Above and Beyond

Sarah's ophthalmologist is our family's favorite doctor. I, hands down, respect him and feel more gratitude in my heart towards him than any other doctor (although her pediatrician comes in a close second).  He has consistently gone above and beyond his job description for our family whether it is by trying to hunt down a new neurologist for us this past summer (before we were dumped by the Cleveland Clinic doctor) or by helping me find another drug treatment option other than Avonex. He doesn't have to do any of this, but he does it anyway.

It's funny because when Sarah was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and we had to see a parade of doctors that first week I thought I was going to like this doctor the least. He had a ton of fancy awards and magazine articles plastered everywhere in his office that he received and were written about him. I figured that he would be an arrogant doctor who didn't listen to his patients because he knew everything about everything related to the eye. Boy, was I wrong.

Dr. Locastro is definitely efficient, but not in a rush you out of the door kind of way. His time is valuable, but he recognizes that so is ours. We have only had to wait in his waiting room once for an extended period of time, and that was because he squeezed Sarah in on a moments notice because we noticed an issue with her eyes. He is professional, but warm. I have yet to make that man laugh or crack an extended  smile, but I am working on it. The best thing about him though is that he is not just a doctor to us. He is a father. He is able to step out of his doctor coat and relate to me as a parent, and the advice he has given me when his father coat is on rather than his doctor one has been invaluable. I don't know too many doctors willing to offer me advice as a parent instead of maintaining their professional facade.

He is the doctor I turn to when I have a question that I cannot get answered by anyone else. He has called our family after business hours to help with questions that we have had, and has come to see Sarah in the hospital after hours on the weekend - time when he could have been with his family - to make sure she was getting better. He very well could have waited the extra day, and we could have traveled to his office, the difference in her vision wouldn't have been that much more significant had he waited another day, but it was important to him to see her - he insisted on seeing her, and true to his word he came.

So, it should come as no surprise when I got a short note in the mail from him today, along with an article about an alternative drug to Avonex that has been found to be very effective in the initial clinical studies of keeping relapses at bay for MS patients, and also putting Optic Neuritis to bed in patients for years. I almost cried. Here is a man who understands my love for my child, as he is a father himself, who understands my concerns with Avonex, and who is busy with so many other patients of his own, and yet still took the time to research an alternative, effective, less toxic treatment than Avonex. This is an article he found in the Journal of Child Neurology - Sarah's neurologists should have been doing this kind of leg work for me, not her Ophthalmologist!! But there he is - not only researching alternative treatments, but printing out the article, writing me a short note, and having his staff send it off to me. That is something that more than just a good doctor does - that is something a man of character does.

It is things like this - going above and beyond - that make me understand why he has all of these awards and accolades. It is what made me smile when I saw that he added a new plaque to his wall this past visit - he was chosen as one of the best doctors in America for 2013 - but instead of smiling with contempt and cynicism as I did that first visit to his office - I was smiling because I knew it to be true and well deserved. Dr. Locastro is truly a wonderful, wonderful doctor. I can honestly say that he has been a lifesaver to me - both emotionally and mentally. He made me remember - that it is Bob and I - not Sarah's doctors that know Sarah the best - and although they have a lot of knowledge about what treatments work best for specific diseases Bob and I know what will work best for Sarah based on the information they give us. This treatment is definitely something that I am going to research the heck out of. I am excited that there are other options on the horizon other than the one that we were basically told was the only option - Avonex. I am glad that I listened to my gut in turning that down - for now - because had I not done that this option would have never crossed my path. Little things like this - an article in the mail - mean so much to me. It is easy to feel like a crazy person when you are pushing back on the world - telling everyone that the course that everyone follows might not be the one for you right now. That this specific drug that almost everyone uses (or a similiar one) may not be the right course for your family, and more importantly for your 8 year old daughter. You really start to question your sanity, and your gut, when a top neurologist at a world renowned hospital drops your daughter as a patient because you ask for more time in researching the course of treatment he is recommending.  Small miracles like this are what keep me going. Dr. Locastro didn't have to do any of this for us. He could have just treated Sarah for her Optic Neuritis only, referred all of our questions to her neurologist(s) and then have been done with us. Instead he chooses to go above and beyond for us time and time again.

It is fitting that I should have received such a wonderful gift in the mail today given that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. In all of the anger and sadness and confusion that I have been feeling lately, it is nice to be reminded that I still have a lot to be thankful for. I will never forget all that Dr. Locastro has done for my family these last 6 months. He has given me a new sense of hope, and there is nothing better in this world than that.