On a Sunday late last March, I admitted Mrs. M to the general medicine service—my final admission on my final medicine rotation as a medical student. She arrived with three specific symptoms. One, her left leg had swollen over the past 2 weeks so that it was now twice the circumference of her right leg, from hip to ankle. Two, over the past few days, she felt short of breath even doing the most basic activities, such as tying her shoelaces. And three, although her appetite was still strong, she felt full after just a couple of bites of food and her belly had become noticeably distended, also over the past few days. She hadn't seen a doctor in more than 20 years; she hadn't had to, she said, because she'd never been sick. Widowed, she lived alone, with occasional but regular visits from her children and grandchildren. Her swollen leg, painful and tense, finally drove her to call an ambulance.