Volume 5; Issue 2
These “Quick Writes” tell of humanity and empathy: A woman who cooked; an elderly couple struggling with dementia and end of life; a physician struggling with guilt; an adult daughter, now a mother, reaching out to her physician-mother for medical advice.
These stories, created in 15-minute writing sessions and then minimally polished, demonstrate the power of what can be done in just a few minutes.
Companion to these written pieces, I have chosen images: Paintings that explore science and medicine, and photographic artwork, mostly landscapes, on which to feast your eyes.
—Max McMillen, ELS
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I remember the patient for whom I have been prescribing Norco for pain for four to five years. After learning…
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It was my first appointment after four days off to attend an unanticipated illness, death, and funeral for a beloved…
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Family is not always about being comfortable. Case in point: “The Spinning Wheel of Doom.” That is not its real…
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This photo was taken with a Canon EOS Rebel T1 SLR. In 2010, after a day of touring the ancient…
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Yosemite: I have always wanted to depict a simplistic winter scene with fog, snow, and trees.
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Mystical was shot at Watson Lake in Arizona. As the sun came up, mist began to rise off the lake…
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The notification arrived by fax. Please sign the death certificate for G O. I was flummoxed. I had just seen…
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One evening when I was an anesthesiologist in charge of preoperative anesthesia evaluation, I went to see a patient who…
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She called me when I was at work. My daughter, who lives three time zones away on the other side…
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After an autumn rain, mist rises from a stream in Smoky Mountain National Park.
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Animals often have an innate sense of their surroundings. We’ve seen this in studies showing how birds migrate early when…
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It was right before lunch: my last patient before I had to go to a meeting. “Oh, you are gonna…
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The Smiths were here again, dressed so nicely and polite as always– Tom’s hat and Maggie’s dress just so. Tom…
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His blue eyes gazed at me helplessly, hopelessly, and vulnerably. I wanted to read meaning into Robert’s eyes knowing full…
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She was an elderly lady who came to the ED septic. I was on call for palliative care the 22nd…
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Tell me about your patients, she asks Before a song, before a kiss, before goodnight As a toddler there were…
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Night Shift was taken at Cherry Creek State Park in Denver, Colorado during sunrise just as the moon was setting…
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This young girl is praying for her loved one’s heart.
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The mysterious beauty of the microworld science.
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This image was made with a Canon 5D digital camera. Postproduction image adjustments were made with Photoshop for tone and…
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The narrow dirt path was no more than 30 yards long, but it wound its way uphill through the steep,…
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I look forward to Lucy’s appointments. Lucy is friendly, full of life and energy, and endlessly enthusiastic. She used to…
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The abstract colors and shapes in this painting symbolize the scientific battlefield of heart attack and reflect the energies involved…
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