Mitch Albom: What Do You Do When the Doctor is No Longer In?
Do you have a doctor like that? If so, you know they are as precious as a good spouse. The whole doctor-patient thing is like a marriage anyhow. A one-way marriage. They get to see you naked, not the other way around.
Over the years, Dr. Lewis and I have been through a lot. Countless checkups, blood tests, X-rays. We’ve had a few scares. When things got potentially serious, he made calls and handed me off to other specialists, the GI doctor, the cardiologist, the urologist.
But when they were done with their work, I always wound up back in Scott’s office. He got all the reports. He got all the scans. He knew, like that old British wartime song says, we would meet again.
Now he’s retiring.
I feel lost.
Scott broke the news to me a few months ago, during a checkup.
“I wanted you to know early,” he said. “I’m leaving at the end of June. It’s time.”
I nodded. I smiled. I may have even mumbled, “Congratulations.” But inside, I was screaming: “What the $#!!?“
“I know, I’m sorry,” he said. “I can recommend someone if you like.”
I smiled again. But my stomach was sinking like the Edmund Fitzgerald. Recommend someone? How would they know my history? How would they know the words never to say in front of me, like, “It could be cancer.”
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