Lady Docs Corner Cafe Blog

I love Thanksgiving as it marks the beginning of the holiday season. It also reminds me of all the important relationships I have in my life. It’s a “home coming” kind of holiday and one of kindness, where many of us look out for those who don’t have too many social ties, who yearn to feel “belonged, and invite them to join our feast. It’s ...

On Sunday evening, my husband and I attended a music event at Strathmore, a concert meant to broaden our horizons. Three Letters from Sarajevo, by Goran Bregović, a diversely talented Serbian-Croatian musician. For much of the evening, I found my thoughts drifting to the horrific shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue and the lives senselessly ended. Each of the "three letters" ...

Two years ago, one of my 18 year old patients almost killed herself. Her mom told me how she came home abruptly from college and showed signs of severe depression. An emergency appointment with a therapist revealed how she recently was raped on her college campus by a male student she knew. Her college administrators were then notified by the patient and her parents. This ...

Two weeks ago we were in Japan. It was an amazing and interesting country and culture for us to explore. The Japanese we met during our trip were so polite, so gentle, and very formal in many ways. Their streets were absolutely clean, something we had heard from many friends who had travelled to Japan before. In many public places in Japan, there are no trashcans! People ...

Senator John McCain’s “maverick” politics placed him among the most intriguing contemporary legislators. His policies and feud with the current president continue to inspire support and criticism from the partisan masses. But Senator McCain’s last year of life also inspired conversations about how we cope with illness, both individually and collectively. ...

Every time my husband and I are in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, visiting my parents-in-law, we make sure to join them for the Saturday ritual of going to the wonderful Carrboro Farmers Market. The market is quite extensive, with cheese, pasta, gourmet soup or bread makers, mushroom farmers, and flower growers, in addition to the usual vendors of fruits and vegetables. There ...

The summer is finally descending on to our area. It seems as if the rain has been incessant, soaking my treasured tropical and cactus plants on my deck. We saw some speckles of sun yesterday and decided to keep our plan to go to a BBQ and Music festival in Washington DC. We are trying to keep ourselves on mostly a fish and vegetable diet, but we can’t talk about summers ...

Over the years, I have heard of many suicides from patients and friends, from the media on famous people like the Hemingway family members or actor Robin Williams. There was an elderly patient who went to me for quite a few years, forming a mutual bond beyond the usual patient-doctor relationship. I knew many details about her personal life including a very close relationship ...

Everyone deals with stress in his or her own way. Some of us seem to have as busy and as stressful a life as others, yet we seem to have little or no anxiety or depression, whereas others in similar situations suffer significantly. Some of us, when feeling stressed, develop “bad” habits, like drinking alcohol or using other drugs, or engaging in binge eating. Others ...

Dear Johanny, It has been three years since we first met, you as a third year college student from the Georgetown Scholarship Program, me as an obstetrician who came to tell you and your friends in the program about my journey as a young, poor immigrant trying to reach for the stars and achieving my dream of becoming a physician. I urged all of you not to give up your dreams, ...