Category Archives: Patient Stories

The Price of Preventive Health Care (Part 1)

Posted on April 26, 2010 by admin

They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but is that still true in today’s money? Recently I had an illuminating conversation with a patient that got me thinking about how I may try to answer this … Continue reading →

Posted in Patient Stories, Thinking Out Loud, Vaccines | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Reflecting on Code Status

Posted on March 13, 2010 by admin

When someone dies at home we call it ‘going to a better place.’ When someone dies in the hospital we call it a ‘code.’ Recently, working in the cardiac ICU, I have been thinking a lot about code status. Code … Continue reading →

Posted in Patient Stories, Thinking Out Loud | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Deadly Side of Preventive Health

Posted on February 20, 2010 by admin

Medical residents sometimes joke that admissions come in pairs. And so it was on my last call a few nights ago that I was called to the ER to evaluate two GI bleeders. Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding — blood loss anywhere from the … Continue reading →

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Quitting Smoking on Facebook

Posted on February 13, 2010 by admin

At 3am on Jan 1st 2010 my cousin-brother stubbed his last cigarette. New Year’s resolutions to quit smoking, lose weight, or change another bad habit are certainly not uncommon. Having tried — and failed — to quit a number of times before, … Continue reading →

Posted in Patient Stories, Thinking Out Loud | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

A New Diagnosis of Colon Cancer

Posted on January 18, 2010 by

Recently a close relative of mine was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. The experience has been at once saddening, terrifying and sobering. Why did this happen? How did it happen? Why wasn’t it caught earlier? From an objective perspective, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cancer Prevention, Patient Stories | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments