Brian T. Maurer Abstract: After four decades of medical practice, a primary care clinician finds himself cast in the role of a patient in need of dermatological surgery for skin cancer from a former colleague he had never met face to face until the day of the surgical encounter. The night before the surgery I plowed through the Delia Owens novel “Where the Crawdads Sing.”  I hadn’t anticipated the ending and fitfully drifted in and out of sleep for a couple of hours, finally succumbing to exhaustion and the warmth of the bed.  Nonetheless, my eyes opened at 5:00 AM.  I got up to do my morning exercise routine, showered, … Continue reading →