I stirred awake when my husband’s cell phone rang. It was early, and we had gone to bed late, and slept little. My father-in-law was in the ICU in a hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was now intubated, hooked up to a ventilator, victim to COVID…
With a leftover airline credit to spend, I recently decided to take a quick trip down to southern California and make one of my routine treks along Interstate 5 from San Diego to Orange County. I wanted to see how the area was dealing with the pandemic…
“A great man was lost today.” Those were my words to my wife at 1 a.m. several weeks ago on the phone, in reference to her father. While she was attending to our younger boys two hours away at our home, I was staying with my mother-in-law, doing the b…
I have chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and I do not want anyone to infect me. Because of my leukemia, I have low immunoglobulin levels, so I am extremely cautious. If I were to become infected, it would mean that I did something to put myself in danger. …
Over the past few months, my 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son have been confined almost entirely to our house and backyard to shelter them from the coronavirus pandemic. They know that “the virus” is dangerous and invisible. However, like super…
With COVID-19 continuing to spread, some might assume that the one place to avoid is a hospital emergency room. After all, the space is filled with health care providers who work in close contact with sick people. This assumption could be harmful to a …
Barriers. Barriers of yellow tape and plastic mark our makeshift rooms. Red zippers define the “ENTER” and “EXIT.” In the middle is a window of still clearer plastic, partially obscured by taped ECGs. Barriers are put up to keep us safe, but they can d…
After 20 years of working at a hospital, I was ready to try something new. I had provided primary and specialty care to adults living with HIV or viral hepatitis for two decades, taught scores of students, residents, and fellows, successfully led our h…
Slow. Sluggish. Feet dragging. Legs heavy. The run was not the effortless morning wake-up I had envisioned when I sat on front steps tying the shoes. The gazelle I had envisioned, gently bouncing over the trails, had turned into more of a hippo waddlin…
2020 has presented us with unprecedented challenges. We’re six months into a pandemic that was only officially recognized half as long ago. This crisis was ignored, discredited, and camouflaged, unnecessarily worsening today’s chaos. ItR…
