If you caught our April 23 column in the local section, you already know laughter is the best medicine – and that’s not just a folksy expression.

“There is growing literature on the role of not only laughter, but positivity in better health outcomes,” said psychiatrist Eric Heidenreich, M.D. a behavioral health expert in Coeur d’Alene.

Since at least the 1970s doctors such as Patch Adams – founder of the Gesundheit Institute for holistic medicine which emphasizes using laughter in medical treatments – have acknowledged humor’s value and effects on healing.

“[Laughter] certainly helps people feel good. But there is some research indicating it’s not just magical – there is something physiologically happening as well,” said Heidenreich.

Two such physiological reactions are a decrease of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, as well as an increase in healing chemicals such as endorphins and serotonin.

And if you can’t laugh, even a smile will do. Heidenreich said studies indicate even a forced grin makes you feel better and can produce similar physiological reactions.

Plus of course, laughter is a healthy coping mechanism - which is what local resident Larry Barnes had in mind during his struggle with advanced colon cancer and later health problems.

“My nature is to have fun, so instead of allowing the after-effects of chemo to bring me down, I started finding ways to bring humor into the doctor’s office,” said Barnes.

Barnes’ initial prognosis was grim. In August of 2002 he was told he had a 5 percent chance of surviving the next six months.

Seventeen years later, he’s still going strong.

Barnes believes his persistent humor and returns to positive thinking, throughout the ups and downs of a battle for his life, likely played some role in his recovery. They certainly made healthcare visits more enjoyable – for everyone.

For instance, he dubbed Kootenai Health (formerly Kootenai Medical Center) “the KMC Resort” (how about a weekend retreat?) – during almost-monthly visits to treat severe, chemo-related liver problems.

His bigger hijinks took more planning.

One prank required outside help. He coerced a colleague at Coldwater Creek, where he was employed at the time, to find an x-ray image of the brain and super-impose a hamster wheel in it - before letting him in on the joke.

When Barnes came in for his own x-ray, he handed the image to a lab technician and asked her to give it to his doctor, “so he could have something to compare [the new one] with!”

“She kind of rolled her eyes and grabbed the paper,” Barnes said. “[But] as it flashed past her eyes she had to do a double-take and look at it again. She started laughing loud and… took the photo to the console room and I heard many more people laughing.”

Years later, the same technician told him the photo was still pinned to the wall for visiting techs to appreciate during training. A gift of laughter that kept on giving.

The image also became part of Barnes’ medical file when he had a nurse slip it between reports his oncologist was reviewing. Why not lift his doctor’s mood? Barnes says making others laugh helped him cope with his own stress.

In addition to boosting his own mood, humor was a way to pay it forward.

“This humor wasn’t about me, but about those who worked to make me comfortable during my chemo sessions and surgeries. I wanted more to lift their spirits than to try to be ‘funny’, explains Barnes.

“I was more interested in bringing laughter to them, because that helped me forget about what I was dealing with.”

Despite the joy Barnes’ story and shenanigans bring, the issue at hand remains a somber one. Barnes noted that, jokes aside, he “did not take this battle with cancer lightly.”

Still, Barnes is hopeful.

“Cancer is not fun, but the advances in medicine for treating [cancer] have brought hope to many individuals and their families.”

He is grateful to Kootenai Health for their professional help, and for “putting up with” his sense of humor.

“I only hope that those who read my story may find some value they can use.”

According to behavioral health experts such as Heidenreich, we’d do well to follow suit.

If you can’t keep the doc away, try making her laugh. And if you can laugh along, altruism becomes its own medicine.