You said you weren’t afraid of death, but dying. We talked about comfort, expectations, grief, hospice. You got sicker and sicker, but always allowed my students in the room. I asked one time, and you said even dying you couldn’t stop being a teacher. Quietly, softly, patiently, you taught them more than I ever did.

New world virus. Acute Leukemia.Suffering alone, “no visitors allowed.”Wicked pain forbidding sleep.Relief, please –Groggy,Footlong eyelashes obstructing vision.Beetles crawling up left arm.Kidnapped by night nurse: (malicious intent).No one knows.Orange walls, secret room.Must escape!Pack bags – Push IV pole – RUN! My iatrogenic delirium.(Courtesy of opiates and sedatives)

Supplementary Motor Area(Not the one the belly surgeons worry about)Median premotor cortexFrontal aslant tractContralateral akinesia, normal reflexes, and tonePreop warningFamilies worriedPatient confusedI am frustrated90% recovery in weeks to monthsReassure the familyDo they believe me?Do I believe?All relieved by improvement at post-op visit

Treating poverty with metformin is hard.“I want my inside to match my outside,” she said.Where others see a political punching bag, I see people.And they see me.In seeing each other, we are helping each other.I provide care.They remind me of why I went into medicine in the first place.

I am a pharmacist; my dad is dyingI am his advocate–we are visiting his care team nowI understand the words and translate for my familyI understand what’s happening to his aging bodyI know what the others don’t—it won’t be longToday, can you please help me be his daughter?

I received a national leadership lecture award.I gave this lecture to my colleagues.My family heard me speak—my voice, my words.My son said: “I have never seen you so animated!I guess you leave it all at work.”He has a point:I missed so many opportunities.Leaving it all at work.

War or COVID-19, you choose; I’ve done both. From Iraq, you go home in a year.From COVID-19, you come back tomorrow.In war, they give you a medal.In COVID-19, they give you 3 shots plus.Get hurt in a war, they send you home.Get hurt in a pandemic, you come back tomorrow.