"Over the phone, the clinics all sounded like places you'd take a pork chop to be examined, not a human breast, not a person, and not me." Our technology is im

"Over the phone, the clinics all sounded like places you'd take a pork chop to be examined, not a human breast, not a person, and not me." Our technology is improving. Rigorous, evidence-based practice is the standard of care. And yet we often fail to help. Oft-used aphorisms in medical training include, "The secret of care of the medical patient is caring about the patient" and "Recommend to your patients what you'd recommend to your own family". Yet that approach often vanishes somewhere during training or soon after. Some may start viewing people as "consumers" rather than "patients". Compassion is curative, and by that I don't mean a bunch of hand-waving mumbo-jumbo. I mean that people will seek preventive care, trust diagnosis and treatment, stay in treatment, and work with docs when they feel they'll be heard, when their pain and fears (often unspoken) and questions will be addressed, and when their choices will be respected. For lack of a better phrase, there remains a science and an art to medicine. Both need to advance lock-step. Best wishes to Xeni. Her writing has always been brave as it is here, and selflessly sharing what she's going through will help others.