Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: uremia Lurking

  • New Year’s Eve, Old Presbyterian Hospital

    Jacob AppelNew York, New York, United States The gift shop is closed. Only a graveyardSkeleton crew in the pharmacy, a solitaryCleaner orbiting a mop across the skyway.Below lights blinking red green red throughDark and frigid silence. One more year. One more night too: cachectic, edematous,Distended — ammonia levels rising, uremiaLurking, choking up coffee grounds, bile.Unlike the…