An excerpt from Ballad of a Sober Man: An ER Doctor’s Journey of Recovery. As if I needed more reminders of my imperfections, I had Maggie and the Kidney Stone Lady, forever. Little Maggie, the cute five-year-old from early in my career who came …
Category: Infectious disease
How COVID-19 worsens digital eye strain
While retailers have been struggling with business after lockdown, optometrists have noticed something rather unexpected. COVID-19, it seems, has caused the number of people getting eye tests to skyrocket. Pre-COVID, most people came simply because the…
What it’s like to work in long-term care during the pandemic
The worst day of a COVID-19 outbreak in long-term care is the first day. There are tears. How did it get in? How did we fail? How do we tell the families? When does the media show up? There is shame, tremendous shame. Shame that we put on ourselve…
Please listen to those in the trenches
Where have the months of summer gone? The hazy, lazy days of summer to be spent out on the lake, picnicking with friends and family, state fairs, all the fun things we long to take part in. Occasions that should call for one to be present at with antic…
The impact of COVID-19 on human kindness
Human kindness is a trait that, though inherent within our genetic make-up, can also be a learned behavior. The absence of human kindness is blatantly visible to others when a lack of compassion and/or empathy permeates within an interaction with anoth…
6 strategies to help you return to exercise routines safely
If you’ve always been an avid gym-goer, the COVID-19 pandemic may have significantly disrupted your fitness routine as gyms, health clubs and exercise classes were unavailable for months. Getting active again is not only good for your physical health, …
How COVID-19 impacts rural America [PODCAST]
“We all knew this pandemic was going to change how we practiced medicine, but I, personally, was not prepared for how much it would challenge the ‘work-life balance’ that I have spent years carefully maneuvering. Female physicians are often hesit…
The final insult after my husband died alone
This new virus is changing everyday life-hospitals are doing their best to protect their staff and patients. One thing I’ve learned is that they need to do a better job of communicating with families. My husband was 70 years old when he died of …
A medical student’s 100 days of COVID
March 11, 2020. The medical school officially made all classes remote until the end of the semester. Tom Hanks and his wife have coronavirus. The NBA is suspended; Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert has corona. Travel to Europe is suspended. The renal midter…
A coronavirus confession
I am elderly now, and as a lad, I was raised a Roman Catholic. That often involved going to confession. I wondered if confession was still done, part of the faith. You can see how out of touch I am. I am here to report confession is alive and flouri…
