Dear Dr. Nicolson

When Dr. Nicolson retired, I cried. 

He was my pediatrician since birth and I remember with panic when I turned 18 and he told me he could no longer be my Dr. I remember thinking WHAT? Who am I going to have to go see? He so kindly said I was an adult and he was a pediatrician, which meant he only saw children. Of course I knew that, I guess I had never thought that he wouldn't be MY doctor always. He always had been, through chronic ear infections and later a surgery to restore my hearing, vaccines, and regular check ups. I was never nervous to go see Dr. Nicolson in fact going to the Dr. always seemed fun like I was visiting my old friend. 

I grew older and had my first baby pictured above at just 8 days old. There was no question who his pediatrician would be...of course it could only be Dr. Nicolson. I delivered Aydan at Good Sam in Phoenix because I had fertility issues and my doctor was there. Dr. Nicolson did not have jurisdiction at that hospital and said absolutely DO NOT let any other Dr. do Aydan's circumcision. He said, "Do you know how many botched jobs I have seen?" Well...as a new Mom of course I didn't want that! So at eight days old Aydan and I went in for the procedure. The poor baby cried and cried and sweet Dr. Nicolson held him gently and walked the halls of the office until Aydan was calm and asleep. That was Dr. Nicolson so kind. He watched as Aydan grew and would let him play with the otoscope. Aydan could take it apart and put it back together. Dr. Nicolson counseled me about Aydan then. He told me to watch him, that this was not normal for a young child and that his thinking would be that of an engineer. That he had a different kind of mind and that he might also have some attention issues as he aged. He taught me about attention issues and spoke of his son who could see things three dimensionally and that he didn't always do well in school but he was a genius in his own right. I have never forgotten that as I work with my children but hundreds of others that come through my classroom. After he would give Aydan a vaccine he would turn the syringe into a water gun and have a water gun fight and let Aydan keep those syringes. Which he used in the tub and loved. He was so good with Aydan boy. 

I had Ellie in an emergency c-section unexpectedly. She was delivered at Banner Desert hospital on February 5, 2007. The next day Dr. Nicolson popped in my room to see "my girls," he said. He checked on Ellie and then continued to check on me every day after that for the whole week, every day. At the time my marriage was unraveling and I didn't quite know what that would look like but I was all alone in the hospital. Dr. Nicolson would come and sit at my bedside and pat my leg. I would cry and he would tell me everything was going to be ok, and I believed him. I can't tell you what that means to me. His kindness was a tender mercy for me.  I was in such a tender state, that he would take time to sit with me each day for a few minutes. He has been an example of kindness and love my whole life and there has not been another pediatrician like him that I have met since. I just want to say thank you so much Dr. Nicolson, I love you, you are an example of love, kindness, gentleness, and just what a pediatrician should be. I only hope I can be to children what you were to us. 

XOXO- Grateful for good examples. The Sunny D.