Medical

The third week of September is Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week: a time to fundraise, light up buildings in green, and hold events that highlight mitochondrial disease research and awareness. My family has never heard of mitochondrial disease until 2017, when our newborn daughter, Miriam, tragically died from it at seven weeks old. Our family felt…

One day recently, while working as a nursing assistant, I heard a shrill, gravely cry for help pierce the air in the hallway of the long-term memory care facility where I work. I sprinted to the room where the pleading call was coming from, and in the two seconds it took to reach the room,…

1986. I graduated from LPN to RN. And I was immediately offered a new job. Manager of a six-bed ER. This hospital had three surgical suites — 50 inpatient beds and 2 L&D suites. This was a private Catholic hospital run by the nuns. The computer system was new and a foreign object. Sister Ursula*…

Lung cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in the US, and the deadliest cancer killer. In 2020, an estimated 135,720 people will die from the disease — more than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined. I’ll never forget meeting new, advanced-stage lung cancer patients who ask if their diagnosis could have somehow been made…

This is a time of change and uncertainty in medicine. Being a resident right now during the pandemic of 2020 is even more unpredictable, especially in a field that is not necessarily directly on the frontlines, so to speak. Two years ago, I was choosing between psychiatry and emergency medicine after a long-standing interest in…

“A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” – Steve Jobs I was rusty. I felt rusty, at least. It had been forever, seemingly, since I attended patients as an emergency physician. A couple of years earlier, I’d been sailing along happily in my clinical career when…

“There are roughly 221 million people — including 48 million kids — in states where marijuana has been named a medicine. These include patients who suffer from depression and could see their symptoms worsen. Mothers who could give birth to babies with low birth weights. Children who could face an increased risk of addiction, depression,…

The most persistent problem I encounter is not nerve pain or slipped discs. It’s the tenacious misconception that someone can be “too old” for spine surgery when it’s truly needed. Many years ago, it was true that age played a significant factor in a person’s ability to tolerate and recover from surgery. Surgeries were once…

CC: “I feel like crap.” HPI: 29-year old female internal medicine resident. Hasn’t seen sunlight in over three months due to 100 hour work weeks.  Crying at work. Always exhausted and irritable.  Isolated from friends and family.  Feels guilty that she is not effective at work and home.  States recent labs were normal. ROS: Gen:…