My Human Doctor
The New York Times
“…Medical school teaches us to examine, to research, to treat. We don’t learn to err and recover. Nobody stands behind a podium and declares: ‘Each of you will make mistakes, and some of them will hurt people.’”
The Symptoms of Dying
The New York Times
“…People who witness terminal agitation often believe it is the dying person’s existential response to death’s approach. Intense agitation may be the most visceral way that the human body can react to the shattering of inertia. We squirm and cry out coming into the world, and sometimes we do the same leaving it.”
The Gentler Symptoms of Dying
The New York Times
“…Every major organ in the body — heart, lungs, liver, kidneys — has the capacity to shut off the brain. It’s a biological veto system."“
The Symptoms of Protracted Dying
The New York Times
“…In every other part of medicine, doctors make recommendations for medications, lifestyle changes and surgeries. We don’t offer cancer patients six different chemotherapy regimens and ask them to weigh the pros and cons. Yet when it comes to end-of-life decisions, doctors are terrified of violating patient autonomy. We are scared of our own medical opinions.”
Is my memory going or is it just normal aging?
The Washington Post
“…Decades of research has made clear that cognitive change with advancing age is perfectly normal…So the question of whether something is amiss in the brain is not ‘Have I declined?’ but rather: ‘Have declined too much?’”
The Loneliness of Frontotemporal Dementia
The New York Times
“…Inhibitions give way to impulsivity and hypersexuality, so that longtime faithful partners look to affairs and excessive pornography. Empathy turns to apathy. Obsessions and compulsions erupt. Language can become laborious; the meaning of words and objects can be lost, and fluent speech can dissolve into fragments of sentences with nonsensical grammar.”
A Crash Course in Honeymoon Survival
The New York Times (Modern Love)
“…Four days into our honeymoon, my husband and I faced the end of our marriage, the end of our lives. Large bruises marred my thighs and shins. A corrosive leaf had burned a fiery triangle into Jeremy’s neck. Mosquitoes competed for space on our pocked flesh.”
The Other Woman
The Huffington Post
“…I was at brunch with friends when they met. I sometimes imagine myself there, shoveling deep fried French toast in my mouth as he sat at home on our long navy couch, looking at her photo on the computer.”
The Way We Were
Boston Globe Magazine
“…We traveled. Not the planned, comfortable travel we think of doing with you, but the sweaty, unpredictable type where you rely on the kindness of strangers and the extremes of what your body can tolerate. If you decide to travel the way we did, tell us only when you get home, and promise you won’t do it again. Even if you are lying.”