Perspective and Thankfulness

I feel like I have had some really tough cases recently. The kind where I come home and hubby and I sit down to a really-quickly- prepared or heated-leftover-type dinner, and flip cartoons on for the kids so we can SIT for five minutes and eat, and we look at each other and say, Do YOU want a glass of wine? and laugh because we both totally do, and we drink and I gripe about my frustration with a very difficult case (or two, or three) and he usually has pretty good stories from his world in the sports media (usually pretty funny stories) and we balance each other wonderfully.

I would love to go on and on and gripe about difficult cases HERE but I am pretty wary about that, and try to do so only in the vaguest, nonspecific (or entirely made-up) sense, as doctors get sued for that kind of thing. So, suffice to say, it’s been a rough stretch.

Last night I relayed a tale of woe, another lovely elderly patient with a host of medical issues, not the least of which include dementia issues, and without helpful friends or family in the area and whom I and my staff struggle greatly to help (Luckily, or not, this general description applies to so many patients of mine, I am at no risk of breaching privacy) and we both shook our heads in sadness for the poor soul and then raised a toast to all the things that we have to be grateful for, especially our own beautiful children, who we sure hope will support us in our old age…

ALSO wanting to give thanks for:

THANKS for the continued healing of my close friend’s toddler son, whose hands and arms were badly burned when he fell into a partially extinguished fire pit last week (See previous post, Prayers For a Child). My friend continues to be a model of strength as she literally lives in a pediatric burn unit, far from home, managing her baby boy’s every-other-day surgeries. He has all of his fingers, and his skin grafts seem to be taking.

THANKS for the healthy delivery of my brother and sister-in-law’s new baby girl! My sister-in-law is a petite little thing, and the baby is a healthy-sized almost 9-pounder. Wow.

THANKS for this beautiful sunny day and that I will be leaving work at a decent hour.

And having a glass of wine with my hubby.