by Richard Macht Light must come from the inside. Sogyal Rinpoche The last time I wanted to settle in Israel was in 1971 when I was 33 years old. I had made up my mind that I would take a sabbatical from Dartmouth College where I had been teaching as a Jew with great difficulty for three years, and go alone to Eretz Israel, the land of Israel. I left my wife and my three children behind. I went to a kibbutz in the north, up near the Lebanese border and worked for three weeks waiting to be called to Jerusalem. There I would study Hebrew in an Ulpan at … Continue reading
Skin, a health reflection
Skin, a health reflectionby Iman Salem, M.D.* Dermatology is like no other medicineHails from papyrus of the Ancient Egyptian Covering all ages from peds to geriatricIn every tone across pages of Fitzpatrick Assessing an art of color, and descriptionTo treat by surgery or surface prescription It reveals more than just a complexionThe derm(is) an inner light, a health reflection All our systems talk to the skinInterdependent, their closest Kin Without the need for incisionDerm docs have beyond-the-skin vision Finding grouped vesicles on the knee?Maybe it’s celiac you should see Or the purple papules of LP?A life-saved connection to hep C And with the plaques of silvery scaleDon’t forget to check … Continue reading
I Am A Nurse
by Caroline Neal, R.N.* In 1983, I was 23 years old, a college graduate, and had worked as a registered nurse for a year. I moved with my new husband from Georgia to Cooperstown, New York where he began a medical internship. I accepted a job as a home health nurse with the Otsego County Public Health Department. Each day, I drove over 100 miles on back roads in central New York’s Appalachian Mountains visiting patients whose diagnoses and ages varied widely. Prior to this year, I had rarely traveled out of the South and had seen snow only a couple of times. Everything was different; everything was the same … Continue reading
Canvas
by Lina Alhanshali* You are standing in front of your mirror again Two minutes turned to five turned to ten You study and memorize the size and location Of each new bald patch Until one day it becomes easier to count the hairsYour scalp like a forest once full of lifeSlowly turned into an empty desert That to you was a landscape with potential You viewed your scalp like a canvas That some days you left blank Other days you adorned itWith wigs, bonnets, even henna tattoos Maybe this is where beauty and self-love meetMaybe the most beautiful parts of ourselves are the onesWe learned to embrace We in our … Continue reading
My Medical AI Encounter
by Brian T. Maurer, PA-C Abstract: After ruminating on recent widespread reports that an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot (ChatGPT) was able to achieve a passing score on the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE), a retired pediatric clinician envisions a primary care medical encounter in the near future. Key words: chatbot, ChatGPT, AI medical knowledge, EHR, EMR, medical AI bot, telemedicine, telehealth, medical humor. ******************* When I log in to my online medical portal to schedule a routine appointment with my PCP, a chat window pops up. “Hello. I see that you are attempting to schedule an appointment with your primary care provider (PCP). May I be of service?” “Can … Continue reading
Protected: KOLs Gone Wild
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Fat Matters and Marketing
On January 1, 2023, the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes aired a segment on Obesity. It featured a promising new weight loss medication that is in short supply and often is not covered by insurance. This was a good piece, but it made me a uneasy. Is weight loss as simple as taking a shot once a week? The medication is semaglutide and it comes as Wegovy and Ozempic. Wegovy is approved for weight loss and Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes; although both are the same drug. The 60 Minute section reminded me of the quote, “There’s a pill for every ill.” Wegovy’s price on GoodRx is ~ $1400 per … Continue reading
In the Skin
Lynette Lamp Draped in paper, you jump like a startled squirrel when I enter the exam room.You always do. I didn’t askabout the tattoos,even though I probedwith questions about everything else. You told me, once you trusted me to know.Spider-man on your left armto give you strength after your father’s suicide.An awkward iris on your backplanted over your ex’s name.On your right thigh, an angel with the date your sister died. The kid in the El Camino was at fault,but no one sued, only grieved. Still grieving. You say each break in your skin helped heal some other broken part.But there’s no place for that ink in your chart. Lynette … Continue reading
After a Stroke
When the peach tastes like an onion, and there is no other fruit, seed the next crop.
Travels with Myself (and another)
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
