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What happens when I read PFTs
CHEST
Pectoriloquy
Editor’s Note: The poet writes, “I wrote this poem on a fourth-year pulmonology rotation. I am entering into a career in biomedical informatics.”
What happens when I read PFTs It is a minor miracle that I have learned to see— in a collection of numbers, percentages, and letters— a patient that moves and breathes and has his or her being among us. Through these complex numbers I prescribe and I dictate action. Through these trends I decide which diseases this person has, and I demarcate their progress or descent. The once impersonal has evolved legs and hair and heartbeats. The postulate has become incarnate. It is real. Scott J. Pearson Nashville, TN
Editor’s note for authors of submissions to Pectoriloquy: Poems should not exceed 350 words, should not have been previously published, and should be related to concerns of physicians and medicine. First submissions to the Pectoriloquy Section should be submitted via e-mail to [email protected]. Authors of accepted poems will be asked to submit the final version to CHEST Manuscript Central. —Michael Zack, MD, FCCP © 2013 American College of Chest Physicians. Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians. See online for more details. DOI: 10.1378/chest.12-1352 journal.publications.chestnet.org
Downloaded From: http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/ by David Kinnison on 03/07/2013
CHEST / 143 / 3 / MARCH 2013
871
Pectoriloquy
Editor’s Note: The poet writes, “I wrote this poem on a fourth-year pulmonology rotation. I am entering into a career in biomedical informatics.”
What happens when I read PFTs It is a minor miracle that I have learned to see— in a collection of numbers, percentages, and letters— a patient that moves and breathes and has his or her being among us. Through these complex numbers I prescribe and I dictate action. Through these trends I decide which diseases this person has, and I demarcate their progress or descent. The once impersonal has evolved legs and hair and heartbeats. The postulate has become incarnate. It is real. Scott J. Pearson Nashville, TN
Editor’s note for authors of submissions to Pectoriloquy: Poems should not exceed 350 words, should not have been previously published, and should be related to concerns of physicians and medicine. First submissions to the Pectoriloquy Section should be submitted via e-mail to [email protected]. Authors of accepted poems will be asked to submit the final version to CHEST Manuscript Central. —Michael Zack, MD, FCCP © 2013 American College of Chest Physicians. Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians. See online for more details. DOI: 10.1378/chest.12-1352 journal.publications.chestnet.org
Downloaded From: http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/ by David Kinnison on 03/07/2013
CHEST / 143 / 3 / MARCH 2013
871