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  1. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  2. Medicine and Meaning
  3. 55-Word Stories

55-Word Stories

55 Word Stories Archive

Take a Bow

April 15, 2025

Before walking out of the patient’s room, I bowed and spread my hands out, signifying respect and a thankfulness for one’s presence in our culture.

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Sacred Science

April 4, 2025

White coats may be sacred robes. The lab hums—a quiet reverence. Each step, precisely measured, seeking truth.

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Fragments of a Journey

April 4, 2025

In the quiet of late nights, I juggle

work, motherhood, graduate studies.

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Call and Response

April 4, 2025

From my abdomen was speech for thine ear.

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An Office in the Developing World

April 4, 2025

Vacationing in the Caribbean, I was afflicted by intense tooth pain.

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A Glimpse of the Matrix

April 4, 2025

Spotify plays his favorite song.

Through Bluetooth the song is streamed to the external cochlear implant processor.

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Seizures of Nothing Much

October 15, 2024

To clarify:
dizziness means nothing.

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Lost in Time

October 15, 2024

He tells me his name but to every other question his answer is the same: a smile, a shrug of the shoulders, and an uncertain laugh. 

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Unforgettable Words

October 15, 2024

My first AIDS patient. The 80s. Lots of fear. Misunderstanding. I hoped he could not see the horror on my face.

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Weekend Torment

October 15, 2024

Bad news has a way of darting in, late on a Friday afternoon, ducking around the corner of the heavy, carved wooden doors as they are swinging shut, closing out the week and thwarting the ability to respond until Monday morning.

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Beneath the Surface

March 28, 2024

She watched her muscles twitch, small flickers disturbing the skin surface like ripples on water. 

Random, unprovoked, without beauty.

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My Father and His Son

March 28, 2024

Today was the first time that I really saw my father as old.

            Never young, never gray, to me he was just “Dad”.

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Heard by the Beach on Lake Michigan in December

March 28, 2024

My father said to my mother “We are moving to Nebraska.”

She answered no, but we moved to Nebraska anyway!

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What’s in a Name?

October 9, 2023

In India, names are given based on their meaning. 

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Melting

October 9, 2023

The echocardiogram came back. His heart was so big it could barely beat: dilated cardiomyopathy. 

“He’ll be lucky to make it to Little Rock alive.”

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Just like in the Movies

October 9, 2023

When she was a teenager in the 1940s, Marie loved going to the neighborhood theater to gaze in rapture at Gene Tierney, her favorite actress.

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Hey Doc!

October 9, 2023

Back stooped, feet shuffling. Hands trembling, rolling imaginary pills. 

His wife follows, smaller at each visit, struggling.

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Circling the Drain

October 9, 2023

You’re circling the drain.

You know you are.

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Backyard Backstory

October 9, 2023

When we finally had a backyard there was no time to watch the stars at night. The day ran fast tiring us and the night dropped quickly.

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OSCE

April 18, 2023

Smile and knock — enter when permitted.
Shaky and washing my hands.
“What brings you in today?”

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Just Fine

April 18, 2023

I worried…. despite her insistence that she was “just fine.” And now my heart aches with things unsaid. 

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Dependable, Like the Tides

April 18, 2023

They come, in shifts— through side entrances, private doors…. most

wearing comfortable, expensive shoes, color-matched pants and tops

squeezing-in last minute family talk, world business…. on cell phones.

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Appalachian Apathy

April 18, 2023

“What will it do, kill me?”  

Said a wearied coal miner 

Who caught me eyeing the tobacco smoke

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Remembering a Stranger

April 18, 2023

medical student.

the pager beeps

it is a race to the trauma call.

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Stranger to Soulmate

October 7, 2022

She comes into my clinic, a stranger, and tells me she has cancer.

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The Power of One

October 7, 2022

Europe’s been burning, Pakistan is drowning, but I’m only one person, so how can I make a difference?

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Just a Drafty Old House?

October 7, 2022

“I sense intruders.”

“Are you sure?  Windows closed.   Doors shut.”

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Here, Healing Hums

October 7, 2022

Enter a hospital, you’ve entered a different world.

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Humble and Proud

March 31, 2022

I cannot transplant your heart.
I cannot cure your cancer.
I cannot stop death.
But,

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Disclosures of Life

March 31, 2022

I haven’t seen death. Formaldehyde nostalgia. Different specimens.
Organisms are human.

