An excerpt from More to Life than More: A Memoir of Misunderstanding, Loss, and Learning. The MRIs were illuminated by a lightbox. A small group of us in Dr. Kelly’s office gathered around the images. We were looking at Lee’s brain. It could have been …
I was working as a doctor in a Kentucky clinic when I first met Mr. Stroud. The year was 2013. Mr. Stroud was memorable for several reasons. The first reason? He was blue. He was a 45-year-old stocky guy, pleasant in demeanor, with blue eyes and red ha…
Prevention Our most effective weapons are lockdowns, masks, distancing, ventilation and vaccination, but we can also protect close patient contacts pharmacologically. Subcutaneous REGEN-COV (Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody combo, casirivimab plus imdev…
Wood art The taxing journey of going through an illness often has the turning point of hearing a “diagnosis.” Diagnosis locks a person inside a sick body. Diagnosis is a label that dictates certain behavior in an individual and the whole ci…
“I don’t know if I can keep doing this” “I can’t see a way out.” “I feel stuck – trapped.” What is it like? That feeling of being exhausted, stuck, not feeling like there is a way out. I think of it as running a marathon where you can’t stop. Y…
As a pulmonary and critical care doctor and the mother of three children too young to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, life has been harrowing. At the beginning of the summer, however, I was beginning to breathe a sigh of relief. My children had been in sch…
“I feel like I have to educate my doctors about my gender identity and transgender health-related needs, including insurance coverage,” my transgender male patient, V, told me on interview. A series of interviews with V for a community outreach project…
By now, many of you would have read my article, “Who needs scientists? It’s not like we listen to them anyway.” So, let me tell you another fiction story. But, first, I need to give you some background to this story. Many of you would…
“Children don’t get as sick with COVID-19” and “only children with comorbidities get very sick from COVID-19” are two statements that have concerned me during the pandemic. They have been used as statements to support loosening COVID-19 prevention mea…
“Congratulations on losing that much weight! Whatever you’re doing, keep it up,” my attending says as she bobs her head vigorously in approval, then turning back to the EMR computer to type up some notes. And all I could see was the p…
