Metamorphosis

Jan 1, 2018 | In Medicine, In Writing

While doing some New Year’s cleaning recently, I came across one of my earliest stories. It touches on the theme of change. Though I wrote it when I was six years old, it’s still relevant today, especially at the beginning of a new...

On the Front Line: Remembering a Medical Student

Nov 8, 2017 | In Medicine, In Writing

Neil MacLean and I have several things in common. We both come from Pictou County. I grew up in Merigomish and he on Big Island. Although our homes are 15 kilometres apart, we are neighbours by rural standards. We were both born in January, and like him, I chose to...

Why are health care workers so superstitious?

Oct 31, 2017 | In Writing

“Superstition brings bad luck.” – Raymond Smullyan, from the book 5000 B.C. and other Philosophical Fantasies, 1984 Generally speaking, those of us in the field of medicine are logical, practical individuals. We’re evidence-based thinkers and rational...

Code status. It must be an early conversation.

Oct 13, 2017 | In Writing

The last few passengers filter in and buckle themselves up before takeoff. The emergency exit row is occupied by an elderly couple and I am seated behind them. The flight attendant asks whether they are comfortable in those seats, given that they’d have to respond in...

What’s more important: booze or socializing? What I learned in an Irish pub

Jul 14, 2017 | In Writing

On our first night in Dublin, my mother and I head straight to a pub. We sit at a table across the room from a cheerful woman who looks to be in her eighties. It doesn’t take her long to walk across the room and join us. She grasps her pint of beer and takes a...

The Test

Jun 9, 2017 | In Writing

There are shards of glass scattered on the ground all around me. I stand on the corner of Laurier and Bay outside of my brother’s downtown apartment. There is a gaping hole where my car window should be. My frantic brain tries to absorb the stolen items: sunglasses,...