Dear President Trump,

I took the day off to spend time with our family from Atlanta and as luck would not have it, I spent the entire morning at the doctor’s office waiting to find out if I had something very wrong with my right eye. All last week I had more floaters than usual and crystalline refracted lights curving out on the periphery of my right visual field. I’ve had increases in floaters before and I’m quite prone to migraines so I thought I was just on the verge of a migraine all week. Well, Friday night they got really bad and so Saturday morning I decided to Google the symptoms and of course up came the possibility of a detached retina, which the all websites agreed was very bad and could end in blindness if not treated quickly enough. I promptly called my healthcare provider, but because it was Saturday and ophthalmologists don’t work on Saturdays they told me someone would call Monday to set up an appointment. Sure enough, at 8:30 this morning a triage nurse called and said I had to come in today, that I couldn’t pass go and wait until tomorrow. It was kind of scary. Turns out, though, that the retina isn’t detached or torn but my eyes are going through some mundane aging changes where it is still quite possible for a tear so we have to watch it. I also learned I have early stage cataracts and it looks like my optic nerve is asymmetrical, which could be an early sign of glaucoma. So all in all, it wasn’t a super fun morning. Nothing terrible right now, but so much to look forward to.

The main reason to tell you all this is that I got terrific care at every step of the way, from the appointment person I talked with on Saturday to the triage nurse first thing this morning to the informative and kind ophthalmologist later. I even got a call from my primary care doctor’s office following up on some unrelated odd symptoms I’d mentioned this morning just to be thorough. Wrap around coordinated care that is timely and high quality delivered by people who are smart, respectful, attentive, and kind. The type of care we all deserve. One shouldn’t have to hit the career lotto to be able to have healthcare like this.

May we all have real safety nets that hold us when we are sick or injured.
May we all be happy to even the playing field so everyone can get the care they need.
May we all value each ones’ health and get that your health is my health and mine is yours.
May we all make peace with our interconnectedness and take due care.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson