In case I don’t get to see you again… I knew only bits about Mr. G. The bits that don’t really matter. I knew what medications he had been prescribed. I knew his blood pressure. I knew his weight. But I knew nothing about the bits that mattered.
joke's on us
old habits are hard to break, part 2
Two months after meeting Mother and Daughter, I was again in the clinic when they returned. This time I acted as supervisor to the fellow, the nephrologist in training. Fellow came from the exam room to tell me about how Mother had been doing since being seen by my colleague and a different fellow at her last appointment a month prior.
old habits are hard to break, part 1
Her inhaled surprise and brows knitted in worry as I spoke the words made me regret them immediately. “Your mother has about 4 percent kidney function left.” I prided myself on my habit of explaining disease processes and lab results in that just right Goldilocks place of not too hard and not too dumbed down.