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I’m classy but a cuss a little. Sometimes a lot. And it often spills over into my writing. The kind of shit that gets censored on my professional Facebook page.
So when I co-authored this profanity-free piece about equity with my friend and badass-hijab wearing-mama of 6-trauma surgeon colleague Dr. Qaali Hussein in July, I seized the opportunity to amplify it on Facebook.
I recently learned that my piece, “When Dialysis Is the Wrong Approach to End-Stage Kidney Disease,” published on the CHCF blog nearly 4 years ago has proven to be evergreen, a story that lives on rather than dying on the vine of whatever is hot at the moment. Last year it was viewed more than 25,000 times, making it a top blog post.
In the piece I argued that not every old person approaching end-stage kidney disease should start dialysis. But judging by some of the folks who have reached out to me, many eyes don’t register phrases like “elderly patients over 75” and “who have dementia or ischemic heart disease.”
Today was the first day of a new chapter in my career. Yesterday was the last day in the job as I’ve known it for a decade. I quit my day job to devote the bulk of my time to my writing.
This decision comes after many months of self-reflection. I’ve been asking myself questions like: What do I really want to do? What does success look like to me? These questions as opposed to: What do I feel obligated to do? Or, am I meeting academia’s definition of success?
We sat on opposite sides of the 4-lane highway waiting for the red light to change. I sat in my air-conditioned white rental car with my left turn signal blinking green on the dashboard. I was on my way back to my North Carolina family home, where I had been secluding myself to write my book.
