Medical

In the dark radiology reading rooms, only the gentle hum of the computers and the quiet chatter of residents dictating radiology reads break the silence. Among the computers sits Dr. Exner, a senior radiology resident at Hospital Woeisme. He has recently become known for a peculiar habit – he has begun adding Rorschach interpretations into…

When first responders answered roughly ten calls from a long-term care center in Kirkland, Washington, over the course of a week, they did not expect to become patients themselves. Entering the Life Care Center of Kirkland last month exposed them to the novel coronavirus that sickens people with an illness known as COVID-19. Because the…

Recently, revelations indicated that the Iran missile strike on the U.S. base in Iraq actually did cause head injuries.  So why did the U.S. initially claim no “casualties”?   From the limited reports available, it appears that most of the soldiers’ symptoms were consistent with concussions.  Let’s define terms:  In the wars of the 20th century,…

“Should I cancel my business trip?” That is not the kind of question that patients typically ask their doctors. For most people, that’s not even a question they can ask their doctors, at least, not without an appointment, a co-pay and an anxiety-inducing wait in a crowded doctor’s office. As U.S. cases of coronavirus rose…

1. What can I do to prevent becoming infected? When people are sick with a respiratory disease like COVID-19, they cough or sneeze particles into the air. If someone is coughing near you, the virus could easily land on your eyes, nose, or mouth. These particles travel only about six feet and fall out of…

“Made in China.” Words ubiquitous throughout the products we use every day and now, ironically, applicable to the virus that has laid siege around the world.  Illness and death have spread across borders and continents, as well as fear and panic.  Illness and death we can quantify in numbers, however, fear and panic are less…

As a new nurse, I was constantly overwhelmed.  I had spent four years of my life learning how to become a nurse, and then here I was, being “a nurse” and wondering all the time whether I was even any good at it. My heart was in it. But every moment of every shift, I…

It seems like common knowledge or conventional wisdom: stress can turn your hair gray. Whether it’s the kids, your spouse, your job, or something else, people with gray hair have been blaming stress for centuries. The example of Barack Obama is often cited: his hair was quite dark when first elected president, but by the…

In medical school, physicians learn how to diagnose and treat medical conditions. We learn about all the different presentations and revel in catching a complex or rare diagnosis. In essence, we learn to categorize disorders based on a cluster of symptoms and match them with appropriate treatment plans. Of course, you want this quality in…