True meaning of compassion
A family doctor’s compassion changed Deanna LeBlanc’s life.
The Morden resident said Dr. John MacEachern showed her the true meaning of compassion for others in 1985, when she was 16 and found herself pregnant with twins.
“I will never forget the day I showed up unannounced at his office with stomach pain,” she recalled. “I was six months and in premature labour. I had no family support, but
Dr. MacEachern helped me through. He examined me and immediately requested all his appointments be cancelled for the day.”
LeBlanc will never forget MacEachern putting her in his car and taking her to the Berwick hospital.
“He prepped me, called the ambulance and drove in the ambulance all the way to Halifax with me,” she recounted. “Once there, he assured me I was in good care, updated the doctors and said his goodbyes. I was young and scared and his compassion that day has stayed with me to this day. Without him, on what remains one of the worst days of my life, I am unsure how I would have made it through.”
Although LeBlanc’s story in 1985 ended sadly with the passing of her twin girls, she was blessed with the birth of twin grandchildren 37 years later.
“This was a true miracle to me,” she said. “I always wanted a girl and I always felt a void after losing my twin girls. Now, after raising three healthy boys, two of which Dr. MacEachern delivered, I am blessed that I have my girl and my twins and they call me Nana.
“I will always remember and appreciate his kindness.”
After MacEachern left his practice, he pursued a surgical role at Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville.
LeBlanc is one of the Atlantic Canadians who recently shared their story with SaltWire in advance of National Physicians Day on May 1.
ANEURYSMS
Lennox Island, P.E.I., resident René Provencher had Dr. Paul Corney as his family doctor for about 10 years. It was Corney who referred Provencher to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Wotherspoon, who he has been seeing for around five years.
Provencher said Wotherspoon changed his life.
“I had been referred to Dr. Wotherspoon by Dr. Corney because of pain in both knees I had been having for a number of years,” he explained.
Provencher’s right knee had been bothering him the most when he and Wotherspoon discussed the possibility of a knee replacement. During the conversation, Provencher revealed he had fractured his right femur in the 1980s.
“At that point, Dr. Wotherspoon wrote me a requisition for an X-ray on my right leg to be sure the femur was straight,” he said.
Provencher was dumbfounded the day after the X-ray when he got a phone call from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown asking him to come in.
After a CT scan, Wotherspoon gave Provencher a referral to see vascular surgeon Dr. Peter Midgley.
“Dr. Midgley informed me that I had multiple aneurysms that required surgery ASAP,” said Provencher. “He asked me to come back the following week to discuss the types of procedures he would have to perform, once having consulted with other surgeons.”
The day before his appointment, Provencher received a phone call from Midgley’s office telling him he was no longer practising and his case was being sent to Halifax.
“Needless to say, I was shocked that my surgeon stopped practising just after I had seen him for the first time, with him telling me he would see me the following week,” he said. “I was not sure what to do or who to contact. The only thing I could do was wait for someone to contact me.”
Within a few weeks, Provencher received a call from Dr. Pat Casey, asking him to be in Halifax later that week. In Halifax, Casey informed Provencher that he had six aneurysms which would require five different procedures.
“It was only then that I realized how serious this was,” said Provencher. “Over the next month and a half, they coiled an artery leading to the spleen, cutting off blood supply to the spleen. The next procedure was to coil an artery in my right leg, followed by surgery to repair an aneurysm in the iliac artery. The next procedure was to do a bypass on the major artery on my left leg. A month later, he performed a bypass on my femoral artery on my right leg. I was then informed that there was an aneurysm on my aorta near my heart that fortunately did not require surgery immediately. They would just keep an eye on it with yearly CT scans.”
Provencher’s final surgery was on Dec. 17, 2020.
Since then, recovery has been long and slow. He still has swelling in both legs.
“I was extremely fortunate that these aneurysms were discovered by an X-ray only because of a previously fractured femur,” he noted. “This has changed my life. If these aneurysms had been left untreated, I might not be here. I may have lost one or both legs.”