All day long I listen to stories.

Some doctors use genetic analysis or study shadows.  Others push laparoscopic trochars.  I listen and look for patterns.

Sure I study the intestinal mucosa with fiberoptics.  And the physical exam can add something.  But the real money’s in the stories.

It’s used to be that stories and patterns drove medicine.  Narrative and intuition were all we had.  Then came technology and all its precision.  But I suspect that as medicine becomes more and more precise, the stories will find their way home.

They say that the future of medicine is personalized.  And what’s more personal than someone’s story?