THANKFUL THURSDAYS

  By the end of my residency, I was tired. Physically...but also emotionally. I needed something uplifting in my life. I had an idea. Thankful Thursdays. 
  
We are all surrounded by people that help us in both large and small ways. I wanted to acknowledge some of them by writing them a quick note. I started with an attending doctor I had worked under. 

   Every morning, I presented the medical case for each of the children on the ward to an attending doctor...gave him updates on their condition and laboratory findings.  One evening I caught him sneaking up on the ward. He went room to room, examining all of the patients, asking questions and reviewing cases.

What was he doing? He already had that information...Some residents would have been distressed, felt that he didn't trust their work. I watched him longer and finally figured it out. 
  In the morning, he was allowing me to be in charge, to dictate the care of the patient. In the evening, he was checking everything all over again.

  He had my back. My worst nightmare was making a mistake and possibly hurting a child and he wasn't going to let that happen. 

  Sometimes you get an opportunity to work with 'giants' and he was one of them. 

  Later on, I wrote him a note expressing my gratitude for what he had done. Turned out that he was at a low point when he got my letter, he was not sure where he was with his career. He thanked me for reminding him and then he went on training new doctors. 

 Today is Thankful Thursday.
 I want to thank everyone that bought my book! 
(the Advocacy Center thanks you too!)

Who are you thankful for?