The practice of medicine on the front lines is a challenging mixture of science and art. At times it is like doing stand-up improvisation. Your patients present with a previously unknown scenario and you have to react without rehearsal in immediate real time.  As a practitioner you are being pressed by increasing regulations and pushed toward statistical goals apparently representing “good care.” Patients at the same time are demanding all of the new treatments and investigations available (as presented on the Internet and in the lay press).  Many of our patients fit easily within these practice parameters but many do not and it is with the latter in mind that the following scenarios are offered here and in the next two issues. The names and antibiotic flavors are fictitious but the stories are as real as daily practice. Many of you will be able to immediately put your own names on the participants. (more…)