In medical school, we are taught to listen to our patients, and if we listen hard enough, they will tell us their diagnosis. The statistic that gets thrown around is that the average amount of time a physician listens before interrupting a patient is 1…
An excerpt from Love Your Child More Than You Hate Your Ex: What Every Divorced Parent Needs to Know. As an experienced clinical child psychologist, I believe the ultimate goal of any parent is to rear an independent, responsible child. While at first…
Working day after day, year after year, in a busy high acuity ICU, we all have become a “second family.” The public doesn’t hear much about respiratory therapists, especially during this COVID nightmare. But they have been the unsung …
At 84, Emma Shuford found a lump in her breast. After a lumpectomy, she was diagnosed with locally aggressive breast cancer. Her doctors said it was treatable but she needed radiation to help stop it from growing. At first, she refused. Because of her …
In this small town I live in, a funeral procession is a big deal. The hearse is followed by several black cars turning into an array of family and friends cars. All of them roll slowly and sadly to the final destination. I knew all about this funeral. …
The day that my 82-year-old mother was scheduled to receive her first COVID vaccine, she was admitted to the intensive care unit, critically ill with COVID pneumonia. It was late January. My siblings and I hadn’t heard from our mother in a few days, an…
Gen. Colin Powell , the first Black U.S. secretary of state, passed away this week due to COVID complications. Yes, Powell was fully vaccinated but immunocompromised. However, he had scheduled the booster but was too ill to receive it. After President …
Mr. Williams is a 52-year old male who has been following me for some time. He has just been started on metformin for newly diagnosed diabetes. Lisinopril is his only other medication for high blood pressure. When he had his yearly physical, he was als…
I am a former chief of surgery and a scientific entrepreneur. My practice consisted of patients who suffered from serious injuries and illnesses. Concerning the latter, a significant number had cancer, especially breast cancer. The issue all patient …
Sometimes, the most traumatic events happened when I was young and new and just starting my ICU career. When you least expect it, those repressed memories come glaring at you. Thinking I had tucked this tragedy away forever, and then within a flash — 2…
