I had a sad phone call with the wife of one of my patients last week. Her husband died in a neighboring hospital a few days earlier. She called me with questions. I hope my answers gave her solace. Here is the story from my point of view. I met her husband less than a […]
I would like to share a story that was shared with me by a family member of a long-term patient of mine. In my opinion, it is a story about a good death. I don’t know if my patient considered her own death a good one. I hope she did. I met JH five years […]
The most touching thing that happened to me at work over the last few weeks was a handshake. You might remember the patient that gave me this handshake. If not, you can read about him before or after you read this story. I wrote about him a few months ago in my “I Spoke Turtle” […]
Hello. This post will be a little different than most of my previous ones. I don’t have a patient story to share with you this time. I do, however, wish to share how the cancer diagnosis of a colleague affected me. I can tell you up front it was with heavy impact. “Can we go […]
I would like to tell you about three new patients I saw back-to-back-to-back last week. All three had the same diagnosis. Each of them also had the same answer to one of my questions. Patient #1, Mrs. B: A sixty-five-year-old woman with stage four adenocarcinoma of the colon diagnosed from an omental biopsy in late […]
I would like to tell you the tale of a patient who want to fire me but never got around to it. I think there are some good learning points in his story – for him, for me, maybe even for you. Instead of using his real name, I will call this patient Mr. B. […]
I ran my first clinic of 2023 this week. During this clinic I had thirty-two individual patient interactions. These are a few of the people I saw: A forty-two-year-old woman with metastatic ovarian cancer who I was treating on an early phase clinical trial investigating a new drug in advanced cancers. She had been on […]
I met a new patient for a few brief moments last week. She had an impact on me that has and will extend far past the limits of our doctor-patient relationship. I will try to explain how and why. Kelly’s (pseudonym) first appointment with medical oncology was in a resident’s longitudinal clinic. I supervise this […]
I sit across from my patients and have the privilege of witnessing moments in their lives that are hard to explain. I see moments of joy and of despair. I see moments of disbelief and of acceptance. With AG, I saw a moment of reckoning. It was fascinating to me. I met AG in December […]
If I were to say I had a stoic patient, what would come to mind? Would you think she/he/they were brave? Would you imagine someone who was calm under pressure? Would your brain make you think this person was a master at avoiding emotional extremes? If so inclined, come up with answers to these questions. […]
Join me, through the stories I tell, and see the hope, grit, grace, and love that can be found in a cancer journey.
