Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

The Intern: an excerpt from a novel

Peter Hogenkamp, MD
Physician
April 22, 2020
3 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

An excerpt from The Intern.

Room 12 was at the west end of the pediatrics ward and to the right, at the far side of an alcove few patients ever entered—and none left. Maggie paused at the corner, reaching into the recess where the nurses stowed the food cart, and tucked away a couple packages of graham crackers into the pocket of her coat. She had never cared for graham crackers, but Bobby loved them, and there were few things—none actually—she wouldn’t do to see a smile on his pale, drawn face.

Room 12 was dark save for the reading light she had fixed to the headboard of Bobby’s bed so he could read the latest edition of the Uncanny X-Men for the hundredth time. Bobby was curled up in a ball underneath the light, clutching the beaten comic book in his outstretched right hand.

“Hey, Maggie.”

“Hey.” She sat down on the hard-plastic chair next to the bed, on which she had sat for so many hours the seat had become molded to the contours of her backside.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“You alright?” he asked.

“Sure, why?”

Bobby shrugged his shoulders, which didn’t come off quite right because his left arm had been amputated three years ago. “You’re the doctor; you tell me.”

“I’m fine.”

She deposited the crackers on the table, in between the plastic pitcher of water he never drank and the pile of X-Men comic books he never stopped reading. The knot in her neck ached, and she massaged it, squeezing the tension out of the muscle using a technique an elderly Chinese patient had taught her.

“Don’t you have your boards tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Bobby swatted the magazine against the pocket of her coat, which was stuffed full of notebooks overflowing with her precise script. “Why aren’t you studying then?”

It was a question to which her only answers—”Because I’m sick and tired of studying,” and, “I couldn’t care less about the boards”—seemed better left unsaid.

“I can’t get any studying done when I’m on call,” Maggie said.

“I thought Melendez was on call tonight?”

Caid Melendez was also a transitional intern, a first-year resident doing a year of general practice internship before transitioning to a specialty residency at a different hospital, rotating through pediatrics this month.

“He volunteered to split the night with me so I could get some sleep.”

A rare grin crossed his narrow face. “Oooooohhhhh, Maggie, I think he likes you.”

Maggie’s face flushed red; her brow warmed.

“Hey, you’re blushing,” Bobby said.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“You better pipe down, or I’ll go back to my call room.”

“See if I care.”

She feigned getting up, and he dropped the comic book and reached out to stop her with the shriveled hand of his right arm. Bobby weighed only 50 pounds soaking wet and stood only four-and-a-half feet high—when he had the strength to stand—living proof that mustard gas and rat poison should never be given to growing boys.

Maggie closed her eyes and tried to conjure up the sheet of formulas Yoda had given her, but all she could see was a page of full of insensible smudges superimposed on Bobby’s face. At the moment, with the tepid warmth of Bobby’s hand on her forearm, the formulas didn’t seem all that important anyway. She knew Yoda—the diminutive chief resident—would disagree, but making Bobby happy seemed far more worthwhile than going over the best way to calculate the glomerular filtration rate, which, according to Yoda, was the best way to measure kidney function.

“What’s today’s date, Maggie?” Bobby asked.

Maggie shrugged. “Twentieth? Twenty-first? How should I know?”

“You could try looking at your fancy watch.”

She glanced at her wrist and spotted the Tag Heuer Maggie’s father had bought her for her twenty-seventh birthday. “It’s the twenty-second, what difference does it make?”

“How many days are there in April?”

She was vaguely aware there was some sort of mnemonic for this, but when she tried to click on the mnemonic file in her brain, the one for the twelve cranial nerves popped up instead: Oh, Oh, Oh, To Touch and Feel a Virgin Girl’s Vagina and Hymen. “Thirty or thirty-one? Why do you care?”

“Why do I care?” Bobby raised his hairless eyebrows. “Because a new month means a change of service. What if I get another dork like I had last month?”

She leaned forward and tickled his armpit, causing him to drop the comic book and squeal and flail his arm in the air. The oldest of four children, Maggie was an accomplished tickler, and one of Bobby’s previous chemotherapy drugs had ravaged his nervous system, making him especially sensitive.

He could only take a few seconds. With compromised lungs and a weak heart, it took no longer than that for Bobby’s wind to be used up, resulting in the accelerated heaving of his tiny chest. He would have been able to last longer if he wore the oxygen she ordered for him, but he stubbornly refused to wear it, and the nasal cannula that administered it remained looped over the bedpost.

Bobby retrieved the comic book and resumed reading. She closed her eyes and listened to his rapid inspirations and the beat of his enlarged heart against the enclosing wall of his thorax. Somewhere close to his usual respiratory rate, oblivion overwhelmed her and she nodded off to sleep.

Her cell phone vibrated on her waist, waking her after an indefinite amount of time. It was Dr. Foster, the attending physician on pediatrics this month, notifying her that there was an admission in the emergency department. She extracted herself from the chair.

