My journey in nursing has led me to experiences and insights I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
I declared nursing as my major because I was passionate about making a difference in patients’ lives. I envisioned sitting by patients’ bedsides, holding their hands, and providing comfort in their moments of need. I dreamed of showing up every day to make a meaningful impact.
We were a team. Always had been. Always would be. We defended each other, protected each other—from management, from nurse bullies, from the cruel ICU doctors who thought they ruled the world. Back in the day, we had our own kind of “therapy sessions”—long talks over coffee, unloading the weight of twelve-hour shifts, of lives saved and lost, of the battles fought in the trenches of critical care. But life …
When we think of cancer treatment, we often focus on the immediate goals: Shrinking tumors, stopping the spread of the disease, and ultimately aiming for a cure. What doesn’t get as much attention, but is just as important, is how cancer treatments can affect a patient’s sexual health and reproductive future.
Many cancer patients, particularly younger ones, are often left in the dark about how their treatment could impact their sexual …
An excerpt from Has Medicine Lost Its Mind?: Why Our Mental Health System Is Failing Us and What Should Be Done to Cure It.
One of society’s great issues is who decides what science does—the public or science. For example, the populace has taken control and been clear that it does not want science to create human beings in a laboratory or construct computers that run the world. Once …
I’ve been an X-ray and CT technologist for almost ten years, and I’ve always taken pride in my work. But nothing could have prepared me—or any of us—for what the COVID-19 pandemic brought. It wasn’t just the virus itself; it was the way it exposed the cracks in our health care system, the way it pushed us all to our limits, and the way it changed how we saw our …
Last week, a mother of six children—four of whom have disabilities—made the trek to the health care campus where I’m a faculty member to share her story. She’s making this trip weekly on Thursdays to give the same presentation twice in succession for a duration of an hour each time, for five weeks in a row. That’s ten times telling her story to a faceless crowd of interprofessional health care …
I worked in rural health in Kentucky for twenty years, then in urgent treatment centers in Denver. All sorts of patients pop up in primary care and in UTCs. Most have easily identified complaints: UTI, sinusitis, flu. Others are there for regular refills, for hypertension or cholesterol meds. There were a few patients I remember whose presentations were less straightforward, whose diagnoses were more elusive.
The following two patients presented with …
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is on the rise, there is an urgent need for physicians to arm their patients with tools and education to manage these conditions in between appointments.
IBD already includes nearly three million people in the U.S. who are diagnosed with either ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, which cause inflammation of the …
Why do so many people share their harrowing airline experiences with me yet never document them or file complaints?
Some say they do not want to relive the trauma. Others feel embarrassed for having been ridiculed, either themselves or in front of their child. Many simply want to move on because, thankfully, nothing catastrophic happened.
But silence does not equate to safety.
If I …
An excerpt from About Your Black Transgender Child: Answers to MOST of Your Burning Questions.
“Mom, I would never have told my doctor because you were my doctor.”
—My trans young adult
Those words hit me hard!
My eldest offspring said them to me recently while we were having a conversation. I had shared my thoughts about the need for pediatricians and other physicians …
Pregnancy loss is always a deeply personal and often devastating experience, but for those who experience vanishing twin syndrome (VTS)—where one twin or multiple fetuses are lost during pregnancy—the loss can be uniquely isolating. Unlike a traditional miscarriage, VTS is often discovered incidentally during an ultrasound, leaving many patients to process their grief in the absence of clear guidance, emotional support, or even acknowledgment from their health care providers.
Aloma Isaac Junior, a Nigerian comedian popularly known as Zicsaloma, recently underwent rhinoplasty. This intervention exposed deep-rooted biases about masculinity, beauty, and body autonomy in Africa. Instead of curiosity or support, his decision was met with mockery, outrage, and accusations of self-hate.
This backlash reveals a cultural blind spot. Plastic surgery is often seen as an indulgence for women, while men are expected to accept their looks as they are. Medical …
Rare diseases were not something I studied in any depth in medical school or residency.
It was my aunt, Dr. Vivian Shih, who first raised my awareness of this area of medicine. A nationally renowned researcher studying inborn errors of metabolism, her work reminded me of the biochemical pathways I had studied as an undergraduate. Though I trained at the same medical school where she worked, these conditions were …
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As social media’s influence has surged, so too has the debate over its effects on psychological well-being. Once envisioned as a means to connect communities and amplify self-expression, these platforms are now under scrutiny for their potential long-term impact on mental health—especially among adolescents.
During this critical stage of development, social interactions play a pivotal role in helping adolescents shape identity, influencing their sense of self and belonging. This …
Language is the architecture of our perception. It impacts the way we experience ourselves in relation to others, the moments that make up our daily lives, and why we emphasize one input while ignoring others. I first learned this in a linguistics course that explored the difference between, for example, “I dropped the book” in one language versus “the book fell from me” in another. This shows up in intimate …
In 2025, we will commemorate 77 years since the death of one of America’s most influential presidents, Theodore Roosevelt. He was the 26th and youngest president of the United States, succeeding William McKinley. Roosevelt was a pioneer of peace, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 after successfully mediating the end of the war between Japan and Russia. He accomplished many great things for the people of America and the …
Measles was first identified as a virus in the early 20th century. This disease caused significant morbidity and mortality. A measles vaccine was first introduced in 1963, using a live virus strain developed from a child who had measles.
In the 1970s and 1980s, many countries began implementing widespread measles vaccination programs as part of their childhood immunization schedules. The measles vaccine is usually administered as a combination vaccine, …
An excerpt from Embracing Fitness as You Age: Maintaining a Healthy and Active Lifestyle Beyond Sixty.
We do not often hear that joy, vitality, and physical strength can thrive after age sixty. In a society that idolizes youth, people too often assume that decline with age is inevitable. However, many individuals challenge these misconceptions by embracing fitness and well-being at any stage of life.
Each year, individuals embark on transformative fitness …
An excerpt from Lighthouse Parenting: Raising Your Child With Loving Guidance for a Lifelong Bond published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Your well-being allows you to be emotionally available for your child. Full stop.
Children demonstrate they care about us from the very early years. How did your preschooler demonstrate their empathy to you? Did they stroke your hair to comfort you? Did they offer you kisses and hugs? (If …
An excerpt from Health Care Nation.
Of all the lessons learned from fighting a pandemic, none was more frightening or important than discovering how dependent the system is on how we treat our doctors, nurses, and frontline caregivers.
They were already in short supply, with burnout on the rise, when the pandemic hit. As multiple waves of COVID-19 variants washed over us, frontline health workers stepped in …
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