Tag: Personal Narratives
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Restraint: A foot-binding story
Daniel WongPalo Alto, California, United States My grandmother is with me. She sits perched on the edge of the bed, where I’m lying with my feet propped up by pillows. My feet hurt from running. I’ve asked her to tell me another story, and for a moment she looks back down at her Chinese newspaper.…
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The boy with two dads
David ThoeleChicago, Illinois, United States The first time I met Martin in my clinic, the 7-year-old seemed friendly, but shy. He was a bit chubby, with dark, short-cropped hair, rounded fingernails, and blue-tinged skin. He was short for his age, with features of Down syndrome, which his mother confirmed. Since half of people with Down…
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Down a rabbit hole
Eli CannonEscondido, California, United States “Dad?” The voice is barely audible. Is that because Iris is upstairs in her room and I’m downstairs reading in the living room? Or is it because…? I drop my book and run upstairs. Iris is lying on her side in bed with an expression of intense concentration. She sees…
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Mist walkers
Ethan SellersPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Seattle still slumbers under a blanket of mist at four in the morning, a suspension of droplets that seems to swallow sound, so I struggle to hear even my own footfalls during my morning run to work on the inpatient service. Though the run clears my mind and dusts away…
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Elephant hide
Ethan SellersPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States “Let me tell you about the summer the circus came to town.” Mr. Stanton’s weathered face manages to wrinkle further as it breaks into an easy smile. I’m reminded of an old map folding along well-worn creases. I know I’m grinning back, a habit when talking with patients, but never…
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An illuminating experience in my practice
Gian Battista DanziPietra Ligure, Italy Aevo rarissima nostro Simplicitas(Simplicity is very rare these days)-Ovid, Ars amatoria I, 241-242 Some five years ago, I had the privilege of treating M.A., a visionary and restless soul who used to dabble in writing, and who had been admitted to my Cardiology Division because of an acute coronary syndrome.…
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Last Chemo
Paul Perilli Today’s the day. The last IV drip of oxaliplatin into my arm. The fifth of five sessions done at three week intervals. There’s still the pills called capecetibine to take for two more weeks, but those aren’t as bothersome or debilitating as the fearsome drip. The pills merely dry the skin on my…
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You say you want a revolution?
Y Pritham RajPortland, Oregon, United States “It must be a virus,” I whispered to myself noticing that Miss C, my medical assistant, was not her usual, efficient self today. She was painfully slow – dragging, in fact – while trying to gather the data I so desperately needed to help the patients waiting behind the…
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The boys who did not come back from the brink
Ravi ShankarLalitpur, Nepal Lying unconscious on the stone floor, the 14-year-old boy bled profusely from a huge slash across his chest. Ram laughed, the sound resembling the screeching gears of a heavily loaded truck groaning slowly uphill. I frantically tried to staunch the flow of blood with towels and clothes—Ram’s maniacal laughter an incongruous accompaniment—as…
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The patient on the brink
Ravi ShankarNepal The St. Xavier’s hospital in the village of Ellakkal is in a magnificent location nestled in the Western Ghats of the Idukki district in the Southern Indian state of Kerala. The Ghats are a series of hills that reach about 2,000 meters high and run parallel to India’s west coast around 75 kilometers…