This week's guest columnist is Dr. Rati Venkatesh, a Family Practice resident at University Hospital and Clinics here in Lafayette. This winter we've seen nearby outbreaks of Mumps in Arkansas and Texas. Last week a mother…
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…
This week's guest columnist is Dr. Aaron Foster, a Family Practice resident at the University Hospital and Clinics here in Lafayette. Forever seared into my memory is the image of my friend, running down the dock at summer camp,…
It was 1990, my second year of residency. I was in Emergency seeing a boy with swollen left eyelids. I explained to his mom that he could have an infection that sometimes spreads into the eye socket, and the boy "might need a CT…
My father-in-law, Howard Fournet, grew up on a farm during the Great Depression. The farmhouse was on Johnston St. (a gravel road then) in Lafayette, where the Albertson's now stands. The University of Louisiana's athletic…
Ben grew up with asthma, but at 15 he seemed to have outgrown it. Then this fall he began to cough and feel tight. His mom took him to a quick-care, where he was prescribed an inhaler. A few weeks later he caught another cold…
This 16 year-old boy was slipping away. He had come to the Emergency Department sleepy and feverish. Mom noticed that he was covered with red freckles, and new freckles were coming out while we spoke. As the nurses and I worked…
It was 5 o'clock, July 2, 1991. I know the date and time because it was the end of my first 36 hour shift as Chief Resident. And it was a true 36 hour shift, not a wink of sleep, with sick kids piling into the hospital like we…
It really wasn't the boy's fault. He was playing in his yard when a stray dog wandered over. The dog jumped up and bit the boy on the side of his face. The dog fled and Animal Control couldn't find it. Rabies is in the area and…
In the past weeks the news has reported on stomach virus epidemics in several states. More than the usual amount of kids and adults have had vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. Though Louisiana wasn't listed, we in the pediatrics…
In the late 1940s and early1950s, families had two big worries. One was of a third world war with the horrible new weapon, the atomic bomb. The second was that children would get polio. Polio was on the rise. Every summer a…
The room was suffused with pale light. There was no noise, no breeze. Two children lay on hospital beds, sedated. The only sign of distress would come every few minutes when one of them would tense his whole body, breathing…
