Story of the Week: Healing
January 23, 2009 by dr. lam · 3 Comments
It’s been close to a month since my last story of the week, but finally here is another story. I believe all of my patients’ stories are real and worthy. That is why I have created a section in the forum of this website for patients to tell their own story: the story of how LFP has affected them (patient submitted testimonials) and what they love in life (tell me about your passions). This is a story that has profoundly shaken me and reinvigorated me.
I had one of the nicest ladies come to me a couple of weeks ago who was going through a divorce and other major life changes. She told me that she had kept an ad of mine for quite some time before deciding to come in. She was clearly shaken a bit and nervous. I reassured her that she would be fine and that I would not waste her money or time and would do the right thing for her whatever her decision might be. She said she trusted me, and we talked a bit about life philosophy and healing. I truly felt compassion for her as a human being first without the imposed barriers of gender, race, etc.
She decided on some Restylane treatments, which were within her budget, and I was able to focus on small areas of aging to get her tear troughs, anterior cheek, and anterior chin balanced and looking good. I saw her as I usually do a week later to photograph the improvement and to make sure I could answer any of her questions. In the photography room, her hands were shaking and she had multiple post-it notes and note cards where she was composing her testimonial about what I had done for her. She apologized that English was not her first language so she needed time to compose her thoughts. I said the words did not matter as much as her expression of them. I was in tears as she was during her reading of her testimonial to me. I showed her the before-and-after photograph comparison, and we were both elated with the improvement.
She then told me the most profound words that I have heard in a long while. Paraphrasing a bit, she said, “I was about a year from entering medical school to become a doctor when a mentor of mine whom I respected said these words to me, ‘A doctor heals bodies, and a teacher heals souls.’ So with those words, I became a teacher of little children, which I have never regretted. However, Dr. Lam, you have shown me that a doctor can heal both, and you have done that for me.”
I can say that I was on a very high cloud for the entire day and for several days thereafter. It gave me back once again a profound mission of why I have been put on this earth, and it far exceeds what I do as a plastic surgeon. That is why if you wonder if there is some kind of incongruity in a surgeon writing a lot of blogs on self-improvement, life philosophy, and life psychology, there really isn’t. I am not here just to fix faces. I am here hopefully to touch a life. Thank you Sylvia for touching mine.