crying – Page 2

Our First Conversation

Hilton Koppe April 2, 2017 No Comments

You were the one whom the local cancer-care team felt needed a family doctor when you returned to our small coastal village after six months at a teaching hospital in the city.

You were the one who felt lost, who longed for professional advice and support.

In my second year of college as a premed, I signed up to be an emergency room volunteer at a municipal hospital located just off campus. It was 1969, and the neighborhood reflected the larger urban community, including both established residents and newly arrived immigrants.

Please Don’t Ask

Sharon Dobie April 2, 2017 2 Comments

“Please don’t ask” was my silent plea to my patient as I entered the exam room. I knew if she did, I would start crying, and not for the first time that day.

No Laughing Matter

Ronna L. Edelstein March 31, 2017 1 Comment

“You need a fifth surgery,” the maxillofacial surgeon tells me. “Heterotopic bone is again growing over your prosthetic device.”

For eight years I have endured intense pain in my left jaw. While having four surgeries, I have also undergone Botox treatment, acupuncture and physical therapy; taken a variety of medications prescribed by pain doctors, neurologists and my primary care physician; and used specially made creams, ice and heat on the affected area. Nothing has worked.

Crying Booth

Rebecca Schultze May 2, 2016 1 Comment

The waiting room is bad enough. But it’s what comes after the waiting and after the appointment that can be worse. I think there should be a second waiting room–I’d call them “crying booths.”

OR Tears

Anne Vinsel December 12, 2015 8 Comments

Anne Vinsel

Tears in the operating room are different from tears cried by civilians, by veals.
There are rules.

A single tear from one eye is unobjectionable.
Two tears, either one from each eye
or two from one eye
are permitted if they are unaccompanied by sniffles.
Three tears risks discovery and humiliation.
There are rules.

The mechanics of crying in the OR are difficult.
You

Tears Should Be Surprising

Wynne Morrison November 15, 2013 7 Comments

Wynne Morrison

Tears should be surprising.

He is, after all, well over six feet tall,
must top 250 pounds,
always quick and confident
with a joke upon his lips.

Most of his patients weigh a pound or two.
Eyes fused shut, translucent skin,
with lives of needles, tubes,
machines and probing hands.
On this week there are too many
who will never have a chance.

Chocolate, silence, and he hauls
himself up from

Tag: crying