I have a lot to give thanks for, great and small, and I bet you do too: for the soft, cold rain instead of icy roads, for the warm cup of coffee at the start of a hard day, for a season where oranges are fresh, for good books and seed catalogues…..

I give thanks this week for the continued good health of my children and grandchildren.
And while I cannot (yet) give thanks for the health of my husband, I give thanks for the physicians he has encountered who care enough to transplant him.  And for the unnamed friends and family members who have come forward to be considered as donors.

I give thanks for our patients and our ability to help them, and for the continued hard work of the whole Kartini team on their behalf.

There has been a great deal of controversy and back-biting in our field recently, even among those who essentially agree with each other.  This brings me sorrow, so I guess I’ll have to settle for being thankful for free speech and the continued strength to speak out.  And I guess that out here on the left coast in our little clinic, we’ll just carry on caring for kids.

There are those of you who cannot today give thanks for the health of your child.  Can you give thanks for a team who is helping them?  If that’s not possible either, can you give thanks for a family strong enough to continue to insist on good care?  

Perhaps there are times when all we can do is give thanks to the open web that connects us and allows us, as never before in the history of man, to seek care, to exchange ideas and push the medical care of children in directions we could scarcely have dreamed.

OK. I give thanks for the web.