Tag: Personal Narratives
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Sanderson’s Thumb and the end of an eponymous era?
Kit Green SandersonCanada If you are in the medical profession, you have likely heard of the Babinski reflex or McBurney’s point, but have you ever heard of Sanderson’s thumb? No? Let me explain . . . Sleep deprived, overworked, and two hours away from the end of your 24-hour shift in the emergency room, a…
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The last picture show
Katherine WhiteRockville, Maryland, United States It was a cold December morning, the second day of the 2018 Hot Topics in Neonatology Conference in Washington, DC. Around 800 people trickled into the vast hotel ballroom, with its rows of long tables punctuated by aisles strewn with numbered microphones, settling in for a day of information-packed projected…
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The names of things
Joseph HodappCupertino, California, USA It’s a gray-sky, late-October afternoon. I just got home from work when I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. The caller ID provides a brief preface: Mom. “Hey Mom, what’s up?” “Hey Hun, I wanted to call you right away… my mom had a stroke this morning.” Her words are…
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The door to recovery
Irene MetznerGlenn YoungkrantzChicago, Illinois, United States Stories about addiction are often filled with despair, but they don’t have to be: this is a true story in two parts. The first is the perspective of a patient, and the second that of his doctor, as they chose to be hopeful. Part I In my own eyes, I was a drunken loser for over thirty…
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In full retreat
Cyndy MuscatelLake Sherwood, California, United States I did not realize how far down the rabbit hole I had gone until I regained what I had lost. I thought it was only my hearing, but it was much more. When I become overwhelmed, I start losing things. Last winter my plate was so full, I needed…
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The story of a scar
Michael EllmanWilmette, Illinois, United States The six-inch scar is high over my left femoral artery in my inner thigh. It is healing well now and is pain free. The scar marks the place where a vascular surgeon extracted a clot that was blocking the popliteal artery. “I fished it out for you,” he told me.…
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Dangerous inheritance
Merle BorgSan Diego, California, United States It was an ordinary accident. Two boys driving to high school had topped a hill too fast, and wedged their small pickup under a stopped truck. Hundred-foot skid marks explained it all. Both boys were pinned in the wreckage, legs folded in odd directions. The driver was convulsing thick…
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The night the troubles erupted in Belfast
Alun EvansBelfast, United Kingdom When I qualified in medicine at the Queen’s University of Belfast in 1968, Northern Ireland was a curious cocktail of sectarianism and garden parties. I soon discovered that winning the medal in surgery was not such a bright idea when I began my postgraduate career as Professor Harold Rodgers’ single-handed house…
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To all the books that saved my life
Dannie OngMelbourne, Australia On the way to therapy, I am reading The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. I try not to think about the irony of it all – no job, no degree, not even a life, depending on who you asked – and there I am, filling pages with notes on morning…
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When a medical student becomes a patient
Andrew GallagherBurlington, Vermont, United States Elliot pointed to the ultrasound monitor. “What is this?” he said slowly, trailing off. His finger was on the large, black sac occupying the entire bottom of the screen. We both said nothing, attempting to recall our anatomy. “Wait, where is your kidney?” I stared at the screen, disoriented. “I…