Category: 2018

  • Chapter 7: Non-stop appointments

    After getting discharged a second time after getting a blood patch for a spinal CSF leak, we still had a lot of trips to the hospital for appointments over the next week. I still hadn’t been contacted to set up Dustin’s follow up appointments with a neurologist, so I worked on the consults my attendings…

  • Chapter 6: Back to the hospital

    Remember how Dustin had a lumbar puncture on Monday July 16th? Ever since his lumbar puncture any time he sits up he gets a pounding headache, gets nauseous, and the vomits. Every time. I had brought this up prior to being discharged yesterday, but they insisted that it was not uncommon after a lumbar puncture…

  • Chapter 5: Every day is exactly the same

    One of the things that initially attracted us to each other was our love for music. Not just any music, but Nine Inch Nails. We both had a profound love for industrial synth rock. Loud, weird, electronic rock has so many complex layers that resonates with so many parts of your soul. Some of our…

  • Chapter 4: July 11th, 2018 Part 2

    I’m combing through my brain of what the actual fuck is wrong with Dustin. I have to put aside that he’s my husband. The pesky fact remains that he’s the love of my life and I’m terrified. So I have to turn off wife mode and turn on provider mode. I start with the facts…

  • Chapter 3: Hierarchy in Medicine

    July is an interesting time of transition in academic hospitals where there is a huge influx of brand new physicians starting their residency program as an intern. But there is also a shift in the residency program from previous years. This results in a new batch of junior residents, senior residents, chief residents, and a…

  • Chapter 2: July 11th, 2018 Part 1

    We were in our mid 30’s, living in a big city, and excelling in our careers. We had a normal life with friends, family, vacations, personal goals, hobbies, etc that made it easy to relate our peers and others. Dustin was a successful cyber security manager. He was ambitious, clever, and quite good at his…