Dr. Tracy AKA DR. FISHNETS......

I know I babble endlessly about the good things that arrived in our lives because of M-E's battle with Leukemia. I just don't know how not to.

Dr. Tracy Hentz was one of our most precious gifts. She was brand new as a fellow. She was 13 days into her first rotation as the In-Patient Hem/Onc fellow and she was Children's gift to us. It sort of went like this...

Good Morning:

I am Dr. Deb Friedman. I am the inpatient Attending. This is YOUR fellow Dr. Tracy Hentz. She will be yours for the entire time you are a patient here. Quite frankly, I would have rather had a high-speed connection and a very stiff drink at that point in time but I have since learned she was the best gift of all.

She cared for us, she fussed over us. She watched and worried about everything. She came to see us even when we were not her job for the day. She took the time to do all the extra things that helped and asked all the really insightful questions about how we were doing and would fight for us to leave when we were sick to death of being at the hospital. (She only yelled at me once when I didn't take M-E to the emergency room when she had a fever. I am still in trouble for that one. But I knew what it was and I just could not face 378 hours of waiting.)

Tracy also became our friend. At some point I took great comfort in the fact that she was willing to be more than our doctor. It was a sign to me that M-E was going to make it. In some of those very dark days of worry and lack of progress, she was going to be okay.

We love her so much that we sent her to live with Belle and Karen in Chinlee. We could not let her stay here and be unhappy and Tracy will be a great fit for the Dine' (Navajo). She listens, she has a special ability to figure out what people really need and it is not always medicine. She will value the healing ceremonys and learn from the Medicine Men. She will be able to help with the cancer kids that will need her and she will feel like she is not too far away.

She has made it to Chinlee and has unpacked. She has discovered that rattle snakes and tarantulas are nothing compared to the Black Widow Spiders. She is settling in to walks with the REZ dogs and red dust. She is bonding with the local grocery story and grieving about the loss of good coffee. All in all it is good.

Before she left we gathered some people and decorated Waiting for the Interurban. Here are the pictures.