Tag: radiation therapy

Another Dog, Same Breed, As Soon as Possible

“Hark to Beaumont. Softly, Beaumont, mon amy. Oyez à Beaumont the valiant. Swef, le douce Beaumont, swef, swef.” Beaumont licked his hand but could not wag his tail.”  T.H. White, “The Once and Future King”.                For the past couple of years, my life has been pretty easy.  I… Continue reading Another Dog, Same Breed, As Soon as Possible

Two Hundred and Nine Short Essays Later

  Here I am in Boston, on the eve of my very first writer’s conference, feeling a bit like an imposter.  After all, the extent of my writing so far has been this blog, apart from thousands of histories, physical exams and treatment plans over the last thirty-nine years since starting medical school.  It occurred… Continue reading Two Hundred and Nine Short Essays Later

The Glass Is Half Full

A couple of weeks ago my nurse came to me with a request for a consultation.  Since our schedule has been packed full lately, she’s been asking me where I can squeeze patients in.  She said, “I’m not sure about this one—he says you treated him twenty years ago and he wants to see you. … Continue reading The Glass Is Half Full

Primum Non Nocere

I don’t have much in the way of eyebrows.  They were victims of too much plucking back in the 1960’s and when you do that, sometimes they don’t grow back.  There’s a very nice woman in Solana Beach who shapes and darkens what I have left, infrequently, when I bother to think about it which… Continue reading Primum Non Nocere

Another Thanksgiving

Every year when the time changes and the days get shorter and the nights longer, I start to feel it.   By the time that the halls are decked with boughs of holly, now shortly before Thanksgiving, the season of airport delays, of frantic last minute shopping, of eating and drinking too much and then doing… Continue reading Another Thanksgiving

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

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

Thanks For Your Support

My husband likes to say, “No good deed goes unpunished.”  I don’t always agree, but sometimes you just can’t argue that concept.  One of my favorite patients, a forty nine year old woman who I treated for head and neck cancer a year ago is a good case in point. Head and neck cancer is… Continue reading Thanks For Your Support

Don’t Let Me Talk You Into It

When I was young and foolish and just starting out in my career, I found it very hard to take “NO” for an answer.  If a patient needed radiation therapy, and he or she didn’t want to have it, I did my very best to talk that patient into it.   I have always been a… Continue reading Don’t Let Me Talk You Into It