Sometimes understanding what’s bothering a patient and fixing it is pretty easy. Here is an example: They had a recent cold and now their ear hurts. I look into the ear and it is red and swollen. I give them antibiotics and a decongestant and they feel better. Done. But…

When you were a kid, didn’t you love connect-the-dots? The best puzzles were the complicated ones, where you couldn’t tell what the picture was going to be until you started connecting the dots, and then slowly the image would emerge of a dolphin or an elephant or whatever. There was…