Thank you for joining us for this week’s blog to see if and how I stretch the limits of my comfort zone… To say the least, it was a difficult session for both the therapist and me. Though I tried so hard to relax and not be tense, it was a losing battle. The therapist … Read more

I’M ONLY HERE BECAUSE MY TRAINER TOLD ME I SHOULD COME… I walked into the office and checked in with the front desk secretary for my 3:00 pm appointment. She told me to sit down, fill out the required form, and she’d call my name shortly. So, I waited – with apprehension and discomfort. When … Read more

MABA – MAINTAIN BALANCE The fourth and final lesson that I shared in my June 2014 convocation speech is about maintaining balance between medicine and life. In a survey published in a 2012 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, nearly one half of physicians who responded reported at least one symptom of burnout. Less than half … Read more

SUFA – SUCCESS vs. FAILURE There were new indications that the patient was improving. Then, an hour after my morning exam, his blood pressure dropped and his heart abruptly stopped. For an hour, we performed CPR and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) — we ran the code – but his pulse and blood pressure never … Read more

Hello again. So far, we’ve learned the two lessons of ANEL – ANYTHING ELSE? and AVNI – AVOID NIHILISM. This week and the next, we discover what SUFA – SUCCESS vs. FAILURE means. SUFA – SUCCESS vs. FAILURE I remember my first experiences in the Medicine Intensive Care Unit (MICU) as both a fourth-year student … Read more

Hello.  This week, we pick up where we left off and finish learning what AVNI – AVOID NILISISM means. Isn’t it great to not take a formal test afterwards?! AVNI – AVOID NIHILISM … Yet I tried to keep my promise to not give up on these patients. Then something happened one rainy day in … Read more