My First Portrait

Over the past week, I have had the privilege to care for an amazing patient. He is a 5-year-old with inflammatory bowel disease. If you haven't heard of IBD, it's not a very nice disease. Flare ups feature bloody diarrhea, intense abdominal pain, vomiting, weight loss and a number of other things that go along with not having a functional gut. In most cases, the clinical course includes surgical removal of the diseased sections of intestine. It is rare to develop IBD at such a young age as 5.

What made it a privilege to care for this patient was that he permitted me to experience both his lows of pain and the joys of recovery. I checked out what his poop looked like, watched the colonoscopy, examined the histology slides, chatted with him and his parents every day, and conducted a physical exam each morning. He was particularly interested in my reflex hammer.

I almost cried when he gave me this finger-painted portrait the day before he went home.

It kindof makes me want to dye my hair pink and wear green lipstick.

My patient and his family approved my posting this story. The little guy wanted to know if the picture would be on the TV!