“Wait, you can’t go. You just got here,” Bobby said.

“That was Dr. Foster; he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“You’re leaving me to see that dog with fleas.”

“What’s the matter with Dr. Foster?” Maggie asked.

Bobby’s face grew narrower, and his button nose wrinkled. “What’s the matter with Dr. Foster? Are you kiddin’ me? He’s an arrogant cock.”

“I think you’re jealous.”

“I’m jealous of people who buy green tomatoes. Stop changing the subject.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with Dr. Foster; I think he’s nice.”

“He’s just trying to get down your pants, you know.”

It was one of the things she loved about Bobby, his bluntness. As he had told her many times before, “When you don’t have long to live, there isn’t time not to get right to the point.”

Peter Hogenkamp is a family physician and author of The Intern.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

How microaggressions contribute to impostor syndrome

April 22, 2020 Kevin 1
…
Next

How cell phones can help lead us out of the COVID-19 pandemic

April 22, 2020 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Hospital-Based Medicine, Pediatrics

Post navigation

< Previous Post
How microaggressions contribute to impostor syndrome
Next Post >
How cell phones can help lead us out of the COVID-19 pandemic

Related Posts

  • A physician’s addiction to social media

    Amanda Xi, MD
  • A medical intern’s 3 greatest fears

    Kirk Sidey, MD
  • How a physician keynote can highlight your conference

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Chasing numbers contributes to physician burnout

    DrizzleMD
  • The black physician’s burden

    Naomi Tweyo Nkinsi
  • Why this physician supports Medicare for all

    Thad Salmon, MD

More in Physician

  • The harmful effects of shaming patients for self-education

    Maryanna Barrett, MD
  • The power of self-appreciation: Why physicians need to start acknowledging their own contributions

    Wendy Schofer, MD
  • Skydiving and surgery: How one doctor translates high-stress training to saving lives

    Alexandra Kharazi, MD
  • Don’t be caught off guard: Read your malpractice policy today

    Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Laura Fortner, MD
  • The dark side of medicine: an urgent call to action against greed

    Don Gaede, MD
  • Dr. Glaucomflecken for president!

    Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Amy Bissada, DO & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy
    • The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Physician
    • What is driving physicians to the edge of despair?

      Edward T. Creagan, MD | Physician
    • Deaths of despair: an urgent call for a collective response to the crisis in U.S. life expectancy

      Mohammed Umer Waris, MD | Policy
    • Beyond the disease: the power of empathy in health care

      Nana Dadzie Ghansah, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The harmful effects of shaming patients for self-education

      Maryanna Barrett, MD | Physician
    • The power of self-appreciation: Why physicians need to start acknowledging their own contributions

      Wendy Schofer, MD | Physician
    • The endless waves of chronic illness

      Michele Luckenbaugh | Conditions
    • Skydiving and surgery: How one doctor translates high-stress training to saving lives

      Alexandra Kharazi, MD | Physician
    • Telemedicine in the opioid crisis: a game-changer threatened by DEA regulations

      Julie Craig, MD | Meds
    • How this doctor found her passion in ballroom dancing [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • Are We Losing the Personal Touch Because of the Way We Staff?
  • Orismilast Clears Skin in Moderate-to-Severe Psoriasis
  • Pediatric ICU Cases Becoming More Complex in Recent Years
  • New Combinations Promising in Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma
  • Embryo Development Delayed in Pregnancies Ending in Miscarriage

Meeting Coverage

  • Orismilast Clears Skin in Moderate-to-Severe Psoriasis
  • New Combinations Promising in Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma
  • No Survival Benefit With CRT Versus Chemo for Locally Advanced Endometrial Cancer
  • Ankle Sprain Physical Therapy Doesn't Shift the Pain Elsewhere
  • Use of EMR Directive Tied to Reduced Opioid Prescribing After Spine Surgery
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy
    • The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Physician
    • What is driving physicians to the edge of despair?

      Edward T. Creagan, MD | Physician
    • Deaths of despair: an urgent call for a collective response to the crisis in U.S. life expectancy

      Mohammed Umer Waris, MD | Policy
    • Beyond the disease: the power of empathy in health care

      Nana Dadzie Ghansah, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The harmful effects of shaming patients for self-education

      Maryanna Barrett, MD | Physician
    • The power of self-appreciation: Why physicians need to start acknowledging their own contributions

      Wendy Schofer, MD | Physician
    • The endless waves of chronic illness

      Michele Luckenbaugh | Conditions
    • Skydiving and surgery: How one doctor translates high-stress training to saving lives

      Alexandra Kharazi, MD | Physician
    • Telemedicine in the opioid crisis: a game-changer threatened by DEA regulations

      Julie Craig, MD | Meds
    • How this doctor found her passion in ballroom dancing [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today iMedicalApps
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...