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Dear Dr. Chin, Melinda, Debra, Grace, Sandy,
Mary Jayne, Connie, Candy and Shelly,
Today is my graduation day. Leaving your
office has got me more excited, nervous and emotional than any of the
occasions for which I donned a robe and tassels.
Thank you. At a time when I had become
hopeless, you took my burden and cared for me in the best way that I can
imagine. Here are a few of my favorite things about my experience in
your care:
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You treated me with understanding and
professionalism, as a unique person and patient. Sometimes it feels like
fertility doctors are only for people with trouble conceiving and OBs
are only for healthy pregnancies, so as someone with recurrent
miscarriage, I felt alone and untreatable. The approach of my previous
fertility specialist was "get pregnant again and let's take it from
there". I didn't want to lose more children to trial and error and you
understood that. I didn't get ecstatic at a positive pregnancy test and
Grace and Sandy understood why. Thank you for carrying my burdens of
fear and uncertainty right along side of me.
-
You treated my husband and me as
intellectual peers and educated individuals. I was continually impressed
with your patience and thoroughness in sharing the reasons for each of
your treatment recommendations. I felt that you were open to hearing
about things I'd read and even my guesswork theories about what was
going on with my body.
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You obviously invest an amazing amount of
time in staying up to date with the latest research and treatments and
seem to keep an open mind about the new approaches. It was on more than
one occasion when you sent me to a lab for a test and the technicians
had to "call upstairs" because the test you requested was so new that
they had not yet heard of it. It felt good to know that the latest in
modern medicine was on my side. It was this quality that led you to
finding my problem that needed treatment, and possibly (hopefully) will
allow me to have a healthy baby in about 28 weeks.
-
You let me know that it was "OK" to stop
trying whenever I needed to. When I had my third miscarriage and I asked
you if we should try again, I was touched that you didn't just respond
with a reflex answer about medical statistics. You seem to know the
emotional toll that this takes on your patients and unlike any family or
friends; you gave me permission to say "enough" if it became too
difficult to bare.
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You made my baby a priority. All of you were
readily available to take with me or accommodate my biological clock
with weekend visits. The comfort in knowing that you were always just an
easy phone call away and that you would be available for us regardless
of the inconveniences of my cycle was amazing. You understand that
waiting another month is a big deal and I think you make each of your
patients feel like all of your time is theirs as needed. You even went
the extra mile to find me a doctor in California when Mark's traveling
conflicted with my ovulation. I was impressed to know that your superb
reputation reaches all the way to the west coast.
I'll tell people about what you've done for
us. I'll be back, hopefully with a little one in tow.
Sincerely,
Hope and Mark
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