Page 67 – Pulse

Thanks for the Memories

2 Comments / Connections / Ronna L. Edelstein

I have always felt blessed to be a person who enjoys her own company—who does not feel lonely when alone. That being said, I do welcome technology and its ability to link me virtually with family and friends. I do rely on a car, train and plane to transform those virtual connections into in-person ones. And I am grateful to books that always create a bridge between me and other people and worlds. Although the content of the books is fictional, the characters, plots and themes resonate in a very real way.

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December More Voices: Connections

1 Comment / Connections / Paul Gross

Dear Pulse readers,

When I was a second-year medical student, a physician in our lecture hall warned us what would happen if we made a particular error:

“Your patient’s family will sue you,” he said sharply, as if reprimanding us for a mistake we’d already made.

“And you will deserve to be sued.”

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Sitting with my father at age 89

2 Comments / Poems / Helen May Williams

He lies in the hospital bed,
the subject of barrier nursing,
looks at his fingers, and says:
Fingers! Figures! There’s a lot of figures about!
He slowly puts his fingers into prayer position,
his hands tortuously enacting transfingeration.

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A Child by Any Other Name Would Be as Loved

1 Comment / visuals / Lisa Sieczkowski

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Gift of Gratitude

13 Comments / Stories / Naveen Menon

We all remember our patients who die, though the first patient death really stands out from the rest. This was certainly true for me.

I was just starting the second year of my internal-medicine residency. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen someone die, but it was the first time I’d seen someone who’d been alive and well, and talking to me that morning, be dead by the afternoon–a shocking dichotomy that haunts me to this day.

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late autumn

4 Comments / Haiku / Barbara Kaufmann

late autumn Read More »

The Expect

1 Comment / Emergencies / Pamela Adelstein

Statistically, to avoid missing a case of appendicitis, one must send to the ER some patients with symptoms of appendicitis whose appendices turn out to be normal. This lesson from medical school is imprinted indelibly on my mind.

In my residency program, if a resident sent a patient to the ER, the resident was required to go the ER to evaluate them, to further their learning. However, this created a conflict of interest—if you had to meet a patient in the ER, you missed out on sleep. Hence I thought hard about the disposition of each patient.

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Shock and Awe

Leave a Comment / Emergencies / Joe Amaral

My ambulance partner and I responded to a 9-1-1 call for a person with difficulty breathing at a department store, but we couldn’t find anybody needing medical attention. A worker pointed to the metal ladder at the back, saying there was a guy working on the roof, and they hadn’t seen him in a while.

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Finding the Words

Leave a Comment / Emergencies / Raelynn Vigue

A hush fell over the room as reality sank in. “He likely will not survive this,” the surgeon said.

The patient’s brow wrinkled in confusion. Why was everyone so quiet? His eyes met mine, pleading for a clue and awaiting my translation.

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Joe

11 Comments / Stories / Jennifer Dupree

You’re in the hospital again, propped in bed with pillows keeping you from listing to one side or the other, and I’m sitting on a pink pleather chair I’ve pulled up next to the bed.

We watch Dr. Phil until 4:00. I always find this show melodramatic, but you seem riveted. You want to know about these people, their lives, their lies, what they’ll do with the information unveiled to them.

When Dr. Phil signs off, I switch on the Classic Country music station, and we talk.

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