Louise Dimicelli-Mitran is the Infusion Room's first minstrel. And a dose of this kind of medicine is now being administered more often to treat patients with cancer. It was not too long ago that music therapy was considered little more than a balm. All that changed after scientists discovered that Muzak piped into a New York City intensive care unit seemed to help lower the mortality rate 8 percent below the national average. Or that lullabies played in a neonatal nursery might have helped premature infants gain weight and speed their discharge home.
Music therapy is on the books as hard science.
And hard science is what Ms. Dimicelli-Mitran exploits to ease the anxiety and pain of cancer patients. The cancer center's Infusion Room is on the campus of the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, and patients go there for intravenous chemotherapy or transfusions. Their anxiety is often more debilitating than the procedure itself. She was very afraid of needles, and I could see the electricity bouncing off her skin. I found out she had fond childhood memories of citrus groves.