In her observant poem “Brain as Timepiece (Administering the Clock-Drawing Test to My Patient With Dementia)” (Intima, Fall 2018), Jennifer Wolkin describes the disordered clockface drawn by a patient with dementia: each number stands outside its perimeter like lost digits. The patient’s subsequent drawing of an ‘X’ over the wayward numbers suggests an erasure, not only of cognitive function, but of time itself. Time’s toll equates to a ‘crossing out’ of past, present and future as the ‘disease devours …organ tissue’.
Read moreHow Touch Affects Healing, a reflection by Wendy Tong
In her Field Notes essay “Hand Holding” (Fall 2019 Intima), Dr. Amanda Swain describes the experience of beginning her surgery rotation as a third year medical student. In the early days of the rotation, she feels an intense sense of being out of place within the “intricately choreographed dance” of the operating room. But when the next patient is wheeled in, Dr. Swain is reminded of how a nurse once took her hand before she underwent surgery, the touch conveying an unforgettable message of comfort during a time of deep vulnerability.
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