I had surgery with Dr White yesterday morning. He spent a decent amount of time explaining the game plan and made me feel like we were doing this 'together'. He is the first medical doctor that I've ever seen get truly outraged on a spiritual level at the inequity of our healthcare system. This man has made me cry every time I see him, but only the most beautiful tears of gratitude. His number one mission for me was to ease the pain I have lived with all my life and nothing less than perfect would do. Of course I still have pain from the operation, but I can say for the first time that the pain I've had in my right hip every day of my life is gone. It's just gone. I have a PAO coming up with a colleague of Dr. White's which he will be assisting on, and then the same labral reconstruction on the left hip about 6 months later. I have been told my hips were "pristine" on x ray by one of the top docs in Colorado. I've had my pain boiled down to "anxiety" and even conversion disorder. Dr. White was so determined to help me heal; not just physically but emotionally and spiritually, that this morning before his first surgery of the day he came to my room with a thumb drive video of my operation from beginning to end, pictures of my poor hip and disappearing labrum, and the incredible afters of the new teres ligmentus and labral allografts he did. He showed me the way he reshaped my femur head to fit perfectly into the socket. He wrote little notes next to the picture and at the end, a little note that made me cry....again. He said, "Courtney, I hope this and th ganz give you a hip you can trust in the future."
Dr. White is the single most compassionate doc I've ever met. He is familiar with my disease (ehlers-danlos) and has pioneered methods of stabilizing the hip joint that are pure genius.
Above all, he is a good man. with a heart of gold. He has already done something for me that no one else ever could. He validated my pain. He showed me the pictures that proved I wasn't a hypochondriac. He told me he was sorry I suffered for so long. He gave me dignity and respect. He looks me in the eye and tells me that my pain is valid and that he can help. I had been so helpless and hopeless for so long. I had been forcing myself to live in a suicidal amount of pain for everyone but myself. I was told I couldn't be helped. Brian basically begged me to get imaging done. He promised we'd see my pain. He could prove it. Seeing him was my last resort. I was ready to leave this Earth and my beautiful, precious babies because of the amount of pain I was in. It's terrifying when the pain gets so bad that even the greatest gifts on God's Green Earth aren't enough to make you stay. I know in my heart of hearts that Dr. White could see this all over my face at our first meeting. He saved my life. I know I have a long road, but no one else would help me. No one would even look. He absolutely saved my life.
