Willow Bend

The kindness of others continues to amaze me. I think it truly is one of the big lessons I am supposed to take away from this experience.

Many of you may know that I struggled, sometimes comically, to find a pediatrician for Jamie. I started to research vaccines and it turned into a big saga and got us (okay, me) virtually kicked out of the first pediatrician we had chosen. In hindsight, I'm glad we learned the lesson early on that it was not the doctor for us. We landed with a nurse practitioner a couple of towns over who agreed with our plan for Jamie's vaccines, but I never loved the office or got any warm fuzzies for the other folks in the office. (Virtually every time we went, a nurse would offer to get Jamie "caught up" on her vaccines, so the nurse practitioner's beliefs were definitely not shared by everyone in the office.) When we decided to leave that office for our current office, I had a huge hassle that again proved to me that we weren't in the right place.

With that hassle ... we entered Willow Bend Family Practice with a bang. To make a long story short, Jamie was very sick one day in the midst of my changing offices. I had requested that Jamie's records be sent to Willow Bend just a week before, but knew we weren't established as patients with them yet. So, I called the old office to make an appointment and get Jamie seen. They absoutely refused to see her because her records had been sent (or, they had requested their third party office to send them -- they couldn't confirm if they had actually gone out yet or not). Willow Bend had not received them ... yata, yata, yata ... me sobbing on the phone, Jamie curled up in a feverish ball, asleep in the middle of playing on the floor, and an incredibly hostile woman on the phone at the old doctor's office. Willow Bend came to the rescue and more than stepped up to the plate to get Jamie into their office that afternoon with just the bare minimum of information finally, grudgingly faxed from our old office. I couldn't have been more grateful for them that day!

Over the course of my pregnancy with Annie, Willow Bend helped with referrals and didn't even ask "What, AGAIN?!?" when history repeated itself and I found myself doctorless the same way Jamie had been several months before. My records had been sent from my old doctor, but hadn't been received by Willow Bend, just when we needed referrals for the first fetal echo in Boston. Again, they moved heaven and earth to help and do everything they could. I kept them aware of what was going on each time I had to take Jamie in, and they were able to have one of their docs present at Annie's birth just to check her out.

It's been a bumpy road since then, and I cannot begin to explain what it has meant to have Willow Bend -- Dr. Thomson, Victoria, their nurses, AND the office staff -- in our corner. They have listened patiently to every concern, brought Annie in anytime there was any question that needed to be addressed, and facilitated appointments for us all over town. They have followed her ups and downs, asked how much weight she had gained since the last visit, and even familiarized themselves with Pierre-Robin Sequence. I have cried on their shoulders and been amazed as each and every person in the office has stopped us to ask about Annie. She is quite the celebrity there -- we clog up the hallway every time we try to leave -- and it is such a statement to what kind of office it is. Their concern has been genuine, heartfelt, and above and beyond anything I have ever experienced in a doctor's office before.

We went in to see Vicki on Tuesday. The person who checked us in asked about Annie but I didn't know if she knew about what was going on. I mentioned that we had been in Children's the week before and she said "I know" just as another staff member came over to take a peek at Annie. She was the one that told me everyone had been keeping up with the blog, so I knew that the word was out at least. Then we went back into the exam room. Vicki and her nurse came in bearing all of the largesse you see in the picture above. Yes, all of that is from our doctor's office and the caring people there. Not only did they know what was going on, but they had decided to get us a "few" things for our hospital stays. Notebooks, toiletries, Purell, magazines, munchies, gift certificates for the restaurant across the street from Children's, and much more for us, as well as (!!!) a bag full of goodies for Jamie, too.

Many of you probably never thought you would hear me say this: I was speechless.

Thank you, everyone at Willow Bend, not just for the gifts, but for every caring word, expression of concern, sticker for Jamie ("and one for my sister, too"), and hug. You are an amazing group of people who have created a doctor's office like no other. I am so incredibly thankful to have found you guys and to have you as Annie's advocate. You have given this Army brat a sense of what community means. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I know that someday we will all be laughing at her last check-up before she goes off to college, remembering the days when we saw you guys virtually every week!