This week's guest columnist is Dr. Rachel Kumar, a Family Practice resident at the University Hospital and Clinics here in Lafayette. Three year-olds sit on barstools. Three year-olds get the wiggles. And when you're in the…
I had funny feelings in my chest. Because both my brothers had cardiac issues in their 50s, and I was about to go on a hiking vacation, I was a little concerned. So while at work, I asked one of the nurses to check my EKG. Her…
A friend's son wanted help picking out his sister's Christmas gift. "What are her hobbies?" the son asked. My friend was stumped: "Buying clothes? Talking on her cell? Eating at Whataburger?" After a good laugh, they got…
My son's transcript showed he had failed Business Law, a bad start for a kid considering applying to law school for...business law. After emailing his professor to ask the particulars, he stumbled through the day in a haze of…
My son came home from college, shaking his head. His fellow millennials were lamenting that 2016 was the worst year ever: "David Bowie and Prince died!" My son's response: "Worst year ever? What about 1939?" Nazis starting World…
Cancer. It's a diagnosis so feared that many are unable to even say the word. If someone does says it, they feel compelled to knock on wood, to ward cancer off like an evil spirit. In the Pediatric Emergency Department, the fear…
Medical school applications require an essay and most pre-meds write about "why I want to be a doctor." All those missives begin to sound the same and can really bore the med school admissions committee. When I applied back in…
This week's guest columnist is Dr. Frank Betanski, a Family Practice resident at the University Health Center here in Lafayette. "OUCH!!" (ou-ch); exclamation; a four-letter word indicating urgency and anxiety when children get a…
This week's guest columnist is Dr. Danielle Duhon, a family practice resident at the University Hospital and Clinics here in Lafayette. First the child complains of chest pain. She might even say it in scarier terms: "My heart…
I often pick a column topic based on what I am seeing a lot at the Pediatric Emergency Department here at Lafayette General. Lately we have been seeing lots of unhappy kids- suicidal teenagers, violent grade schoolers, children…
In the movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise, playing hot-shot fighter pilot "Maverick," yells "I feel the need for speed!" He is of course talking about jets. In medicine, we are talking about stimulant use. Humans around the world…
