Does Modern Life Cause Cancer?
3 min read… Every day we hear of a friend, or a friend of a friend, or some celebrity getting cancer. We are positive that we didn’t hear about so many people getting cancer 25 years ago when we were
Random Thoughts About Planning A Funeral
9 min read…I planned my first funeral a few months ago. I am talking about my wife Uzma’s funeral. She died on January 30, 2019. Uzma had cancer. When her doctors couldn’t stop cancer from having Uzma, they referred her
Cost of Cancer
5 min read…My wife Uzma’s first treatment for Stage 4 breast cancer was an oral drug — a medication to take by mouth every day at home. It cost over $10,000 a month. Uzma’s cancer was slow-growing but relentless. It
A Surgeon Breaks A Stereotype In 3 Minutes
3 min read…Yesterday, a phone call from a surgeon reminded me how much I will miss Uzma’s gut feeling about people. And it taught me how little it can sometimes take to break stereotypes. Before I recount the tale, I
The Hospice Way To A Good Death
6 min read…My wife Uzma died peacefully at home. She hadn’t taken any painkillers for three days. Our kids, my parents, and I were next to her. In the weeks leading up to her death, she was visited by many
How A Doctor Chose Her Last Doctor
2 min read…About one and a half years before she died, my wife Uzma, undergoing treatment for stage 4 breast cancer , started looking for an appointment with a palliative care physician close to home. She called a few different
Things To Keep In Mind When Prescribing Buprenorphine (Suboxone®)
2 min read…Today I found myself answering trying to help someone asking for things to keep in mind when prescribing buprenorphine, more commonly known by one of its brand names, Suboxone®. I responded with list below. Treating patients with any
False Dichotomy Of Abstinence Vs. Harm Reduction
1 min read…As the opioid epidemic shows no signs of abating, the term “harm reduction” has entered into the lay media. We hear about mentioned in all sorts of places. It has support in conservative parts of the country. People
Our National Addiction Strategy: Whac-A-Mole®
2 min read…It’s no longer news that are in the midst of an opioid crisis. It was couple of decades in the making, but we have been wise to it for about a decade. We first responded to it by
Let Us Stop The Bidirectional Marijuana Propaganda
3 min read…Marijuana propaganda distorts public policy debate. It has been doing so for decades. It has been doing so from both ends of the spectrum — from the side that would have us believe that it is among the most