(Not a snippets from the frontline)
Saving Dodger Manager Dave Roberts’ life
I got home late and didn’t know if the Los Angeles Dodgers had won that day, so I simultaneously phoned my mom and turned on their baseball channel. “They lost again” was her reply, “but it’s still early in the season, so no worries!”
As we discussed the loss watching the Dodger station, they mentioned the past challenge Manager Dave Roberts had battling his 2010 cancer diagnosis of Hodgkins lymphoma. I recognized his San Diego cancer doctor as my intern from residency at UC Irvine, and my mom thankfully said “he saved Dave Roberts’ life!”
I explained to her Dr. Daniel Vicario and I did a hematology/oncology rotation together at the VA Hospital in Long Beach, and our first patient had lung cancer. Completing the physical exam, I asked if he found any abnormalities. None. I told him to look in his eyes again, where he noticed papilledema, suggesting possible brain swelling.
A new technology tool known as a CT scan was just installed at the hospital, and we felt it could be educational using it to help clarify the diagnosis. We were both excited.
After a week the scan was done, so we hightailed to x-ray but couldn’t find the radiologist. We yanked out the films ourselves, and voila, Daniel found a metastatic lesion in the brain!
For us, using our history and physical exam, and tying it to the technology of the day, changed the treatment plan of the patient. I knew for Daniel, this moment also changed the eventual course of his training. My mom hearing of this, explained if this common experience hadn’t happened, Dr. Vicario might not have pursued oncology and been there to save Dave Roberts’ life. Therefore laughing, “you helped save Dave Roberts too!”
She reminded me of what she told us growing up: “We all live forming a matrix of life, standing on each others shoulders. If one of us is weakened, it weakens all of us. That why we all have to care for each other.”
I hadn’t talked to Daniel for over 35 years, but my mother insisted I call to thank him for saving Dave Roberts’ life. Indeed, the other day I called and he agreed seeing papilledema and utilizing the CT scan changed the direction of his life.
So it’s Mother’s Day today, and if we all care for each other, the matrix of life will be stronger for all of us. That is what moms teach us, and that is why Dave Roberts is alive today!
To Mom: Dr. Vicario sends his love, and Happy Mother’s Day!
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
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