Roxbury Pediatrics

Carry on today with love.

COLOR and SOUL: A father walks in the room joining his wife before I do a procedure on their young child. They were back and forth on the phone just before this.... They’re both very anxious. He sets his eyes on me sitting calmly on my doctor stool, fully doned in PPE. He is a tall big man with a loud expensive, opinionated presence. He opens his mouth and lives up to this expectation. He took one look at me and freaked out. He ranted you’re the doctor?!! You’re the doctor? Is there someone else here?! ( he looks out the peephole and his eyes wishfully landed on a tall white man in scrubs who’s not a doctor). He looks at me again.. are you sure you can do this? Do we need to go to the children’s hospital?! How old are you??... he spits out all of this without regard for common decency , before he or I could say our hello. His wife looks down, embarrassed but says nothing. I understand he is just anxious and wants the best for his child... so we talked, I reassured him of my medical degree and experience and so on, and I worked on calming him down... and as I distract all of them, I immediately worked on his child, giving him little massages, tickling him and I expertly reduced his little elbow without him or any of them even knowing. His relief was instant and gratifying but I found myself ambivalent to this father’s half cooked apologies and sentiments. At some point I asked in a friendly way, what does an experienced doctor look like to you?.... He declined to answer same manner I declined to answer when he asked me my age.. I did look at his toddler directly and playfully answered my own question quietly and sweetly .. I said, I am an experienced doctor. This is what an experienced doctor looks like. and both parents gave a half embarrassed laugh and agreement. I felt it was important for him to hear that. Way too many for too long keep silent and in this silence, him and others will learn to act just like this dad. As of 2021, I’ve held my medical degree for 20 years and that procedure I can almost do in my sleep due to experience. It’s unfortunate I have to explain myself like this more times than I care for. Just cause either I’m brown, short, a woman and seemingly young even though these days, people only see the top half of my face. Today I paid attention to my child’s brown doll and the book that tells her that her curls are beautiful. We talked about color, and gender and how it doesn’t matter and that what matters most is how we are inside ourselves. She says, you mean inside in our soul, mama? Yes, I said, inside in our soul ( she’s recently watched the movie SOUL, by Disney .) So I ask you the same in a friendly way cause now more than ever we need to have these conversations in a friendly way... What does an experienced doctor look like to you? And if you need more convincing that you also need to consciously teach yourself or your children a more open, more accepting, and loving way of being, please watch this video. I saw this posted recently and it impacted me just as powerfully as it did the first time I saw it. It’s a reminder of the world we live in and that it’s up to us to make it better for those little eyes with big open hearts who are watching us closely.

She said is well....

Thanks for wearing a mask, Pull it up (like those teen boys with the saggy pants) #RoxburyPediatrics

Covid vaccine does NOT cause infertility. (Some participants in the trials got pregnant by accident)

This frame should have a sad face instead of a smile. Please have a lovely holiday celebration WITHIN YOUR OWN HOUSEHOLD!!!!

UCLA is enrolling families who have a child that is positive for COVID-19, to study household transmissions. If your child is positive call to enroll.

Interesting: Attending social events and play dates increase a kid’s risk, But attending school or daycare DID NOT. And, like we are seeing in our office, most kids in this study get Covid from a PARENT or household contact .