感恩节反射

We’ve roasted and carved the turkey, 把红土豆捣碎, cooked the fresh snap green beans to a nice 有嚼劲 crispness, served up the sweetly tangy cranberry sauce, and baked the cherry crumble pie. Now that we’ve eaten our fill—it was all delicious—there’s time to contemplate the many reasons why we set aside this day to give thanks.

You might think cancer medicine is a thankless specialty. Many people down the years have asked me how I deal with such a difficult, depressing (in their minds) subject every day. Serious illness, pain, medicines with terrible side effects, the constant specter of death. Why would anyone choose the practice of oncology?

The best reason I know is the abundance of blessings I receive. On this day of giving thanks, allow me to list all the things in Calvert 肿瘤学 that gladden my heart.

我感谢 for the substantial progress in cancer medicine I’ve witnessed over the past three decades, for remarkable advances in the treatment of lung cancer, 乳腺癌, 黑素瘤, 多发性骨髓瘤, and chronic myeloid leukemia, 在许多其他疾病中. I’m especially thankful for the availability of highly effective treatment right here at home for the aggressive lymphoma I developed three years ago.

我感谢 for a hospital CEO and board of directors dedicated to supporting excellent local cancer care for the community of southern Maryland. 他们, along with the entire health system administration, make our professional lives so much easier, 更强的, 和有能力.

我感谢 for the Calvert 健康 基金会 and for the many generous donors who step forward to propel oncology care forward. 他们 give so much more than money.

我感谢 for the array of diagnostic and therapeutic tools we have at Calvert 健康, and especially for the specialists, 技术人员, 药剂师, 药理学家, 营养学家, and section administrators who work tirelessly to make sure we have what we need to provide the level of cancer care we aspire to give.

我感谢 for inspired oncology service line leadership, whose quiet direction often behind the scenes and unheralded is crucial to our effectiveness.

我感谢, 比你知道的还要多, 献给敬业的护士们, 医疗助理, and office assistants who daily come alongside us. 没有他们, we’d be too busy answering phones and recording vital signs to do the patient care work of medicine.

我感谢 for an award-winning team of infusion nurses, our invaluable right arms in this fight. Their knowledge, compassion, and dedication are boundless.

我感谢 for my colleagues and their expertise, 他们的专业, 相互支持, and their undying commitment to excellence.

最重要的是, 我感谢 for all those and their families who, 在最脆弱的时刻, have entrusted us with their most precious possessions, their health and their very lives. It is an awesome responsibility and a tremendous privilege. 谢谢你！.