Category Archives: Memoir

 A sharp abdominal pain woke me up shortly after I went to sleep. Soon I was throwing up everything I had for dinner, Injera ( Ethiopian bread made from teff, an ancient cereal) with red lentil ( misir wat) sauce, and some.  I … Continue reading →

Detroit, 2006. His big toes were swollen , could hardly walk. He knew when his gout flared but he was frustrated because it was happening more frequently than the previous years. He threw the towel and decided to finally seek medical … Continue reading →

 By Surafel K Gebreselassie Spring of 2009, “Where are you from?” That was the first thing she wanted to know when she saw me first. She drove hundreds of miles with stacks of her medical records all properly filed year by … Continue reading →

By Surafel K Gebreselassie A man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s knocked at the patient’s room at the outpatient clinic. Please come on in. She was the first to enter the room. He followed hesitantly. Tenayistilign. “Tenayistilign,” … Continue reading →

By Surafel K Gebreselassie  I drove faster than I normally would. It was in January, in the middle of a snow storm. My car skidded and stopped at the edge of Superior Avenue. I normally wouldn’t take Superior to go … Continue reading →

By Dr Surafel K Gebreselassie I don’t know how we did it. We did it anyway. At least three of us had tuberculosis as far as I can remember. That would be 10% of the class of 1996. My symptoms … Continue reading →

By Dr Lemma Health is not just physical well being. Trust me I am not repeating the health definition by WHO which we recited several times in medical school. Nonetheless, it has a truth to it and I have a … Continue reading →

By Dr Lemma This is a story almost two decades old but is still fresh in my mind. I was a 4th year medical student just starting to see patients, eager to appreciate abnormal physical signs which were common as … Continue reading →