Cases and Stories

Thanks for the beautiful posting. I can't wait to read more.
And I believe that the importance of the personal connection goes even farther - as a patient who feels closer to his or her primary care physician will be mor einclined to admit confusion or inability to comprehend whatever information is being thrown at them, which is what I write about in 'Baffled by Numbers' on this site.

Articulate, beautiful, and on point. Perhaps because your first "patient" had leukemia, your post resonated with me. As I have sat with my sister through numerous encounters with medical professionals of various stipes as she struggles to survive AML over the past 6 years, I completely concur with you that the professionals who get to know her are the ones who understand her and are having the greatest impact. It's the infectious disease attending who recently brought her photographs from his mother's flower garden because they had talked about flowers, all the while coming up with new remedies to cure her of the dreaded reoccurance of CMV. It's the PT ladies who talked about books and the NY Times while getting her to stretch her arms. And it's the transplant attending who replied when she said, "I'm visualizing my demise" that he said, "I'm visualizng you playing tennis." Of course I know that it's more than words that is curing her, but I can also say that the psychiatrists who grilled her with sappy voices, asking her inane questions that were completely off point and showed no recognition for who she is that caused her more agitation than kidney failure had. A long winded way of saying that I look forward to reading your wonderful writing and insights into human nature that have relevance for us all.