A Handwritten Letter from a Severe-Case Patient

A Handwritten Letter from a Severe-Case Patient

A handwritten letter from a patient who came by last week.

She returned for a follow-up after a year, and brought along a warmly written letter.

She had not been back since suture removal, and a full year later she came to drop off both a letter and a gift. I'm deeply grateful.

She was happy with the result, and around the time her follow-up was due, she met someone and got married. Moments like these — when patients return in good spirits — are what make this work meaningful. Most patients with good outcomes never come back, so silence is often a quiet kind of good news. Personally, though, I'm always glad when former patients drop in for a follow-up.

Her case had its own backstory; I'll write up the surgical plan and approach in a future post for anyone going through something similar.

Conference prep has kept me busy lately — over six presentations this year alone — which is why posts have been less frequent.

I read what the patient from the earlier post wrote about me. Some have asked why I respond to every minor critique — I think the perfectionist streak in me makes it hard to let go of comments I cannot logically reconcile. Combined with my MBTI 'T' tendency, this can come across in ways that create unnecessary misunderstanding. The episode has given me reason to reflect.

That same streak is what has pushed me to keep refining my surgical technique, and it's part of why I've been able to help patients with the hardest cases — patients like the one who handed me the card. Their encouragement is what makes this work feel worthwhile.