All I can say is WOW, 2020 really sucked. Looking back to last January when all hell broke loose, I remember getting ready to put my son on a plane back to China to finish up his senior year of college. He had already spent 2 years in China, and was so excited to finish senior year traveling all over Asia. I was also excited to have 1 last trip to China to travel to places we had not yet been on our other 2 trips. Then the Rumors started to surface of a virus killing people. We were advised by friends who live in China to hold off coming for a week. I thank God that I never put my son on that plane! We all know what happened from there! Fast forward 1 year, not much has changed except now I have a new appreciation for toilet paper and Lysol spray. As a independent pediatrician working in solo practice I remember the fear that came upon me. I remember immediately planning for the worst. I purchased gloves, gowns, masks, oxygen, resuscitation bags, cleaning products, laceration trays, and anything and everything I could possible think I would need to help people while hospitals were overwhelmed. In my mind I pictured lines of children on cots in my office working endless days, with nonstop phone calls. But then the unimaginable happened. Silence. No patients, no calls. Boredom. We went to work and had nothing to do. Medicine stopped. People stopped. The world stopped.
One year later medicine has completely changed. The mistrust of doctors has gone from bad to worst. The pandemic has been completely mishandled. We cannot even mass vaccinate people correctly! People think telemedicine is a great idea for medical care when in reality is absolutely subpar medical care at best with only a few exceptions where this is useful such as counseling! People are afraid to go to the doctor, but not afraid to go to Walmart! Day after day I see misdiagnosed people who are excited that they had a telemedicine visit and I am dumb founded by this. What happened to medicine? Listen I get the mistrust of medicine. I went my own way as a physician a long time ago because I did not like what I saw in medicine. But not all doctors are bad. Most of us truly love the art of medicine and have not drank the cool aid. As an independent physician with absolutely no outside support I have practiced medicine in a holistic way for over 20 years, and I would like to think my patients are better off for this. I like to think that my now grown patients are healthy adults because of what I taught them. I hope that I helped prevent diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity, and sickness through a healthy diet, good healthy living, and herbal supplementation.
So my advice to anyone reading this blog is if you find a physician you love then stick with them and support them, because there are only a few independent doctors left! We are a rapidly dying breed that cannot compete with the large hospital systems. I get the world has changed, for I have also changed. I have learned to slow down and enjoy every day. That there is more to life than work, and I can finally be okay with that. I love pediatrics and taking care of my patients, but I will never go back to 8 hour days. I will stick around for as long as I can, and continue to enjoy the work that I do with the fantastic office staff that make my office run like a well oiled machine!
Holistic Herald 