NaBloPoMo 2016, Letters to Patients, Day 30
To Patients Who Journey With Me:
It is my privilege and my honor.
Well here we are, my friends, we made it! 30 posts in 30 days, woooo hoooooooooo!!
I had 30 topics all lined up on Halloween, and I think I used 6 of them. How fascinating! Looking back, I’m pretty proud of the content this month. It all came from places of true feeling and contemplation, and I tried my best to make it relevant to the physician-patient relationship. I meant to write more cogently about policy and operations, maybe illuminate more of the physician’s experience, to help patients understand our perspectives. I wonder if that is more appropriate for long form writing, or even not writing at all, more like panel discussion or podcast?
Some of you have followed, liked, and commented all the way through—thank you so much. After all, what is a blog if nobody reads it? The feedback has held me up and kept me going. It’s not so different from my relationships with actual patients. Some are superficial and short-lived. But most have a true human connection, and potential for integrative growth over time. My heart is warmed whenever you inquire about my children with genuine caring. When you remember my extracurricular projects and congratulate my successes, I feel respected. Heck when you just notice that my hair is longer, I know you see me!
Believe me, I’m not in this just for the science, or the money, or the prestige, or the teaching. I’m in this to know you, my patient—and for you to know me. I know there are some who see me as expendable, exchangeable. Their interactions with me feel purely transactional. And that’s okay; everybody needs something different. But I could not long survive a practice of only such relationships. No, that would kill my soul for sure. I live for the connections, I say. I learn from every one of you, and you make me better.
So thank you for journeying with me. It’s a long, strange trip, eh? The path winds, the weather shifts, and times change. But as long as we go together, I’m all in.
Healing Through Connection 
Beautiful Cathy. Someone once told me that “intimacy” means “in to me see”- your post this morning reminded me of that. Thank you.
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Thanks friend. I like that. 😊
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Thank you, Cathy, for 30 days of thoughtful and enjoyable posts. I learned a lot. Are you in any way sharing these messages with your patients? They are so lucky to have you as their physician, their advocate, and their cheerleader. Here’s to a low-pressure December.
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Thank you, Donna! You should claim some serious credit for helping me through this challenge!! It’s interesting that you ask about sharing these with patients–I have, actually! And I found that because I had the theme in mind all month, I think I paid more attention to my interactions and conversations with patients–so many of the posts were inspired in real time! What a cool experiment. I think I will continue to do similar things in the future. 😉 ‘See’ you soon! 😀 xoxo
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