A quick response, which has left Joanna feeling sheepish

We received a letter today from Dr. Kirshbom, David's heart surgeon, in response to the letter we recently sent him (see following post). I am impressed with the turnaround time, especially since it took me about a year to write mine. Perhaps he is an adherent to the "only touch paper once" rule; this is something to which I aspire but consistently fall short. And I'm guessing someone does his dictation, which might really speed up things for me too. Keep going ....


He mentioned twice how much he likes the picture we sent (posted here), and that he'll share it with everyone in his office. He also said, regarding our post-surgery stress (especially our worry that the surgery had not been as successful as we thought), that he wished we had called him, and he could've explained that everything we were seeing on the echo was completely normal.

We could've called him.

Well.

That never, ever occurred to me. Don't you hate it when you were really upset about something and find out later you wasted all that energy on nothing? I mean, I think I recall wishing I could hit him, and the desire to never speak to any medical provider of any kind, ever again. ... I don't feel too bad about not thinking of calling, because (as also indicated in the letter) the stress over the outcome was only one of about a hundred things we were having to deal with at the time. But it was probably the icing on the cake.

Oh well. Add this note to the always-growing mental storehouse of, "before you get all upset about something find out if it's true/accurate/the only explanation." Which of course I know, and usually follow, but it was such an awful time we were not thinking too clearly. Oh well.

Full disclosure: When I originally composed this entry

in my head (in the car on the way back from the post office), I was thinking "sheepless," not "sheepish," and I knew that wasn't quite right but it took me a long time to get to the correct word. Speaking of not thinking clearly. Speaking of feeling sheepish, which does not occur that often, whereas sheeplessness is a near-permanent condition.... I may need a nap. :)

And wow, how great that he responded at all, let alone so quickly. I was hoping for something, but didn't really expect it. Thanks, Dr. K. For several things.