Columnist Emeritus
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
Hi! I am an Internal Medicine resident at Georgetown University Hospitals. I graduated medical school from Texas A&M Medical School and Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX. I went to Case Western Reserve University where I did my bachelor's in medical anthropology and a masters in public health. Life is good. I am an inherent optimist who simply enjoys life. Avid Dallas Cowboys fan! In all my free time (ha ha), I enjoy traveling and spending time with friends and family.
Storytellers
Patients are the true storytellers. They come in with pathology, we interpret physiology and prescribe pharmacology, but their stories are what we remember. They shape our experiences and how we practice medicine.
It was the typical patient. He was in his 50s and suffered from high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He came to the emergency department because he was having a headache and could not think clearly. After checking his vitals and labs, it was clear he was having a hypertensive emergency episode with systolic pressure running to 220 and evidence of papilledema on physical exam. He was admitted to the teaching service. Once admitted, he …
I was on my internal medicine clerkship on an inpatient general medicine service at a major academic medical center. It was another long day and our team, from the interns to the attending, was running low on energy. As we entered late afternoon, we received a page for the transfer of a new patient to our service. As the intern read aloud “CMO” — comfort measures only–the team breathed out a sigh of relief and …
Believe it or not, but cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a real diagnosis. I will describe a patient I encountered who fits the classic description. The patient is a male in his 50s who presented to the emergency department with one week of intermittent vomiting and epigastric pain. He has a few of these episodes every year and was diagnosed with CVS during his previous hospitalization, but was unaware of his diagnosis. The current episode …
Stumbling through bus doors, he stomps mud-slated boots, grins me a brown-toothed “hey.” His ruffled voice drifts to me, as though we’re been siblings, or decade-long friends, and tonight’s moonless chat on the bus just another usual chat. He offers me a swig of his pink juice and when I refuse, he downs one until his face turns to a flamingo pink, and blood engulfs his cheeks. In the stuffy air softened by vodka, I …
When most people think of the labor and delivery department (L&D), they probably have thoughts of babies, laughter, tears of joy, happiness, and pink and blue onesies. My experience on L&D was quite different. A woman who was 26 weeks pregnant walked into the hospital at 10 p.m. on a Monday night, claiming that her water broke. But how could that be? She was only 26 weeks along. It was determined that she had preterm …
Not everyone has the pleasure, or should I say honor, of being a part of the miracle that is life; even fewer get to say that they witness and influence that miracle every day. As a medical student, I have been privy to a whole new world of opportunities that have opened my eyes to how fragile life truly is and how much of a difference one person can make to affect the life (or …
If you have the chance to work with veterans during your medical school career, take it. I had the unique opportunity of working with veterans during my psychiatry rotation where I was confronted with the reality of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. I saw the effects of PTSD on veterans who served in past or current wars. It didn’t matter whether they served in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq — they were all haunted by …
Though I am currently a second year student at University of Vermont, I actually started medical school back in the ’80s in an ancient and venerable school in England, granted the royal seal by Henry VIII. Even just twenty-five or so years ago, the nurses still wore uniforms not significantly different from that worn by Florence Nightingale herself, and they kept their heads bowed and eyes demurely averted on ward rounds. I remember that there …
Scene I: 7:30 a.m. in the OR at the VA [Elderly gentleman with too many comorbidities to be induced into sleep. He is given local anesthesia and lies draped on the operating table. General surgery is suctioning a fluctuant mass from his upper left thorax. Case has been opened.] Patient behind curtain: Oh, God. Oh, God! Errrgggggh! Anesthesiologist: We’re just gonna give you some more medicine. Chief Resident: It’s right around your broken rib. There …
A 77-year-old retired schoolteacher presented to the neurosurgery outpatient clinic to go over her lumbar spine MRI results. After looking at the computer screen for a matter a seconds, one of the leading spinal surgeons in the country turned to me and declared the diagnosis: “Spinal stenosis. There is nothing I can do for her. She is elderly, has a weak heart, and a smoking history. The risks are too great.” We went into the …
I’m sitting by the window in a hospital room with my eight-year-old sidekick who is being treated for rhabdomysarcoma, here for chemotherapy. Sidekicks is a student-led initiative at UMass Medical School that matches medical students with pediatric oncology patients in order to build long-term, non-medical relationships. He is watching his favorite cartoons and so he is unresponsive to my attempts at engagement. My own five-year anniversary of being in remission from Hodgkin’s lymphoma just passed …
22 June Jambo! Leaving today. A bit apprehensive considering how busy I have been and how unprepared I feel. 13 July: Day 1 I’d be lying if I told you I imagined my first day to be anything like this. Everything leading up to today made me think that this externship was an opportunity to see some very interesting cases, while conducting my hypertension research in a modern, Swiss training facility in rural Tanzania. …
Contributing Writer Emeritus
Wayne State University School of Medicine
John is a Class of 2014 medical student. He is actively involved and spearheaded projects within groups focused on international medicine and public health. He hopes to continue conducting research and implementing population-specific interventions to educate and remove barriers to self-efficacy in his professional career.