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Cold Hands

March 31, 2022

Just go in and out of the patient’s room
Don’t let anyone know you are nervous.

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Home

March 31, 2022

The home I left is a fresh tattoo: a throb at night, of longing.

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Via Zoom

March 31, 2022

Living a pandemic.
Loss. Jobs, people, freedoms.

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Loss of Function

March 31, 2022

They “function” only to see, yet…

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The Story of One

October 7, 2021

On top of the overgrown milkweed, a single monarch
butterfly searches for a bloom, or nibbles on the leaf, or
perhaps deposits one egg.

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My 2020

October 5, 2021

January 2020 biopsy
What’s the verdict?

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Words Unsaid

October 5, 2021

What if my grandma were still alive?

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Practicing Medicine During the Pandemic

October 5, 2021

I sit in the back office seeing patients through a video camera, safe.

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If Only Coronaviruses Could Talk

October 5, 2021

I imagine myself visiting a lab. While there, I probed into the psyche – if there ever was one – of a coronavirus.

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Our Best Selves

May 29, 2020

A pandemic brings out the truth of people.At first, toilet paper was hoarded and nobody cared about each other,But once times got tough, our humanity truly showed itself.Donations poured in and volunteers were in excess.Support small business was the community motto.When others are in need, we become our best selves.​ Hunter Augustus Ramey is a medical student at […]

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Season of Guilt

May 15, 2020

I sit by my window peering down and smiling upon the empty streets.

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United We Stand, Divided We Fall

April 27, 2020

Panic breaks loose. Fear sets in. What am I to do??? Frustration swells. Patience is lost with all. This is just one big overreaction!!! Flip a coin and see which team you will join. OR Take a step back, 6 feet or so, and meditate. Join hearts, not hands, with your community. We are one. […]

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The Birds

April 10, 2020

I do not want to forget this moment,    the taste of close uncertainty,    the clarity of mortalitythe weeping and weariness of the world.         The sacrifice of heroes,    the generosity of communities,    the depth of hope, and of a calling realized,    the joy in helping and of healing.         The way the birds sing each morning. Kaitlynn Butler is a medical student […]

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Celebrating together, six feet apart: Love in the time of the coronavirus

April 10, 2020

I couldn’t hug Madison Sunday. My beautiful, beloved granddaughter turned 12 that day. We’re very close; I’m both grandfather and father figure to her. She’s incredibly bright and wickedly funny. We celebrated together, six feet apart. She cried at the end, I turned away so she wouldn’t see my tears. I couldn’t hug Madison Sunday. […]

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Quarantine

March 31, 2020

Fever! In the days of this COVID-19  pandemic, fever meant quarantine—or fourteen days of being away from any patient, colleague, friend or even spouse and being away from the hospital.   The painful, lonely first few days gave way to walks, meditations, and detecting ducks, daffodils, daisies and dogwoods.  Life was different but also beautiful. Paulette Mehta, M.D., is […]

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The Doctor Who Makes House Calls

March 31, 2020

Ring. Ring. Video connects.  “I see you! Can you hear me?!” Mr. Smith just purchased his first smart phone last month. He has access to his grandkids, beekeeping Youtube channel, and now his doctor from the comfort of his front porch.  “Incredible!”  He laughs, “I remember when doctors made a different kind of house call.”  Victoria […]

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Obsessions in the Age of COVID-19

March 31, 2020

The patient has OCD, main obsession: contamination.  Our appointment is now online, like all others.  I worry about her obsessions getting out of hand, her meds already maximized.  “How are you?” “I’m alright. This is how I’ve been all my life. People are catching up to me.” No medication adjustments today, just take as prescribed.  […]

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Isaiah 41:10

March 31, 2020

The pastor told our congregation we will try virtual Mass. He reassured us we’re in this together with the guidance of the Lord. He turned to the deacon, who was a physician, for further reassurance.  My family obliged the next Sunday. Despite no physical communion, technology brought us to church. The virus cannot impede worship.  […]

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Two Hands, Three Chapters—A COVID-19 Timeline for Practitioners

March 31, 2020

I. Two hands, extended upwards towards the heavens. How could this be? II. Two hands, palms up. One judging the weight of reality. This is serious, and none of us is immune. The other full of hope. We shall survive, as we are able. III. Two hands, together. Namaste. I honor you. My patient. My […]

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