30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 24

Today I am thankful for my rheumatologist, Dr. Kovacs, at Lahey Medical Center in Burlington (www.lahey.org). Nearly twenty years ago, I woke up one morning with a terrible pain in my left wrist that didn’t go away. My primary care doctor quickly diagnosed me with rheumatoid arthritis and sent me to Lahey. I had a wonderful rheumatologist who immediately got me into a drug study and on a medication that was extremely successful. When I had to leave the study, she found another drug that worked just as well. When she moved her practice to another state, I was sure I would never find another doctor as compassionate and understanding. But I ended up as a patient of Dr. Kovacs and I am once again blessed with a doctor who listens to my concerns, treats me as a whole person rather than just a patient, and works hard to keep up to date with new treatment options.

She is genuinely concerned with improving my life, not just my health. When I told her I was getting married and planning to start a family, she didn’t just address my concerns about how the drugs I was currently on would affect conception and pregnancy, but we also talked about how the changes in my lifestyle upon becoming a parent would affect what drug would be most suitable – being a mother herself, she understood that coming to the hospital for an infusion every 7 weeks would not be feasible with children at home. She was aware of the physical tasks of taking care of an infant and gave me practical suggestions on dealing with them given my physical limitations. And when each of my children was born, the first thing she said to me at my next appointment was not, “How is your health?” but, “How is the baby and where are the pictures?” She takes a genuine interest in the lives of each of her patients. I am so thankful for a doctor who cares for me in the best possible sense of the word.

Today I am thankful for the muffled hush of early morning, for falling asleep with the beautiful harmony of a gently snoring husband on one side of me and a gently snoring baby on the other, and for the cool refreshment of a cold glass of juice in the morning.