Recently I wrote about empowerment and the importance of letting patients make their own health care decisions. Our job is to make sure patients are given information and then allowed to choose (continue reading →)
I Wish My Patients Knew… I would not change anything about my career choice. Being a physician was my calling from the time I first entered a hospital nursery with my father at 5 years of age. I knew it then as sure as I know it now. Primary care comes with an unbelievable amount of responsibility, stress, exhaustion, and frustration; but there is also overwhelming joy, fulfillment, gratitude, freedom, and love. I could not be more proud to be a physician and there is no other profession in the world that is more rewarding than mine.
I Wish My Doctor Knew… I am scared of being deported. A few weeks ago, a child said they were worried about who was going to be elected, because they were afraid of being sent back to El Salvador. I asked if he was born in the US and he replied he was but his parents were not and he was afraid they would be sent away. He is just seven years old. I honestly did not know what to say.
Afterward, the surgeon wondered how she determined there was an infection in his neck. She said she thought it was a case of ‘pink eye’, but her doctor refused to call in an antibiotic without examining him first. He commented that decision had saved her son’s life.
Above is a picture of Garrett with me at my wedding (I am clearly more excited about it than he is!) My relationship with this young man, his sister, father, and especially his mother are the foundation of why I became a pediatrician in the first place. Filled with doubt in my darkest moments, his story of triumph always brings me comfort and hope. It reminds me there will be losses and saves, but the life-long, enduring R-E-L-A-T-I-O-N-S-H-I-P is what makes it all worthwhile.
Hippocrates said, “Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.” The relationships with families continue long after their children are grown up and become parents themselves. Our role in the lives of the human beings for whom we have lovingly cared is a wonderful blessing, but also a grind on my heart. It is a relationship I treasure.
