Savage.MD Blog

In 2020 I lost one of my best friends, a very accomplished physician, to suicide. Drew and I worked together in a summer research program in 2005 at our small liberal arts college. I was a rising junior and he was a rising sophomore. We were both type A and both premed. We clashed some at first, but soon enough we became best friends. Drew was always super serious and meticulous, and I made it my task to bring levity to situations and try to make him laugh. One of my favorite memories is us sitting in the common equipment room of the chemistry department running biochemical assays together. We would play alt rock music on the stereo while sunlight streamed in from outside during the hot Texas summer. He would prepare the samples under the vent hood and I would collect data on the computer. In the meantime, I would read him articles out of the Wall Street Journal to pass the time. It was such an easy-going time in life! I went to work for a company after college, but Drew went straight ...

Earlier this year I met a middle-aged man with newly diagnosed high risk AML. He spent a month in the hospital starting induction treatment and I got to know his wife and him very well throughout that process. Thursday I was in the BMT clinic and saw that he was on our schedule. It was such a treat seeing him again! He's now post-allogeneic transplant and is doing really well. The patient's wife thanked me for my care this summer and specifically thanked me for helping them negotiate the medical leave process with the patient's employer. She said, "Dr. Savage, you told me to tell his employer that he has acute leukemia, that it is a life threatening condition, and that it will require many months of ongoing treatment and follow-up to save his life. I told them this verbatim and they have given us all the time we've needed for his appointments." I was so happy to hear this because I know that it reduced at least some stress for this family. It's always grat...