Monday, May 15, 2017

Strength, Hope & Caring

Way back at the beginning during the time my daughter lost her sight to the original insult to which we still have no diagnosis, we were taken care of by an impressive team of doctors, surgeons, nurses, fellows and interns at Duke Hospital.  It was a very scary time during which my daughter was admitted to Duke for three days for an expedited workup to try and figure out what could possibly happened to caused the inflammation and subsequent damage to her eyes.  

During that time I sat in a reclining chair with my laptop and took notes as doctor after doctor came in to see my daughter.   Blood, spinal fluid and urine was taken.   Scans were done, evaluations were performed and consultations across doctors and fields were had to try and figure out not only what had happened to my daughter but if it could be stopped and her vision restored.

As I took notes I documented everyone who worked with us and tried to help.   Everyone was so very kind and each medical practitioner who came to see us genuinely wanted to help us.   We were overcome with the kindness and caring we received from everyone at Duke.   Later on, I asked a friend who worked at Duke if there was a place I could send something in writing to let Duke know how grateful and impressed we were for the care we received.

I say a long time ago because I forgot about it and I thought nothing came of it—and then I got a call on Friday.   It was from someone at Duke who wanted to let me know they had gotten my story and it the cross-discipline team who worked with us had won an award as a result.   The award is the Strength, Hope and Caring award, given once per month at Duke.   Apparently our story was so moving and involved so many doctors that it had been selected to win the yearly award.  

I was a bit dumbfounded.   I was so happy for the doctors because they truly did demonstrate all the characteristics of the award name.   I was asked if I could come in for a video shoot to discuss our experience.   The video would be posted on their site and a clip of it would be shown at the Strength, Hope and Caring gala later this month.  

Today I went in and met with their video team, who had set up just for me, and did a half-hour interview with them.   The interviewer had a son who has had multiple pacemakers throughout his life and the videographer had a son who had to have open heard surgery eleven hours after he was born.   We shared stories and all understood what it was like to be on the receiving end of excellent medical care at Duke.

I’ll get a link to the video online when it’s complied.   They assure me they’ll cut out all the parts where I stumbled over my words or looked at the camera.   For me, I’m happy the team at Duke was recognized for the above and beyond care my daughter received.   They certainly deserve it in my opinion.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has a stuffed animal he nicknamed, “Sloppy Dog”.  Sloppy dog has been all about the house, but one place he always returns to is my son’s bed, where my son is happy to have him, right by his head, every night.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter’s light-sensitivity changes throughout the day and across days.   In the mornings it’s particularly acute but sometimes by afternoon she doesn’t even want to wear her Fitover sunglasses that “fit over” her prescription lenses.

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