Back in 2nd year of med school, I thought learning about tertiary syphilis was rather silly. I figured people would definitely get treated once they had a chancre or any signs of secondary syphilis . (Speaking about US-only right now.) Turns out patients don’t read the textbooks, and don’t live in my little imaginary medical bubble world. Life always comes back and bites you on the ass.

About two months ago, I open up a chart and see: “Patient here for lab results positive for neurosyphilis .”

Graham’s law: The disease you don’t study, or decide that you’ll read about tomorrow is the disease a patient will come in with today. It’s happened to me so many times I’ve lost count. Always makes me read that one extra chapter, ’cause I figure I’ll get burned if I don’t.

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