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Valhalla Over Connacht Shea

Valhalla Over Connacht

2 Comments / visuals /

Sandra Shea

About the artist: 

Sandra Shea is an associate professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.  “As a colon and skin cancer survivor, I know WAY too much about how health care works from the inside!  Ireland holds a special place in my heart, as my father’s family ‘s homeland, as a place where I spent my junior year of college, and a place to which I have returned whenever possible.  My most recent trip, in 2013, was the first trip with a digital camera and an iPad, as evidenced by an average of 200 photos per day!”

About the artwork:

“Twelve months of chemotherapy will get to you physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually.  As it plodded along I dreamed of places I would rather be.  Almost any place would do, but mostly I wanted to go back to Ireland, home of my father’s family.  This » Continue Reading.

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I Need a New Stethoscope

24 Comments / Stories /

Jenni Levy

I need a new stethoscope. I have to wrap my fingers around the fissures in the tubing to make this one work.

For me, these days, listening to the patient’s chest is more a ritual than a means of diagnosis. After twenty years as a primary-care internist, I now work full-time in hospice and palliative care. I spend more time listening to stories than to hearts and lungs. Even so, there’s something about leaning over and finding the right spot on the chest that makes me feel like a real doctor and helps my patients know that they’re being cared for.

Every morning I put this stethoscope around my neck and walk down the hall of our inpatient hospice unit, and every morning, I forget until I touch the first patient. I wonder about the silence in my ears, and then I remember and close my fingers over the stiff, unresponsive black tubing.

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Say It Ain’t So

8 Comments / Stories /

Dominic Donato

I am in my twenties.

I am a student in dental school. My seven classmates and I have gathered, notebooks and pens in hand, for the first day of our ten-day rotation at the Veteran’s Hospital oncology department.

Dr. Steele, a published expert in oral cancer, instructs us to follow him to the outpatient clinic. Some of those he’ll examine are initial consultations; others are follow-up exams. All are U.S. veterans. Many are homeless alcoholics, whose lifestyle, we’re told, predisposes them to oral cancers.

“I want each of you to take a look at this lesion on the right lateral border ventral side of the tongue,” says Dr. Steele in resonant tones. We bob our heads to find the right line of vision. The lesion is nothing more than a small red spot. Dr. Steele applies dye to the spot, examines the patient’s head and neck lymph nodes, then dismisses him.

“Well, what do you think?” he asks.

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women with lymphedema deCabrera

Walking Beside Me

3 Comments / visuals /

HeatheRoden Vda. Cabrera (submitted by Sara Cohen)

About the artist: 

“I paint, draw, work in terra-cotta, glass, stone and wood. I like mixed media, and I adore metallics and glitter. Visually, I am deeply concerned with the impact of light upon a scene or an object. My themes reflect my inner and outer worlds. I often paint issues that concern me: conditions in jail, impact on victims, and medical realities. I don’t try to be controversial; however, it is imperative to me that my work be authentic–no calendar art for me! I only do art to please myself. It is my spiritual affirmation.”

About the artwork:

“The title Walking Beside Me echoes a line from Juan Ramón Jiménez’s poem Yo No Soy Yo (I Am Not I):

Soy este
que va a mi lado sin yo verlo…

I am this one
walking beside me whom I

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Terms and Conditions

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If you are writing about a patient, his or her identity must be protected. Either you should obtain
written consent to publish the piece or you must disguise a patient’s identity so that his or her
friend or family member would not recognize the individual. In this case, the name must be
changed. Other helpful changes might be: sex; physical characteristics (e.g., age, hair or eye
color, body habitus); presenting illness; occupation; family constellation (number or age of
children). Please let our editors know what you’ve changed. If you have questions please use
the Contact Us form to query our editors.

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Pimped

25 Comments / Stories /

Anne Whetzel

It’s two months into my second year of medical school, and I’m at the clinic, preparing to shadow Dr. Neiland, a primary-care physician.

I didn’t want to come here this morning.

Yesterday, one of my preceptors decided that it was my turn to be “pimped.” Pimping, in medical education, is when the preceptor asks you questions until you get one wrong. Then he asks more questions, highlighting your ignorance. Theoretically, this ensures that once he tells you the correct answer, you’ll never forget it. This works for some students, but not for me. I get defensive, and the right answer, whatever it is, goes in one ear and out the other.

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heaven and earth 2 demetropolis

Heaven and Earth

2 Comments / visuals /

Alicia Demetropolis

About the artist: 

Alicia Jean Demetropolis is an orthopedic exercise specialist and healthcare assistant and is certified in providing spiritual care to people at the end of life. She is a published author of fiction and nonfiction and writes and publishes a quarterly newsletter for the Olympic Peninsula. Called Death Over Coffee, it is meant to encourage “an open, fearless and healthy discussion on the topic of death and dying.” This is her first published photograph. “It is dedicated to Hank, a longtime client whom I just lost a few nights ago. Although his death was not unexpected, it was a traumatic loss for me and his family.”

About the artwork:

“Heaven and Earth was taken early in the morning after an overnight shift with a client who says the rosary every night before bed. On those night shifts I fall peacefully asleep, hearing her words

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He Ain’t Heavy

9 Comments / Stories /

Edward Beal

In my decades as a psychiatrist, I’ve seen many different kinds of patients; only in the past five years, though, have I worked with soldiers.

I see them through TeleHealth, an organization that offers patients long-distance care via a sophisticated form of Skyping.

I originally took this job for financial reasons (during the economic downturn of 2008), but I quickly discovered its unique rewards.

Early on, for instance, as I stood waiting for an elevator, a quadriplegic soldier maneuvered his electric wheelchair alongside me.

When the doors opened, he looked up and said, “After you, sir.” That’s not a memory that fades.

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