“No offense to you, Doc, but I hate coming to the doctor.”

I hear these words at least once a week when I walk into a patient’s room.

In 15 years of practice, that means about a thousand times.

And that does not include my training years.

There will be variations of the theme, of course:

“I really don’t like coming to the doctor.”

I get anxious in the doctor’s office. That is why my blood …

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I was trained in delivering bad news.

I knew what to expect.

I knew the questions that would come.

I have learned the stages of grief.

More importantly, I had done this before many times in the past 15 years.

This is my job and my responsibility, I told myself.

I got to work earlier than usual, diffused some comforting essential oils, and did my routine 10-minute morning meditation. Then I slowly sipped my tea and …

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