I am a gardener when I am not in the clinic. It used to be that I did all my best thinking in the shower. Now I do it in the garden. So some musings from there.

Thinking about stress today. Stress and our patients. What does the word stress mean for all of us?

The two doctors are stressed from the drip-drip-drip responsibility that never lets up of having to do rounds in the hospital 365 days a year. The patients are stressed from…… having to deal with us…..having to eat when they are terrified….. having to keep so many doctors appointments. The parents are stressed from….. having to keep so many doctor’s appointments…..their child missing school….doing the grocery shopping….supervising meals (a thankless task if ever there was one)…..worrying about money and insurance….explaining to others.

I smell the roses. I look at the mountains. I come up really close to my old, old azalea tree. And stress slowly melts a little, like snow patches did a few months ago, in the weak spring sun.