hope

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July 7, 2024

How Do We Respond?

It seems like hardly a day goes by that I don’t find myself shocked and saddened by yet another story on Christian Nationalism, a Supreme Court ruling, or the antics of Donald Trump. Through my (self-admitted) steady diet of social media, podcasts, and liberal-leaning news, I am always consuming another story about threats to democracy and the scary arc toward fascism. All too often, I find myself anxious and defensive. Just as so many do, I frequently want to respond...

December 29, 2021

More Weight

We’ve all read the headlines. Scrolled through our social media. Talk to almost any healthcare provider these days and you will hear words like “exhausted”, “overwhelmed”, and “disillusioned”. The more angsty of us will add “exasperated”, “wounded”, and “given up on humanity”. I have to admit. It’s bad in here. Patients everywhere. Tired staff. Demonstrably preventable death all around us. So it’s pretty easy to get into a downward spiral of doom. What is more, we have seen the worst...

July 7, 2018

Delay

I’m staring down the 5lbs that have crept onto my waist and thighs this Spring. We have done a lot of traveling and celebrating…a dear friend’s destination wedding, a milestone anniversary, and our traditional family beach trip. When we got home from Italy, after eating and drinking way more than we usually do, I was convinced I’d moved the needle on the scale, but I had not. Feeling proud of myself for the feat of maintenance while traveling, I thought...

December 1, 2016

Breathe With Me

The elderly woman we had been taking care of in the ICU looked younger than her stated age. But her medical history on paper was more consistent with her 79 years…the heart failure, the diabetes, the chronic lung disease. She managed to fight for three days before the exhaustion from the work of her breathing overcame her and she had to have a breathing tube placed. She spent the first night anxious and breathing rapidly. She sent her heart rate...

October 13, 2016

Redemption is greater than Prevention

This election cycle is really incredible. I mean, seriously. It’s a wild mix of comedy and tragedy. Everyone hates everyone. Both candidates are so profoundly flawed. And our world is in turmoil. There’s Syria and South Sudan. Closer to home, there’s racial tension and sexual aggression towards women. Republicans and Democrats alike are convinced that we are doomed if our respective candidate doesn’t win on November 8. It’s the train wreck we just can’t look away from. We are so stressed about...

May 24, 2016

The Choice of Hope

We powered through rounds this morning, knowing we needed to see all of our patients and carry out most of the work of the day before 1pm, so we could turn our attention to the outpatient trauma clinic. My team did a great job, changing dressings, ordering tests, talking with families, writing notes. Folks who were ready to go home had discharge instructions written and prescriptions printed in record time. And our hard working intern even found the time to...

January 1, 2016

Did today feel any different?

Yesterday, we all posted/blogged/tagged/tweeted and otherwise shouted out our excitement and hopes for 2016. “It’s gonna be a great year!” “Turning over a new leaf!” “The best year ever!” So here we are. January 1. Does it feel any different? Not really. Whatever magic we thought would happen overnight to make our lives instantly turn into some Pinterest worthy Norman Rockwell ideal, didn’t come through. The house remains messy. The kids remain loud. I remain tired. And you know, I...

December 29, 2015

Let’s laugh together…

Let’s laugh together. Let’s feed our kids leftovers for dinner. Again. Let’s be easy on ourselves. Yet take really, REALLY good care of ourselves. Let’s burn the cookies, forget about the laundry ’til it mildews and we have to run the washer again, and let’s leave the Christmas decorations up ’til February. Let’s share our worlds, our minds, our hearts. We are not alone. Let’s admit we are anxious, imperfect, scared. I experienced numbness. Then brokenness and healing. And now a...