My favorite part about my job is laughing at the witty jokes and novel insights my patients share with me. I always want my patients and their families to leave our visit with the feeling that they got the best possible care available.
Children are amazingly resilient! They are better than adults at being a patient. I have an amazing wife who is also a physician and the grounding force for our family and together we have a 7-year-old daughter, 5-year-old son, one-month-old daughter and a dog. We love to travel and be outdoors."
I was checking on one of my patients in the hospital that I had done surgery on. A little girl, age 5. I wanted to make sure that everything was functioning well so that I could send her home. To make sure her belly was working well I asked her if she had farted yet. A look of disbelief came across her face as well as her family and the room became very quiet.
After encouraging her some more I got the answer I needed. When I saw her back in the office after a couple of weeks she had made me a bead bracelet that read “Dr. Fart.” It made me crack up laughing. I still have the bracelet and it brings a huge smile to my face every time I see it hanging in my office!"
Being a bit peculiar and very meticulous.
Spending time outdoors with my children riding bikes, playing at the playground, and going for walks in the wilderness.
It is all about communication and expectations. There are no silly questions.
I recently had a refugee family tell me how life-changing the surgery was for their daughter. She had deformed legs that had made the transition very difficult for her. After correcting her deformity, she displayed profound new confidence. Her parents stated that they could not express their gratitude for the new opportunity provided to their child. While a translator was used for verbal communication, the emotion of appreciativeness from the family surpassed any language barrier.
My subspecialty interests include pediatric and adolescent fracture care, pediatric and adolescent spine disorders and scoliosis surgery, pediatric and adolescent hip disorders.