I am twenty-four years old, and I hold a man’s heart in my hands. Muscles that used to pump blood through his body lie still against my fingertips. I don’t…
Category: Narrative Medicine
Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day for most people is a holiday that brings to mind flowers, chocolates, love, and friendship. For people who are from Parkland, it has a different meaning altogether. On…
Willingness to Palpate
I cried after the first physical exam in Doctoring. Nothing went wrong; it was just the heat—the heat from the sun against my back, on my backpack, emanating from…
Reincarnated as a Foreigner
My name is Sunbi Deok-ta. I’m just an average medical student with no friends or free time. My only hobby is to study every day using the marinara technique: study…
Scrubbed In
Staring down into this vat of steel, a cold, barren pit is eager to be reawakened. Hands are held steadily with fingers extended, bracing to be stripped of life…
A Tale of Two Lydias
My father is a storyteller. It’s an unshakable part of his identity. He was born that way, with an infectious laugh and Sicilian hands from his mother that gesture wildly…
The Man in the House
Nothing treaded the dark path, Not a man nor a mouse For there were rumors about the man, The man in the house. One day her bike broke down, And…
Anatomy and Friends
anatomy & friends plantar aponeurosis grounding me; toes wriggling beneath earth that has become unfamiliar replaced by concrete jungles; a spider web of blinding smiles, crow’s feet, one-sided dimples reflecting…
On the Kindness of Strangers in Hospital Hallways
It’s 7:30am on a beautiful Tuesday morning. I had just survived a bombardment of medical school exams somewhat unscathed and finally had a day off to breathe… well, more so…
Failure By Design
“Jessica, hello! How are you doing today?” Jessica wasn’t real. She was a standardized patient, a fictional character created by my medical school for training purposes. After entering the clinical…