Dr. Rob and the advice that could have changed everything...

Thanks to my friend, Nancy, I found a new favorite blog today.  It would have been more awesome had I found it 5 months ago, but it's still awesome.  It's by a normal, quirky, sweet guy named Rob.  So far, my favorite post has to be this one...a letter written to patients with chronic disease from him...a doctor.  It helps validate so much of how I am feeling right now.  I have several good doctor friends, but as a giant group unfairly lumped together, the profession had fallen from grace in my eyes.  As a child, every time I went to the doctor, he could always fix it, or tell me when it would fix itself.  As a young adult, even through the experience of my Dad's cancer, the doctors knew what they were dealing with, and fought side by side with my dad until the very end.  Bryan's illness has been a very different experience, and has brought out a whole new set of feelings in me.  Dr. Rob explained those feelings in his post when he said, "All of the other patients come into the room with immediate respect, but your understanding has torn down the doctor-god illusion."   Yep, true that, friend.  But strangely, reading this has reignited in me a desire to trust them (not that it's me that needs to have that desire, but still).  Progress...slow but steady, ey :)

I will forever regret turning into such an emotional blubbering mess when we met with Dr. S.  I have to wonder how differently that visit could have gone had I known some of what Dr. Rob had to say.  Common sense perhaps, but when you are in that moment, and the desperation, the fear, and the raw emotion combine with what feels to be a very callous, condescending, almost hostile response, common sense tends to take a back seat.

So, here's a hug, high-5, fist bump...take your pick, Dr. Rob.  Thanks for giving me back something I thought was gone for good.