author of literary fiction with a southern drawl
Several people back in Tennessee have asked to read the story. It’s a very personal story, but after my friend told me she was approached by two women at her bridge club who wanted her to thank me for sharing, I decided to put it here. The theme was Hope for The Holidays. Here’s my story –
I'm meeting with a doctor to schedule my hysterectomy. I'm nervous, but okay. The doctor is very kind and patient and I'm grateful. All of a sudden she looks up from the computer and asks, "Do you work for cardiology?"
I met a ten year old boy who has cologne but he says he keeps it in his drawer now. I took the bait. "Why do you keep it in your drawer?" Him "Well I was dating the prettiest girl in third grade until she gave me a list of books she wanted me to [...]
At the end of the study I looked at her mom and said, "Your daughter is going to be covered in ink from under her chin to the tops of her feet by the time she's twenty."
She'd taught everything they needed to know. She'd taught them compassion and trust.
I met a man who I'll never forget. He stopped me in the hallway to tell me how scared he was. He hated coming in, hated the word cardiology, hated the word echo. Hated my scrubs. He was over six feet of raw emotions carrying his new baby. I explained the test in the hallway [...]
He was stressed because of some new things going on that I wasn't aware of. For some reason I told him about Curly having seizures. I have no idea why that popped up but, it did.
Thanks to sixteen years in pediatrics and all of the great kids I met- I have hope that they are more aware, more considerate, and way smarter than we give them credit for.
This is another memory from my time in pediatric cardiology, and another favorite. You never know who is going to stand up when you go to the waiting room and call a patient’s name. In pediatrics, it’s not only the patient you get to meet, but also their families. This time, when I called the [...]