Local Doc on the Block
It was hard to hear him over the rhythmic humming of the ventilation, so I leaned in as his other classmates filtered out of the room. “How do you be a dad?” As a pediatrician, most of the questions I am asked are technical ones. What is this rash? How...
This is written as a public response to Jonathan Imbody, VP of Government Relations for CMDA, who recently wrote an opinion piece for a CMDA blog titled “Donald Trump got elected and now I don’t know what to think.” As he introduces: If that statement describes how you feel, you are a...
What do you do with a dead body in the room? My first dead patient arrived that way. He was half naked, pupils blown, head bashed in from a car accident in which he was thrown through the windshield. It was my first week on the wards as a medical student...
I could hear the cussing from inside the room and noted the awkward glances of nearby nurses and staff who turned to look and gawk. Even though I only sat a few feet outside the door, I ignored the increasingly loud litany of expletives and deliberately focused on the screen in front of me. He was my...
“Hey, Bubbles has a gift for you. He’s been looking for you, since you saved his life,” my neighbor said casually. I was somewhat surprised; Bubbles (not his real street name) was a young man whom I met while administering first aid for an injury sustained on my block. Bubbles had a critical...
An epilogue of some sorts: Shihiem does not come to my house anymore. After my neighbours told him whatever they told him to get him to leave my porch, they have spotted him twice pacing around the block and teaching little kids how to punch and kick each other. He...
It’s Tuesday morning. I normally wake up 20 minutes before I have to be at work because I can get ready in 12 minutes and walk to work in 6.5 minutes with 1.5 minutes to spare. Today I am up a couple hours early. I text my office manager that...
On Monday, my coworkers advise me to keep calling the cops. And perhaps I could file a restraining order against Shihiem (PFA = protection from abuse, or “stay away” order), because I felt threatened by him, even if just for an instant. I’m like, meh. After dinner downtown, I walk...
