I was very fortunate to have a primary physician, who did things incrementally, and as non-invasively as possible. We had been through the palpation of the nodes in my groin, the xray and blood work, the CT scan, the fine-needle biopsy, and had finally landed at the surgical excision biopsy stage.

The sample was taken, and sent to the lab. Next, the long wait for results.

I figured the best thing to do was to keep busy while the lab did their thing, so I tried to keep my regular schedule. I was scheduled to do some work in a town about 90 minutes from my home, in an area where cell phone reception was not dependable.

I left work, and headed for home. My cell wasn’t accessible for approximately 20 miles. When I checked, I had a voice mail message. I retrieved it. It was my doctor, asking me to call his office.

The call was placed, and the Doc came on the line. “Mr. Caldwell”, he asked, “are you in town?” I explained that I wasn’t. “How long before you get back here?”, he asked. I told him it would take about an hour and twenty minutes. That would make it around 5:30 pm. “OK”, he said, “can you come to my office? I’ll wait for you.”

Now I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I had a feeling that my incredible doctor wasn’t waiting around his office for an extra hour or so after his last patient, to tell me that the results of the lab test were good.

I was correct, the diagnosis was confirmed, and I was officially a member of the club nobody wants to join. But I was, and will be, forever grateful to have had a physician so sensitive and concerned about my well-being that he waited in his office for the extra hour or so, rather than break bad news to me by phone.

That’s good medicine, practiced by a good physician.

So, what's your story? Click here to register