Contributing Writer
Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Christine Zickler is a medical student at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in Miami, FL, Class of 2026. In 2020, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in english with a concentration in creative writing. She enjoys long walks by the water in her free time. After graduating medical school, Christine would like to pursue a career in pediatric orthopedic surgery.
“They should have a vaccine for cancer.” Tears were running down his face and onto his lap as I passed him another tissue. He couldn’t continue chemotherapy until the wound on his leg healed. It was my fourth day on my pediatric plastic surgery rotation as a third-year medical student and I was learning how to do a wound vacuum-assisted closure. He begged us to leave him alone. “I want my knee back,” he started …
Borborygmi: Rumbling or gurgling noises made by the movement of fluid and gas in the intestines.
Studying blood clots / While I sit for hours on end / Affixing my own.
Humor can be a double-edged sword; when used inappropriately in the workplace, it can taint interactions between health care providers and detract from professionalism.
“So, how would we test for PBC?” my professor asks from the front of the room.
Good times have never passed as quickly as the three months, ten days and twelve hours
I have spent under Dr. ***’s service.
On the first day of lecture, my dear, sweet professor / Had fallen ill with a case of the flu.
A few weeks ago, I was unhinging my jaw to swallow the proverbial firehose of information that is musculoskeletal medicine. At some stage between prying my mouth open and forcibly dislocating my temporomandibular joint (really the highest-yield medical procedure for medical students in the information age … I highly recommend it if you want to have at least a fighting chance at Step 1), the following scenario blossomed into my mind: A medical student from 1910 time travels to the present day to document out how medical training has changed, and he quickly takes note of a few other things.
This is one of the more disturbing sequences in a show that is invariably unafraid to tackle uncomfortable topics head-on, such as terrorism and sexual misconduct. The fact that this also happens to be my favorite sequence in television might warrant a discussion with my therapist. But that’s neither here nor there. Notwithstanding the resounding innuendo of the unpeeled banana, Louis CK left nothing for the viewers’ imagination as he dreams of a scenario in which Al Qaeda finally understands the merits of liberal society.
Rather Humerus: A web comic aiming to shine a creative and Rather Humerus spotlight on med school.
I looked up from my computer to motion the next patient in line and saw before me an elderly gentleman who resembled many of the other patients attending our health fair in Key West. Casually dressed: a white V-neck T-shirt and track pants. Hair: gray and wispy. Skin: tan and leathery from the sun. He was over six feet tall, with an athletic build for a man his age. It was approaching lunch hour and the line for my Med IT station was dwindling.
A web comic aiming to shine a creative and Rather Humerus spotlight on med school.
Columnist and in-Training Staff Member
Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland
A philomath expressing enthusiasm for anatomy and puns, Nikita is a Class of 2018 medical student at The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She balances science and art, as artist of the medical web comic Rather Humerus. She is passionate about poetry, reading, writing, gastronomy, animals, LGBT rights, women equality and having a strong WiFi connection to the Internet. She currently lives in Dublin, Ireland and has lived in India, Dubai and most recently Singapore.
Rather Humerus
A web comic aiming to shine a creative and Rather Humerus spotlight on med school.
