All in Doctorly Musings

The Theater

There was some point in my life when I couldn't stand musicals, didn't understand why the actors would burst out into song, seemingly out of nowhere.

Much like my eventual love of Shakespeare though I had been skeptical (and I saw ALL the RSC Shakespeare production shows the summer of 1994), I grew back to love musical theater.

Doctors as Teachers

Earlier this month, the world lost an amazing doctor.  The thing is that it's not only a loss for the children's hospital that he tirelessly advocated for and for the patients and families he took care of, it's a huge loss for the doctors he was training.

My type of PTSD

By definition, PTSD doesn't really go away....it's just that not everyone understands that I have PTSD.  I didn't know it myself until I heard my therapist say it off-hand.  Like it was a given.  And that it was okay.

Just like I didn't realize that I had 'depression' until she said it.  I thought I was grieving.  But I also wasn't functioning as well.  So "acute depression" it is.  It's interesting that we tend to stay away from 'labels' and 'diagnoses' even as medical professionals.  But, years later, I can say that I had depression.  And that it was okay.  I'm okay.

National Women Physicians Day 2018

Last year, I wrote about the many women physicians who have inspired me along my own journey, most importantly my mom.  This year, I'd like to write about the many patients who inspire me.

There have been so many families who have let me into their lives.  Too many to count, so many that share the little things that matter so much.  I feel honored to be a part of that, a tiny part of helping out their kids.  And too many details for me to write without invading privacy. 

But let me just say this: thank you. 

Thank your for the privilege and the trust you put into us as your child's doctor.

Mix It Up AKA The Friendship Orange

Little Lion’s second grade teachers have started a new thing this year and I love it.  I don’t know what they call it, but I’m officially calling it “Mix It Up”.  Each month, they are placed at certain lunch tables on Wednesdays and that is their Wednesday lunch group.  The teachers mix up the kids so they sit with that group on Wednesdays only.  The rest of the week, they get to choose where to sit.

It’s a brilliant idea.  Little Lion is making new friends and reconnecting with old ones.

Discovering My Heart

“Your heart is like the ocean, mysterious and dark.”
~ Bob Dylan

This quote is on one of the cards in our Macy calendar this month. I’ve been taking the quotes to heart this year, trying to find meaning in each one, just as I meant for my little family to do when we were making them together last year.   

Icky January

January is when I start to feel icky.  And by 'icky', I mean restless and crawling out of my skin.  It has only hit me in small bursts this year, but in the early morning hours of this Saturday morning, I'm feeling it.  My family is asleep.  Usually Mr. Bookworm is up writing by now.  I'm wide awake because I woke before my alarm.

Best Nine

Instagram goes crazy this time of year with everyone's Best Nine.  You haven't heard of it?  It's the nine most 'liked' pictures you've posted over the year.

And in this quiet morning (it's the day before Christmas as I write this, and, no, I'm still not ready), I started thinking about a different 'Best Nine'.  What am I proud of this year?

My Heart is So Full

Our house isn’t ready for Christmas.  My stack of cards, unaddressed, is still sitting there.  We don’t have our tree up yet because we’ve been sick.  Our stockings aren’t hung by the chimney with care.  (Though Mr. Bookworm has taken our Christmas boxes down from the attic.)  And though we have lots of presents, none of them are wrapped.  There is no guarantee of any of those things actually getting done this weekend either—not with us being sick.  And that’s okay.  

The only thing that MUST get done today is the movies.  Because we’re off to see The Last Jedi today. 

Rainbows

Every since Mini Me was little, we've talked about different types of families.  We've talked about families with just one parent, with two parents that are boys or girls or one of each, and with different households. 

Special Delivery Book Anniversary and Selfish Holidays

Celebrating the 5 year book anniversary of Special Delivery:

What's Special Delivery?  It's a children's book that I wrote when Mini Me was two years old and I was pregnant with Macy, my daughter who lived only briefly.  One sleepless night I couldn't get these words out of my head as we were figuring out how to tell Mini Me that her sister was likely going to die. 

Eventually, for Macy's funeral, we had five  books printed at a local shop.  And then, in 2012, we received a grant from Sappi Ideas That Matter to have the book published so that we could distribute them to other families, free of cost.