Wednesday
October 2nd, 2022 Dear Nandini, One Wednesday, a few Wednesdays ago, I met a teenager who was admitted to my team. A college student majoring in chemistry and interested in bench research -- the first day she was unable to tell me any of this. Found in her dorm room by her roommate, she was completely out of it. Thrashing around, totally agitated, unable to say anything meaningful -- it took her a full two days to recover from what we found out was some combination of cocaine and an intentional overdose of her antidepressant. Not able to get a story from her, I met her mom in the emergency room. Tired, weary, terrified -- she seemed so familiar and at the time I somehow couldn't piece together why. I explained what to expect medically and was met with the same questions we used to ask about you: "Is there something else we can do?", "She doesn't want the help -- how are we supposed to help her?", "How long can she go on like this?". O