Month: August 2018

Doctor As Patient: My Medical Mystery

Doctor As Patient: My Medical Mystery

This was Tuesday: An hour into my morning clinic, my right lower lip and jaw started to feel like Novocain at the dentist. I found myself discreetly dabbing at saliva dribble as I spoke to patients. When I had a chance, I peeked in the 

Your Local Farmer’s Market Strategy

Your Local Farmer’s Market Strategy

Yes the produce and products at a farmers market are fresh and beautiful and healthy… and expensive. I want my family to enjoy the local bounty, but without busting our budget. So we have a strategy: Twenty bucks. That’s our farmer’s market allowance. The kids 

Let us run in peace dammit

Let us run in peace dammit

I got harassed while running this morning. I was alone, waiting for the walk signal at an intersection, jogging awkwardly in place. A middle-aged man in a shiny red sports car honked at me as he drove by. I got a clear look at his 

Can’t Blog Without a Free Press

Can’t Blog Without a Free Press

When I was a kid, we would go to Guatemala to visit family. During that time, various and sundry military dictatorships wrangled for power, and we witnessed the Army searching people, bombing homes. Family members were murdered. The press was censored at best, controlled at 

Dark Chocolate Almond Gluten-Free Vegan Dream Brownies

Dark Chocolate Almond Gluten-Free Vegan Dream Brownies

I remember back in the 1990’s when flourless chocolate cakes were all the rage. Desserts with names like “Chocolate Orgasm” were on every menu. Of course, I had to make that. But even as an athletic college student, I was horrified at the ingredients list: 

A Physician Colleague Is Being Attacked: How We Can Support Her, and the Facts.

A Physician Colleague Is Being Attacked: How We Can Support Her, and the Facts.

The call for help came from another physician on social media. Dr. Jen Trachtenberg, pediatrician and parenting expert at AskDrJen, had posted a video for National Immunization Awareness Month on her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feed. Unfortunately (but predictably), a small group of anti-vaccination trolls 

In Shock by Rana Awdish: A Five-Star Book Review.

In Shock by Rana Awdish: A Five-Star Book Review.

In Shock by physician author Rana Awdish was just published in October 2017, and already this remarkable memoir has garnered widespread praise from patients and providers alike. It’s being incorporated into the curricula at several medical schools, and is used in healthcare provider communication courses all