by Barry on April 19, 2012 ·
I opened the curtains to let the sun in, hoping the tropical storm had passed. It was still very early but I could get a sense of how the day would unfold. At 7 A.M. the sky was steel gray and the the tide was high enough to reach the edge of the condo at our St. Maarten timeshare. Looking down the beach I saw one solitary figure running along the water’s edge, skidding through the surf on his brand new boogie board.
“Josh, is that you?”
He just looked up and kept on going like the Energizer bunny. Few people showed up on the beach that day, but we couldn’t get my son Josh off the beach till dinner time. He spent hour upon hour practicing on that board. He fell off and was swallowed up by the tide more than most people could bear. Every time he fell, he just laughed and got back on…over and over and over again. Some would call it crazy, but really I thought it was special.
Years later I would never forget that day. [click to continue…]
by Barry on April 8, 2012 ·
A new patient waited for me to do her examination. She held a book in her hands. When I entered the room, the first question I asked was, “What are you reading?” She told me, and so began my preclinical interview. I learned she was an avid reader and she was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Audrey H. became my patient. I completed her dentistry twenty five years ago.
Audrey never missed a dental appointment. She always carried a book with her, and we traded reading lists. My first questions to her were always, “What are you reading and how is your blood sugar.”
Through the years she slowly lost her ability to read. First she went to Large-print, and then to audiobooks. She had a difficult time controlling her blood sugar and eventually had to go on dialysis. Through all of this, she never missed an appointment. Audrey couldn’t drive after a while so she would take a taxi to her appointments.
Eventually she went to an assisted living facility.
She still came for her hygiene appointments. [click to continue…]
