Thus, this is a cautionary tale for physicians and physician trainees. Give yourself the same consideration you give your patients. Keep up to date on your preventive care. Make the appointment for your annual well exam. Schedule your screening mammogram. Get that colonoscopy on the books. And follow up on your results.

She went on to specialize in pediatric medicine and then completed a 3 year fellowship in pediatric critical care. She is the doctor who takes care of the sickest of the sick kids…kids who are so sick that they wind up in the pediatric intensive care unit. She is probably someone you never want your kids to have a reason to meet, but if your kid is that sick, she is undoubtedly the person you want taking care of them.

There’s significant and growing health disparity and inequity for children in the U.S.. As clinicians who bear witness to those widening disparities and inequities, we have a responsibility to advocate for policies that can improve the health of all children. Gun violence is the second leading cause of death in the United States and is associated with increasing critical care resource use, yet we do not have adequate funding for research about firearm safety and injury prevention. Poverty is a major social determinant of health for children and increases the utilization of pediatric critical care. Black children have an increased risk of complications and mortality following surgery, even if they were healthy prior to the procedure. Our patients under the age of 18 can’t vote—we can. As pediatric intensivists, we have a responsibility to ask candidates who are campaigning for office what they’ll do to improve the health of children. Then we must vote.

I took a typical route through medical school, residency, and sub-specialty training. I didn’t finish my pediatric critical care training until I was 32. I moved back to my home state and, within a year, began a serious relationship. Like many others my age, I had not really talked about fertility preservation at that time.