Vacation in a Tuberculosis Sanitarium

We love to stay at historic places when we travel, and so I booked a few nights at Birch Lodge during our recent vacation to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. All I knew was that it was over 100 years old, on the National Registry of Historic Places, and looked beautiful...

On Call with a Non-Doctor Husband

I’d already been in practice for several years when I married John. I had had years of training in night call, during med school, internship, residency, and private practice. He, poor guy, had not. So, it was a new world to him. It was in the days before call centers...

Lemonade out of Lemons

It has been interesting since my article, “An Annual Checkup with an Insulting Surprise”, was published on Doximity. In just one week, there have been over 100 comments in response to the article, and I’ve been fascinated reading them! If you haven’t read the article,...

The Carter Center and River Blindness

A young boy using a stick to lead a blind man. I just had the opportunity to attend the Carter Center Board of Councilors meeting, to hear updates on some of their longstanding programs. The motto of the Carter Center, Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope....

Medical History Finds Me

I love studying the history of medicine, especially the pre-anesthesia, pre-antibiotic era. Fleming, Osler, Rush, Avicenna, Blackwell, Curie, Pasteur are all familiar friends to me now. So, it’s no surprise to me that nuggets of medical history find me when we are on...