One of the benefits of working in medicine is knowing a lot of random facts that I can pull out at cocktail parties, wedding receptions, baby showers and other social gatherings when there’s a lull in the conversation. For example, it’s impossible to keep your eyes open when you sneeze. If you wreck...

A few years ago, I got sick and lost some weight, and I never managed to put it back on. So my clothes, while they’re in good shape, hang on my frame and make me look like one of the Papua New Guinea natives who retrieve ill-fitting clothes dropped in bundles from missionaries in airplanes.  At least...