Dear Patients,
I dedicate this website to you. I cannot share your private information, but I can share how you have brought joy and meaning to me and so many members of your care teams.
You have shared your laughter and tears, your joy and vulnerability. You have shared your gratitude. Though my web design team (me) will take some time to get this done, I aim to make this section about the joy, gratitude, and vulnerability of patient care. Eventually maybe some photographs will make the page, but for now I will simply note some of my fondest memories with you.
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I firmly believe that our stories mend us together, and I am so grateful to have a little of each of your fabric woven into my life.
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Sincerely,
Jill Clark
- One of my patients from Utah still sends me holiday cards in the mail every year in Washington.
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- One of my Washington patient's son hand-made an extraordinary wind chime for me.
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- One of my Utah patients (and I think you know who you are) looks like Florence Welch, and I'm still suspicious that you came to see me more often than you needed to, just to check on me.
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- Similarly, one of my Wyoming patients always alleged to be coming in for a check up . . . but she always brought doughnuts and warm hugs!!
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- I promised one of my embarrassed Utah patients that I am very forgetful and that I would definitely forget her right after meeting her. Then I did forget! A few weeks later at a local fitness expo, I heard, "Dr. Clark, Dr. Clark" from across the convention center. "You DID forget me!" she exclaimed. "I want you to meet my husband."
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- Another Utah patient worked at the zoo with the orangutans. I took out a part of her colon for a tumor. At her postoperative appointment, she brought me 2 paintings, each original artworks by one of the Hogle Zoo orangutans. One is called "Colon," and the other is called "Colon Tumor." One day if she ever finds this, I expect I'll hear about it if I haven't posted photos!
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- One of my recent Washington patients had moved to California, but he flew back to Washington for me to be his surgeon. While I am sure he could have gotten excellent care in California, our initial connection was this meaningful to him. There are no words for what it means to hold someone's trust like this.
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- One of my dearest, longest-time patients named her daughter after me!
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