The institution that employs me is very bullish on customer satisfaction. Having come from a fourteen year stint in private practice before I came back into the University fold six years ago, the little things that make a practice run smoothly come naturally to me. Patients are typically seen within a week of the consultation… Continue reading Just Trying To Keep The Customer Satisfied
Category: Patient Stories
The Face Of Hope
With special thanks to Dr. Dingle Spence. Thirty three years ago my husband and I went to Jamaica for a belated honeymoon. We got married on the last weekend of my internship year, and immediately flew back to Boston for me to start my second year of internal medicine training. Seven months later in the… Continue reading The Face Of Hope
The Dentist Will See You Now, or Why I am Not a Veterinarian
I’m usually pretty good at keeping track of all things medical—when my kids were vaccinated, when I need my mammograms and PAP smears, when the girl dogs come into season and when the horses need to see the dentist. So when Norman the Lipizzaner arrived home from the boarding stable underweight, and two weeks later… Continue reading The Dentist Will See You Now, or Why I am Not a Veterinarian
This is Not a Lending Library
The first time it happened, I was convinced that the book was somehow misplaced. We had had an open house in the department, with large groups touring our new and very high tech facility. I thought perhaps the cleaning service had tucked the book away for safe keeping. But it was odd that of the… Continue reading This is Not a Lending Library
The Gift of the Magi
When I was young, one of my favorite stories was O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.” Originally published in 1905, the short story became standard fare in public school reading classes and I doubt that there are any of you out there who have not read it. But just in case– the story is… Continue reading The Gift of the Magi
When Life Gives You Lemons
When I was about ten years old, swimming on a Texas swim team, I remember hearing that the child of one of the local coaches had been diagnosed with leukemia. The idea of a kid dying of an untreatable disease was so foreign to me that I am sure that I have blocked out most… Continue reading When Life Gives You Lemons
Who We Really Are
When I was a resident in radiation oncology, I thought I already knew a lot about medicine. After all, I had just completed an internal medicine residency, and had taken and passed my boards. Needless to say, I was more than a little bit irritated the first time a patient “coded” in the radiation therapy… Continue reading Who We Really Are
Let Me Call It In For You
These days they have navigators for everything. When we got lost back in the day, we used to consult a map, or lacking a map, we would pull in to the nearest “filling station” (what we used to call gas pumps) and ask for directions from the friendly young man who would appear to wash… Continue reading Let Me Call It In For You
What’s For Lunch?
These days, Thursdays are my busiest day of the week. It’s the day I see all of my on treatment patients. Currently there are thirty one of them—a busy load for a radiation oncologist. Nonetheless, I have instructed my therapists that they must leave me time for lunch, and so they schedule the patients so… Continue reading What’s For Lunch?
Mama’s Gonna Sing You a Lullaby
I have had patients and their families do strange things during a consultation. Patients taking notes and recording what the doctor says are pretty commonplace these days, as are answering a cell phone and arguing with a spouse over what really happened while giving a history. Some patients go to great lengths to disconnect from… Continue reading Mama’s Gonna Sing You a Lullaby