David Alfery

Jun 11, 2023 | kevinmd.com | Ton La |Brittany Ladson |Michele Luckenbaugh |David Alfery

She sat in the hospital bed, staring out the window as the nurse flitted in and out of the room, adjusting IV lines and checking her vitals. It had been a long time since she’d been in a hospital, but at 75 years old, her health was beginning to fail. She knew that she was considered “elderly” now, but she didn’t feel old. She still had so much life left, and she was determined to keep living it. But as she lay there, she couldn’t help but wonder: what exactly made someone “elderly”?

Jun 10, 2023 | kevinmd.com | David Alfery |Edwin Leap |Michele Luckenbaugh |Brittany Ladson

An excerpt from Saving Grace: What Patients Teach Their Doctors about Life, Death, and the Balance in Between. On the morning of the first day of surgery in Nicaragua, I paced. It was 8:10 a.m., and the cases were supposed to begin at 7:30 a.m. But as with most missions, the first day was already running behind, with last-minute changes to the operating schedule and other logistics being worked out.