I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Nothing can be certain, except death and taxes." I suppose you could fall off the grid and for the most part elude taxes. However, death, while I'm not one to dwell on the topic, is something that can't be avoided. . And while death, and more or less taxes, can be considered absolutes, most things in life, especially medicine, can't be defined in this way. In essence there's a lot of gray. If you're a linear thinker, or someone who sees the world in …

Here in Michigan, I would describe this past week as having the perfect Fall weather. Calm, cool and well, you know, the type that was just right for a long sleeve shirt. On one of these evenings I took my dog for a walk and thoroughly immersed myself in the stillness, the mild temp and the quiet. It was late night, and as someone who loves the nighttime, I also had the luxury of feeling safe. . Surrounded by this nocturnal bliss, I couldn’t help but count my blessings or a better way of saying …

What does a crack pipe, a cell phone, a finger and a pair of socks have in common? If you’re thinking a murder scene in a detective novel or something from a real life television crime show, well, that’s not it. . This past week, I polled my coworkers with the following question: what are some of the strangest things patients have left behind after they’ve been discharged? I know what you’re thinking; how the heck does someone leave a finger? Although I’m fairly certain you used a stronger word …

What is art? At first glance this appears to be a fairly straight forward question. You most likely thought of a famous painting or quite possibly a well known sculpture. Yet, when you contemplate it some more you may come up with a popular photograph, a unique building or maybe even a renowned film. . ​This list grows even further when we add things like the art of writing, the art of cooking, the art of dance, the art of…well, I think by now you get the point. As you can see the list seems end…

The other day while sprucing up my yard, my neighbor happened to walk by with his dog. Pleasantries were predictably exchanged and knowing that I worked in healthcare he kind of leaned forward, changed his tone to be more personable and asked me for the real scoop regarding the pandemic. . Judging by his behavior, I guessed that he didn’t believe it really existed or maybe he deemed it had been blown out of proportion. Regardless of how he felt, I became flabbergasted when he said something abou…

The other day I was out for a run and lo and behold there she was. I’ve seen her before, but on this day she was stretched out across a driveway. Skin glowing under the warm sun. Her sensuous curves beckoning my hand to caress them. She made my heart thump with excitement. Practically stole my breath even more so than what the run was doing. . There was something else about her that caught my eye. I couldn’t believe it, but it was there. A “for sale” sign in the window. Was she really being sold…

We found ourselves under a thick canopy of leaves. Fallen limbs, branches and stumps were partially submerged in the murky soil. Somehow my wife and I had veered off the poorly marked trail. Up ahead, no more than thirty yards away, was a tarp strung between two trees. There were also blankets, a lopsided lawn chair, a couple of pots and several signs that read, “Keep Out.” . Not only were we lost, but we had stumbled upon someone’s home, probably a “woodsman;” homeless men that chose to live in…

I don’t know what triggered it, could’ve been the overly dramatic patient I had to deal with the other day, but one of my most influential art teachers sprang from the files of my memory. More particularly it was the story he had told me about being interviewed for a show at a prominent art gallery. The gallery owner had acknowledged that my teacher’s work was amazing and deserved recognition. However, the owner looked my teacher in the eye and asked him what made him controversial. . My teacher…

It was the approaching the darker side of dawn when I heard yelling from my neighbor's driveway. . "How did this happen?" a mother questioned sternly. "I don’t know," the teen daughter replied. "You're lying." "I'm not." "So you didn't run into a mailbox?" The mother gestured toward a car. "Then where'd this dent come from?" "It was already there. I...I think someone else ran into it." "Someone else? So you're saying you had nothing to do with it? That mailbox just happened to fall over on its o…

We've all seen them, read them and even shared them. When they're presented to us at just the right time we, undoubtedly, have been inspired by them. What I'm talking about is the ever popular motivational quote. . They seem to be popping up everywhere. Not only have I spotted them on the Internet, but also on shirts, decorative wood plaques, bumper stickers, water bottles and even an occasional billboard. Things like, “Keep calm and...” “Don't wait...” “Don't quit...” “Just before sunrise...” “…