“We took out a mass from your colon. We think it’s cancer. The good news is we think we got it all out.

But

When I came across this coffee cup balanced perfectly and precariously on a hallway railing in Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the first thing I thought about was trade-offs.

Scientific research can feel like a lonely voyage into the clouds, until even the clouds peel away and there is nothing but darkening sky.

This crosswalk to the clouds really sums up how I picture it every time I face things in the future, like moving to a new city, starting school, or graduating from a school.

Grandma, you are the reason behind it all! I would not be here today without my grandma’s strong will and determination. My grandma uprooted her family and fled on foot in the midst of war for a better future.

For those first in their family to complete higher education, it may be easier to discern some of the conflicts we experience in school. 

January 31, 2021

He wasn't my patient

but I saw him,

heard the interns discuss him,

watched him slip

further

and further.

It was imminent-

they said.

His irritation hums as I push back the curtain in the emergency room

the air electric and tense.

He clutches a juicebox

(grape; he'd requested apple)

and tells us we have twenty questions

then get

the hell