Today in our Sacrament Meeting the topic was the blessings of having the Priesthood in the home. As I sat listening, my mind began making a connection between having the Priesthood in the home and my life growing up as a doctor's kid.
My dad practices medicine in a small town in middle of California's farmland. He's a member of a dying breed--an old fashioned family doctor. He doesn't belong to a fancy clinic or a medical group, and is regularly called away to deliver babies in the middle of the night or see patients at all kinds of inopportune moments.
My family and I like to reminisce about all the places we've been stranded because Dad had to run off to deliver a baby. One memorable time he got called during the middle of a daddy-daughter dinner date and left me and my two younger sisters sitting in a booth at a local restaurant to await his return. I don't think I was older than 10 or 12 at the time, and I still remember the worried look on the face of the waiter. "Is your dad coming back?"
Not only did Dad's profession mean he was often away from the house, but also that most of our family's medical care occured at home. I recieved all kinds medical treatments while lying on Mom and Dad's bed, and I still remember the fear than ran through me when Dad would say, "bring me a needle and some toilet paper." Once he came home with a whole handful of immunizations and lined all us kids up to get the "presents" he had brought home from work.
The best part of being a doctor's kid was being able to get expert medical advice on demand. All of your worries about aches or pains, or physical anomalies could be easily calmed just by asking Dad. Nothing annoyed me more than when I would go to Dad with concern over some weird lump, bump, or rash that I had and, instead of being concerned, he would smile and tell me that I must have syphilis. Only as I got older did I understand that this joke was his way of telling me nothing was wrong.
After a lifetime of 24-hour home health care, it was a wake-up call when, as a mom, I realized I actually had to take my kids in to the pediatrician's office when they were sick. What an inconvenience! And even then, I would call my dad both before and after the appointment to first ask if we really needed to go in (there is nothing that I hate more than to go in and be told there is nothing wrong) and then to make sure our local doctor had given us the right treatment. Because, let's face it, your doctor is bound by law to tell you certain things, but you can trust Dad to give you the truth. Plus, your dad loves you so you know he actually cares about how you are feeling.
Which bring me back to the Preisthood in the home. The blessings of the Preisthood, like health care, are available to everyone, but some of us are lucky enough to have the convenience of a Preisthood holder in our home--a dad, or brother, or husband we know loves us and whom we can trust with, not only the big things, but with all our little spiritual hurts and worries. What a blessing!
3 comments:
Awwww, that's true. And I didn't remember the part that he left us--daddy/daughter date. Wow.. But true he always gave us good and naughty presents from his work. And true true that we don't have to go see doctor when we were sick or problems. Only I remember that I HAD to go to the hospital for tube.. Truly we are blessed to have both in our home--a doctor and a priesthood. Love you dad.
great post, cindy.
In my training I was taught that syphilis was "The Great Immitater" and "he who knows syphilis knows medicine," because syphilis can attack any organ or tissue and can look like many other illnesses. In other words, if you had pityriasis rosea, tinea corporis, a junctional nevus, or a viral exanthem there was always a slight chance that it might really be syphilis. So, especially if your treatment isn't working you might want to do some tests just to make sure that it is not syphilis. In my long carrier as a physician I have treated many patients with syphillus, but I have never yet come across a pimple that turned out to be really a syphilis in pimple's clothing.
When my children had an inocent looking sore they often became worried that it might be something serious. They would come to me thinking that they had a bubonic bubo or something, when it was really nothing to get excited about. Unfortunately, they did not like hearing that their "facinoma" was really nothing. So I would tell them that it was probably nothing but if they really wanted something to worry about it does look like it could be syphilis. Of course, I assumed that they were smart enough to know that they had absolutely no possible exposure to syphilis so they must come to the conclusion that their bobo was benign. On the other hand, if that really scared them I would know that I might have to start worrying more about my sweet innocent little children. Thank goodness, I never had to worry about my children ever being exposed to VD.
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