Get Cancer. Lose Your Job?
The harsh reality is that people who have had cancer treatment are sometimes perceived as a burden on a working group
Why Not Tweet When You Are In the Hospital and Not Feeling Well?
Being isolated in a hospital room leaves you vulnerable to doctors who may be inappropriate, rude and even abusive. You might consider that having the capacity to call for help – to Tweet – is empowering. Health care #911, and very public! But…
Reading Lisa
Lisa is not asking for a diagnosis. She has a team of doctors. She is just letting you know what it’s like to be in her circumstances, in case you’re interested, or care.
A Message for Doctors, on Christmas in the Hospital
Please don’t race through rounds. Be a little generous with your time, your thoughts and words. Patients may need more examination, a bit of hand-holding, besides extra diligence.
What to do about a Curved Spine? On Data, ‘BodyCast’ and New Directions
The NIH provides some information on scoliosis …Life is curved, usually, and maybe it’s better that way. Perhaps that was the Bocanegra’s point,
Why I Like the (Absurd) Dancing in the OR Video
What Deb did, and I thank her for this, is offer an extreme example of patient-centered care. Among other things, she did everything possible to assure that the people caring for her perceive her as a human being who loves dancing.
A Little Bit of Good? on Dying, Communication, and Breaking Bad
Sometimes there’s no way to mend a person or a bad situation. You can’t deny reality. But if you’re still conscious and able to communicate, you may be able to lessen the damage you’ve done, or the pain someone else is experiencing, just a bit.
On Friends Affected by Cancer, and Environment Oncology
If I could pick a field for future investigation that might lead to insight on cancer’s causes and, ultimately, reduce the cancer burden 30 and 50 years from now, I might choose the tiny, under-funded area of environmental oncology
Should People With Health Problems Talk About their Conditions?
Do you need to explain to the person on the checkout line or, say, a mother organizing a bake sale, why your back hurts? Or why you need a seat on the bus?
Finding Kindness and Introspection in ‘Half Empty,’ a Book of Essays by David Rakoff
the words we use matter enormously, not just in clinical outcomes, but in how people with cancer feel about the decisions they’ve made, years later.