Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Personal Narratives

  • My second birthday—or date to die?

    Laura ClaridgeSaugerties, New York, United States I was relieved when the date arrived, and my husband, Dennis, moved me into my next month’s home on the eighth floor of Memorial Sloan Kettering, where we both marveled at the difference between this unit and neuro-oncology, one floor below. No noise, no voices reverberated off the walls;…

  • Marshmallows

    John Graham-PoleClydesdale, Nova Scotia, Canada The writer E.B. White accused our society of being suspicious of anything non-serious. Thank the stars, then, for humour. I had a teenage patient with advanced cancer tell me after I had given him some none too hopeful news: “Lighten up, doc, I don’t need solemn doctors around me.” A…

  • Your worst experience with a physician

    Matthew WootenHouston, Texas, United States As a second-year medical student, I was supposed to interview patients and physicians about their experiences. Specifically, I was supposed to help find ways for physicians to develop better relationships with their patients. When trying to find patients to interview, I thought: Who would have more experience with medical care than…

  • The art of war and medicine

    Xinxin WuOmaha, Nebraska, United States War and medicine are two vastly different fields, yet they share a common goal. In war, soldiers risk their lives to defend their country; in medicine, healthcare professionals work to heal the sick and prevent illness. Both groups deserve our gratitude and admiration. Hai Wan Wu was the name of…

  • The night the emergency room staff vanished

    Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland One of the strangest events of my medical career occurred on a spring evening in 1975. It was during one of my outpatient months as a pediatric resident at a large medical center in New York City. During the day, I took care of infants, children, and adolescents in the pediatric clinic;…

  • Revising my bargain with the deity

    Barry PerlmanNew York, New York, United States My parents lived into their nineties. Before they died, they endured years of dementia. Aware of my potential genetic inheritance, I have long harbored a deep dread of what my future might hold. If my curved pinky fingers were inherited from my mother and my flat feet and…

  • On the way to school

    Mary JumbelicSyracuse, New York, United States A thin line of blood oozed from a shallow cut in the skin, like the first stroke of an artist’s brush on a blank canvas. The second and third incisions intersected the first to form a large Y-shape. Sanguinous fluid beaded up along their lengths. As the scalpel penetrated…

  • A moment of philosophy

    Nishitha BujalaHyderabad, Telangana, India I seem to be in a constant state of anxiety these days. With my one-year plans and goals seemingly disrupted by the pandemic, my medical licensing exams postponed, my ability to focus shrunk to the size of a peanut, my interest to study equaling that of a bored cat, I cannot…

  • Early lessons

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden Finally, it was my first day in a US hospital after studying medicine in Europe for five and a half years. A medical education at the very old and renowned Belgian university at which I studied lasted seven years. The school let its foreign students return to their home countries for the…

  • Rehearsing lines

    Catalina Florina FlorescuHoboken, New Jersey, United States CHARACTERS: EveAna TIME AND SETTING: Now, here. Two women are seated on a bench. That’s all you need to know. Plus that their name is a palindrome. Mirrored names. Make what you want out of this. EVE: What is the taste of water, dear? ANA: Excuse me? EVE:…