excited to be trusted with a sample of skin in section to observe in my own way and time under the microscope. I’m delighted to discover this epithelial landscape and it appears that this organ enveloping the body is designed to help things rise to the surface and shed when the time is right. Recently I learned that the mouth is considered an ‘external environment’ in the medical and scientific realm. This took me a while to wrap my head around as to me it feels very much like an intimate and internal place in my own body. However the path from the mouth to the anus really is the site of an external journey that our food and drink ‘walks’ every day. Daily we are filtering the environment around us with the air we breathe, the conversations we engage in and the meals we prepare and share. Amazing, no? The salivary glands aid in the smooth transition of this digestive journey and if the body were a building they help to maintain a healthy and welcoming front door. These special glands are the driver of this art-science conversation, where we are spending time to be grateful for them, questioning what life is like without them and exploring what the possibilities are for their eventual return to the body. Join me in exploring the journey the salivary gland specimen takes from patient to laboratory and beyond. I’m not sure how it has taken me 30 odd years to discover that science is amazing but I am glad I am here now and that through my creative practice I can share what I’m seeing with you. I wonder what stories your skin could share, both from above and below the surface.

Thanks for reading,

Emily

You can contact/find me at:

emilyfongstudio@gmail.com

@emilyfongstudio 

• To discover more about Dr Elaine Emmerson’s research you can visit  http://crm.ed.ac.uk/research/group/manipulating-stem-cell-niche-promote-regeneration

• For support or more information about head and neck cancer, or to make a donation, you can visit the Throat Cancer Foundation website at https://www.throatcancerfoundation.org

• To get hands on and creative with the tools of science, you can drop into an open session at the ASCUS Lab at Summerhall in Edinburgh, Scotland’s publicly accessible laboratory. You can find out about their many courses and opportunities here http://www.ascus.org.uk

• For insight into human pathology and physiology, you can visit Surgeons’ Hall Museums  https://museum.rcsed.ac.uk

Protective Membrane in an Environment of Care

Inside a Multi-disciplinary Team Meeting (MDT) Here I am like a fly on the wall in a multi disciplinary team (MDT) meeting at The Edinburgh Cancer Centre at the Western General Hospital where not one but a whole team of healthcare professionals are deciding on the course of treatment for their patients with head and neck cancer. The dentist sitting beside me peers over my shoulder curiously as I process this environment through drawing. Observing the team navigate images of the interior with ease and fluency, it strikes me that I have never seen the body like this before; a new perspective that differs greatly from the everyday experience of being.

Searching for Osiris inside the body

The person on the computer to the right is driving the imagery at the front of the room and sitting in these red seats are the team of surgeons, oncologists, nurse specialists and dentists. The pathologists are in the space remotely via the two cameras at the front of the room. I’ve chosen to highlight the red seats as a way to remind myself and those of you reading this that we are all in this together; whether or not our body is in one of these seats or appearing on the screen. The red chairs and those occupying them appear to me like the new outer shell of a collective body; a protective membrane in an environment of care. My thoughts are with Osiris the salivary gland as they help to facilitate communication amongst this dedicated team of clinicians. Osiris is not only the name of the salivary gland in a patient with head and neck cancer. Osiris is my salivary gland and yours; tucked away discretely within the architecture of the body.

Thanks for reading,

Emily

You can contact/find me at:

emilyfongstudio@gmail.com

@emilyfongstudio 

• To discover more about Dr Elaine Emmerson’s research you can visit  http://crm.ed.ac.uk/research/group/manipulating-stem-cell-niche-promote-regeneration

• For support or more information about head and neck cancer, or to make a donation, you can visit the Throat Cancer Foundation website at https://www.throatcancerfoundation.org

• To get hands on and creative with the tools of science, you can drop into an open session at the ASCUS Lab at Summerhall in Edinburgh, Scotland’s publically accessible laboratory. You can find out about their many courses and opportunities here http://www.ascus.org.uk

• For insight into human pathology and physiology, you can visit Surgeons’ Hall Museums  https://museum.rcsed.ac.uk

A Temporary Arrangement of Matter in Space and Time

Emmerson Lab CRM: An experiment in growth and perspective When observing scientists in a research laboratory, one thing to note is that this experience is very much non-linear. There are a lot of apparent pauses in-between experiments as cells need time to be processed and ideally grow. What this means for me is that I will often begin a drawing and return to it later in the process. I begin with the most static element - the bin with four languages used to describe the disposal of bio-hazard waste - and wrap lines around the moving parts as they come and go. In this way, I am exploring drawing as an experiment too and adapting my methods and timing to suit the situation.

The following drawing is of Cecilia Rocchi, one of the key researchers in the Emmerson Lab. It is a collage of about three different time periods in one day located at the fume-hood inside The MRC CRM Tissue Culture Facility, a space that is super clean and well ventilated. Here she is working with a sample of about 20,000 salivary gland cells in the hope that they will grow under the right circumstances. What sounds like a large number to me is a pellet the size of a sesame seed, transparent and barely visible to the naked eye.

My drawing is strange in perspective and has me thinking about the nature of collaboration. In science as in any good team, a lab is not one person but a collection of minds bound together by trust and a common goal. I am enjoying patching together moments inside the lab and sharing them here in this subjective and temporary arrangement of matter in space and time. 

Next week I am a fly on the wall inside an MDT (multi-disciplinary team) meeting, where together a team of surgeons, pathologists, oncologists, dentists and nurse specialists converse and make decisions about each individual head and neck cancer patient’s course of treatment. Another non-linear environment, another amazing team in the G-Lands, the landscape inside and outside of the salivary gland. 

Thanks for reading,

Emily

You can contact/find me at:

emilyfongstudio@gmail.com

@emilyfongstudio 

• To discover more about Dr Elaine Emmerson’s research you can visit  http://crm.ed.ac.uk/research/group/manipulating-stem-cell-niche-promote-regeneration

• For support or more information about head and neck cancer, or to make a donation, you can visit the Throat Cancer Foundation website at https://www.throatcancerfoundation.org

• To get hands on and creative with the tools of science, you can drop into an open session at the ASCUS Lab at Summerhall in Edinburgh, Scotland’s publically accessible laboratory. You can find out about their many courses and opportunities here http://www.ascus.org.uk

• For insight into human pathology and physiology, you can visit Surgeons’ Hall Museums  https://museum.rcsed.ac.uk