He wakes up the next day, surprised to discover that his missing thumb is back. The doctor, who had advised Ted yesterday that she couldn’t fix the smashed digit, is even more perplexed. She’d amputated the limb just 24 hours… Continue Reading
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? I do. Please state your full legal name, social security access code, and the nature of the crime or crimes committed… Continue Reading
We’re screaming down the highway in a VW bug and I’m sitting in the back seat, my ass burning. Will driving. Martin shotgun. Me doomed. “Um, guys, I think there’s something wrong back here,” I stammer. “What’s up, dummy?” Will,… Continue Reading
Desi leans against the car, struggling to control her breathing. She straightens her airway like the doctor taught her. Breathe in, breathe in again, then breathe out. She closes the trunk of her father’s station wagon and cranks the cold… Continue Reading
Every day my head nurse, Mindy, was mean to me. She always gave me the hardest assignments — the patient who yelled “help me” constantly, or the one with explosive diarrhea. Every night, I cried myself to sleep as my… Continue Reading
Today, Ash Wednesday, has been declared No Smoking Day to help those giving up for Lent. There is no Mass in our little hamlet because the local priest looks after seventeen parishes. At reception I check in as a visitor… Continue Reading
Martha, the nurse wakes me up at the crack of dawn. She helps me to the bathroom. She’s holding the IV and I’m dragging the two cheese sticks I’ve got for legs. Every step feels like it’s going to be… Continue Reading
Shelby agreed to the surgery only after the two biggest narcissists in her life, Dr. Schrodinger and Dr. Elks, advised that her weight had reached an apocalyptic level. In truth, she had always been obese — unrepentantly feasting — or… Continue Reading
“Why do we have to rotate on Labor and Delivery?” I say. “It has nothing to do with neurosurgery.” “Oh for God’s sake,” Sheila says. “Maybe you’ll get lucky and some poor pregnant woman will have a brain tumor, just… Continue Reading
Didn’t want to be here but knew I had to be. Ovarian cancer. Stuart, who had been my doc forever, it seemed, convinced me to get the kind of care I needed by going to a big medical center. He… Continue Reading