Dear Readers,
My dear, departed prostate was the cause–and the victim–of several biopsies.
Before the first one, I consulted with friends and family members. Turns out that a surprising number of men over fifty have had prostate biopsies–who knew? (Men don’t talk about this much.)
March More Voices: The Biopsy Read More »
Dear readers,
Warren Holleman, one of our More Voices editors, suggested Cold as a theme for February. (Warren lives in Houston–recall the winter storms of February 2021 that crippled the Texas power grid, subjecting millions of households to freezing temperatures and killing hundreds.)
Dana Grossman, our other More Voices editor, jumped on board with Warren’s suggestion. (Dana lives in Vermont–no further explanation necessary.)
February More Voices: Cold Read More »
Dear Pulse readers,
That’s my COVID test from a couple of weeks back. After I’d dodged the virus for three years, it finally caught up with me–disabusing me of any notion that I was somehow more robust, more careful or perhaps cleverer than everyone else who’d come down with COVID.
COVID made me feel crummy–achy, feverish and tired–and without any desire to eat.
My doctor prescribed Paxlovid, and I took it.
January More Voices: COVID Redux Read More »
Dear Pulse readers,
It was December. I was three months into my first year of medical school, and I wasn’t feeling right. I’d been incredibly thirsty for the past few weeks and been peeing an awful lot.
When I finally decided to get myself checked out at the student health service, the news wasn’t good: I was told I had diabetes. Not just diabetes, but type 1 diabetes, the kind they used to call juvenile onset. My body had stopped making insulin, and I would need to start injecting it.
December More Voices: A Ray of Hope Read More »
Dear Pulse readers,
This month’s More Voices theme is Traumatized. Today, as I write this, entire populations in Israel and Gaza are experiencing trauma. And friends and relatives of Palestinians and Jews in other parts of the globe are being traumatized from afar, as they hear heartbreaking news of injury and death.
Even those without personal connections to Israel or Gaza may be triggered by stories of families being ravaged by bullets and bombs.
As I thought about writing an introduction to this month’s theme, I couldn’t help but reflect that I’ve led a sheltered life.
November More Voices: Traumatized Read More »
Dear Pulse readers:
When I was about twenty years old and living in New York, I wandered into a men’s clothing store on Canal Street. There, an army jacket caught my eye. I liked it right away. It was stylish–in a counterculture-rebel sort of way–and I decided to try it on.
It fit perfectly.
The only problem was, it cost more than I wanted to spend.
October More Voices: Tough Calls Read More »
Dear Pulse readers,
I was a medical student, nearing the end of my very first clinical rotation–surgery–and I’d had enough.
I’d made a breast-cancer patient weep as I’d unsuccessfully tried to extract blood from an artery in her wrist.
September More Voices: Bedside Manner Read More »
Dear Pulse readers,
Many years ago, while seeking employment as a musician, I spent part of a summer in Minneapolis, a town I associated with cold winters but which, it turned out, also endured hot summers. My quarters had no air conditioning and I was sweltering, so I purchased a fan, which didn’t help much. For some reason, my place just wouldn’t cool off, even at night, and there were moments when I felt I might suffocate from the heat.
August More Voices: Heat Read More »
Dear Pulse readers,
An elderly patient walks into an appointment with her new doctor and empties a bag of medications on the doctor’s desk.
The doctor looks at the heap of bottles and says, “I have some good news for you! I’m going to take you off of all these pills except for three.”
“Doctor, that’s wonderful!” the patient exclaims. “Which three should I keep taking?”
July More Voices: Pills Read More »
Dear Pulse readers,
One autumn evening when I was twenty-two years old, I boarded a bus in New York’s Port Authority bus terminal and headed off with my guitar. Dreams of musical success swirled in my head–new songs I would write, places I would perform–and beckoned me forward.
Over the next several months, I pulled into towns where I knew no one (Columbus, Indianapolis, Cincinnati) and took up a solitary existence. I’d find a cheap place to stay and spend my days alone, waiting for inspiration to strike, practicing the guitar and scoping out places I might play.
June More Voices: Alone Read More »
Dear Pulse readers,
In my work as a physician, I sometimes see patients whose bodies have come undone. It happens. But in truth, I spend far more time reassuring patients that their bodies have not come undone.
That lump is not a cancer.
Your headache is not a brain tumor.
May More Voices: Coming Undone Read More »
Dear Pulse readers,
During my first year of medical school, I came down with type 1 diabetes–the kind that requires insulin, the kind they used to call “juvenile onset,” even though I was thirty years old.
The symptoms were classic–raging thirst and a constant need to pee–but as a first-year student I hadn’t learned that yet, and as a previously healthy adult I couldn’t believe that my body would be so underhanded as to betray me.
April More Voices: Unsung Heroes Read More »
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