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The four humors weren't that funny
Laughter, they say, is the best medicine. But can laughter cure Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus? Let me put that another way …Once, when I was a young boy, there lived an alarming bit of eczema on my face. I itched, I whined, and my annoyed mother was forced to drag me to the doctor's office. Upon inspecting my grill, the pediatrician looked at my mother gravely, shook his head, and deadpanned: “I think we'll have to amputate.”Petrified, I turned to my mother. Strangely, she was smiling. I was confused for a moment, but then I understood. This man, my doctor, had just made a joke under what was surely the gravest of circumstances. He had wielded his irony and slain two unhappy people. In their...
From Other Issues
Fall 1999 | Winter 2000
10,000 house calls and counting
The familiar, rhythmic tones interrupted my pre-dawn reverie that early-spring morning. I rolled out of bed and made...
Summer 1999
Our generations
When my oldest daughter, Lydia, was four years old, she announced that she wanted to be a nurse when she grew up.“Why...
Spring 1999
Face to face with Ray
Over the last four years, I have listened to hundreds of patient stories as a medical student taking histories. Not all...
Winter 1999
Can’t talk now
I met him in the emergency room. As a third-year student, I now performed many basic procedures on a daily basis but...
