By the time I met her, she had lived with diarrhea for nearly six months. She was 59, a health care worker, and had been hospitalized several times since symptoms began shortly after a left heart catheterization. Each visit added testing and imaging, yet no answers followed. When we entered her room, she told her… Read more »
The first thing I noticed at the Good Samaritan Clinic was how quiet the waiting room was. Not the calm kind of quiet, but the kind that comes from people holding themselves together. Patients sat with paperwork folded carefully in their hands, eyes lowered, bodies angled inward. This was not a place where trust arrived… Read more »
On my first week as a resident on service, I noticed the stool before I noticed the attending. Small and woven—like you bring to a kid’s soccer game—Dr. N carried it folded under his arm. On rounds he set it down, sanitized it with care, and carried it inside the patient’s room, unfolded it and… Read more »
In medicine, some diseases belong clearly to one specialty. A myocardial infarction belongs to cardiology. A stroke belongs to neurology. But autoimmune disease does not belong neatly to anyone. During my first months of medical school, I began working with a rheumatology clinic studying systemic lupus erythematosus. Lupus is often taught as the quintessential systemic… Read more »
The first time a patient in the U.S. called me “Doctora,” something inside me ignited. It was not the title itself, nor the years of hard work and studying that mattered. For in that moment, it was my connection to my patient and the world that truly mattered. For many patients, especially those who share… Read more »
