WRITER * ARTIST * DOCTOR * PATIENT * MOTHER
It lurked in the back corner, the deep blues and verdant greens of its leafy pattern still gorgeous despite the fluorescent lights overhead. Even from 30 feet away, I knew it was a prize – a Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress in the ultra mark-down section of Loehmann’s, the legendary New York discount store. I…
“You didn’t tell them yet?” The family had waited all night. For all of us who have stared at the clock, yearning for test results … happy to share my latest work, “The Wait”, published in Academic Pediatrics.
It was a lazy morning. My dad had made banana pancakes, I sat in the den devouring them, entranced by Saturday cartoons. As I watched Road Runner speed through the desert, my heart suddenly started to flutter – frantic hummingbird were trapped in my chest. Though only 9 years old, I knew something was strange….
“Doktè, li son tankou oseyan an!” he murmured in Haitian Creole, looking up at me incredulously. In English, “Doctor, it sounds like the ocean!” I had paused on morning rounds to offer the young man my stethoscope so he could hear his own heart. I was a new doctor; he was a new immigrant. Daniel* was…
The early spring breeze rustled the edges of my skirt as I stood high above the street waiting for the train. It was the first warmth Chicago had seen that year. I felt free, finally leaving home the layers the winter frost had required. I was heading downtown for dinner with my teacher colleagues. Our…