Carol Westbrook MD, PhD is a Medical Oncologist with over 20 years of faculty experience and research at the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, and Boston University. She is a licensed medical oncologist, formerly at Geisinger Health Systems in Wilkes-Barre, PA. She has served on numerous federal advisory panels for cancer and genomics, and has authored over 100 scholarly articles, and three books , including Ask an Oncologist: Honest Answers to Difficult Questions about Cancer; To Your Health! The Beer Doctor on Good Beer, Good Times, and the Finer Things in Life; and Miss Victory, 1942. Now retired from clinical practice, she consults on medical-legal affairs, and is an author of the blog, Ask-an-Oncologist.com. Her email: carolwestbrook [at] me.com; twitter @Carolwestbrook1.
by Carol A Westbrook I was the first resident to become pregnant and deliver a child at the University of Chicago–perhaps in any medical residency in the country at the time. It was 1979. I had suffered several months of “internship amenorrhea” before I realized I might be pregnant; a trip to the ED to…
by Carol A Westbrook My orchids bloom after the winter solstice, in December, the shortest day of the year. The days begin to get longer after this, and soon it’s early spring. Orchids, like all plants, are highly dependent on light. They eat light, water, and carbon dioxide, to make sugar. In fact, every single…
by Carol A Westbrook When did you first notice that you cell phone was finishing your sentences? Sure, spellcheck had been around for a while, however annoying it might be, but coming up with whole sentences that seemed to read your mind—“can I call you later?” “Can we meet tomorrow?” “Do you need groceries? These…
by Carol A Westbrook A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a downtown doctor’s office, interviewing a potential concierge physician to see if we were compatible. I had decided it was time to make some changes in my health care, and for good reason. I’m in my 70’s, I’m handicapped, and I’m a physician,…
by Carol A Westbrook Who can remember back to the first poets, The greatest ones,…so lofty and disdainful of renown They left us not a name to know them by —Howard Nemerov, The Makers In this poem, Howard Nemerov, Poet Laureate from 1988-1990, reminds us that we have no idea when poetry—that is speech—began. The…
by Carol A Westbrook This is the story of a DNA mutation that profoundly changed the course of human history, and had a major impact on human activities, altering communication, transportation, agriculture, and warfare. This story is about the horse, and how came to be a domesticated, rideable animal due to this DNA mutation. This…
by Carol A Westbrook This is the story of a young man who, to protect the health of his family and neighbors, dared to take on the town, county, state, and federal government, the US Dept. of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and even the Sierra Club. And he won. It was 1985. Recently…
by Carol A Westbrook As the days get longer and warmer and more humid, and the early spring flowers start to bloom, and the flowering trees show their finest… there’s an anticipation in the air…Then suddenly one morning you hear it—the birdsong is back. After a winter of silence you can now hear the birds.…
by Carol A Westbrook What is the hardest thing about dieting, the reason that most dieters give up? They get hungry. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a pill that would leave you satisfied after a diet meal without those hunger pangs? A medicine that would keep you on a diet and help you…
by Carol A Westbrook The big blue behemoth of a garbage truck came barreling toward me. I knew I was going to die. I was in the middle of an intersection about to make a left turn. One moment the intersection had been clear, with the truck about a half mile distant. In the next…
by Carol A Westbrook This autumn we had to buy two cars. If you are a typical, average, middle-class American, there are times in your life when you have to buy a car. Americans take car ownership—and car buying—very seriously. Since cars and their accessories (insurance, maintainence, repair, e.) occupy such a large part of…
by Carol A Westbrook In our third year of medical school we began our clinical studies. After two full years of classroom work, it was time to apply what we learned to real patients. One can spend years in the library, reading all the books and journals that you can get your hands on, but…
by Carol A Westbrook I first recognized discrimination against women while I was in the 1st grade. I attended a Catholic school run by nuns, the Sisters of the Holy Family. When Sister asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I answered, “A Priest!” It made sense to me. I could…
by Carol A Westbrook The sun has always been an object of fascination and interest, appearing as it does as a bright, shining sphere crossing the daytime sky. On Monday, April 8, many of us will have had the opportunity to see the sun in all its glory as the moon crosses between it and…
by Carol A Westbrook The Supreme Court is poised to make another landmark decision this year, when it determines if it will uphold a Texas Federal court’s ruling that invalidates the FDA’s (U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s) updated labeling of the abortion pill mifepristone (pronounced mi-ˈfe-pri’-stōn) , brand name Mifeprex (Fig 1). Not only will…
by Carol A Westbrook It all began about 4.5 billion years ago, give or take a few millennia. The earth was still young, having been formed by the accretion of material that orbited around the sun. It was a young, moderate-sized planet, and, like the other planets in the solar system, it spun like a…
by Carol A Westbrook Dementia refers to progressive, irreversible cognitive impairment usually seen in the elderly. The clinical findings of dementia almost always include some degree of memory impairment. We didn’t know much about how memories were formed in the brain until 1953, when the now-famous patient named Henry Molaison, HM, had removal of an…
by Carol A Westbrook We bought a little house in a development called Timber Trails, Oak Brook, IL in December of 2019. Our house was old and in need of repair, but the lot was very large—almost an acre in size. It was full of ancient oak trees, some almost two centuries old, providing a…
by Carol A Westbrook Oh, where were you in Chicago? You know I didn’t see you there I didn’t see them crack your head Or breathe the tear gas air Oh, where were you in Chicago When the fight was being fought? Oh, where were you in Chicago? ‘Cause I was in Detroit Where were…
by Carol A Westbrook It was the last straw. “We’re transferring you, Dr. Westbrook,” my Medical Director said to me. “One of our offices in another town is desperately in need of a Hematologist, ever since Dr. Paul died,” he continued, “and you are the best hematologist on our staff,” he said, trying to cajole…