Stories
Life is a collection of stories / Housed within us all / Pages of precious memories / Plastered upon our walls
Off the Shelf
Off the Shelf is our section for creative works by medical students.
Medical Student Editor & Contributing Writer
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Jane X. Liao is a class of 2019 medical student at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. She is a graduate of Cornell University with a B.S. in Biology and Society. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, playing board games, and watching the latest Marvel superhero movies.
On Choosing a Specialty
A decision was at hand. Which trail would lead him where he wanted to go? The right or left? Both or neither? A simple choice. An impossible choice.
The Stairway
Climbing the steps one foot at a time \ He fell short of just one. \ But it is a part of the paradigm \ So I convince him that his journey is far from done.
In Conversation with Ghosts
He wished he could talk to Jane. His Jane, not the paranoid woman who hid wads of cash from him in their sock drawer. His Jane would know what to do.
Perspectives on Building Rapport with Patients
While being inundated with information on most things that are normal and abnormal about the human body, it is important to remember that we learn all this information to treat patients, not to treat diseases.
Gift of Life
“Procurement tonight” — a text / I’ve been anxiously awaiting with both excitement and dread, / for on transplant service this means / a life must be lost to save another’s.
Expecting
She said, / “Doctor: / I know you’ll think I’m crazy, but / I really want to get pregnant.”
Hope, The Best Medicine (2018)
This painting is for patients and those who provide medical care who are in need of inspiration.
Basil
It was pink / like the flowers he buys his wife. / It was not uniform.
The Waiting Room
The room kept going in and out of focus. That was why she did not notice him at first. All she could pay attention to was the way her hands and feet kept going cold, hot and then cold again — all happening in step with the alternating blurring and clearing of her vision.
Tongue Tied
The motor commands that choreograph speech are a privilege to possess, though I frequently find myself thinking / about silence, / and the reasons for which I may choose to leave it unbroken.
The Eighth Day
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to give birth in space? To labor and bear a child in the voids between celestial bodies? Quite possibly you have never really given much thought to giving birth at all, let alone beyond Earth’s atmospheric shell.
Contributing Writer
Monash University
Emily is a final year medical student at Monash University in Australia. She is looking forward to seeing the hologram broadcast of the first human birth in Space.