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PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE

IT’S HARD TO QUANTIFY

THE JOY OF WORKING WITH
CHILDREN

By Sheldon Gross, MD, 2018 BCMS President

Dear Colleagues,
This month’s issue of San Antonio Medicine is about pediatrics. being completely seizure-free is watching a child’s life change 180
Since I have been practicing child neurology for the past 34 years, degrees. I have come to realize that most parents view their chil-
I assumed it would be very easy to write a one-page column about dren as the most valuable thing in their life. It is both humbling
my feelings working with children. Instead, I have found it to be and an honor to know that parents are trusting their most valuable
quite the opposite. I find it impossible to distill the experiences of and cherished children to you.
34 years into one page. I will however, endeavor to point out a few 3) Lastly, there has been such dramatic progress made in almost
fundamental philosophies I have developed as a result of my ex- every aspect of pediatrics and in my case, child neurology. In one
perience with families and with children. of my earlier columns I mentioned a neurological condition,
1) Children are more adept at expressing pure unbridled joy Werdnig-Hoffman syndrome, which had been uniformly fatal up
and happiness than any others. I have seen this in the eyes of until the past two or three years. There are now genetic treatments
strong and healthy 5-year-olds that have had nothing more serious available that offer these children an entirely different future. I
than minor bumps to the head. I have seen the same joy and hap- have seen hypothermia introduced into the neonatal ICU for term
piness emanating from the eyes of a 3-year-old with the most se- babies that have perinatal asphyxia. I have watched babies that I
vere form of cerebral palsy. It is almost as though no one ever was convinced would suffer terrible brain damage, only to see
told them they had neurological problems. I have come to the con- them leave the nursery looking like normal children. I have
clusion that most people who are attracted to pediatrics or pedi- tremendously enjoyed working with colleagues in the various fields
atric subspecialties do so because they value the exposure to this of pediatrics. They share my appreciation for the uplifting nature
type of complete and thorough happiness of soul. My life is en- of medicine geared towards children.
riched as much by this exposure now at age 65 as it was when I I realize that this discussion likely seems superficial to many.
was 35. I have three colleagues in child neurology who are older However, to go more deeply into the various experiences and
than 75 and still practicing. I am convinced that what drives them philosophies I have learned from children over the years would
to maintain their practice is not the thought of making more require writing a three or four hundred page book. At times one
money. It is the desire to continue the interaction with children likes to think back and ask what could I have done differently to
and to continue to see the joy in their eyes. have more fulfillment in my career? In my case, the answer is a re-
2) I find it fascinating to work with individuals that are growing, sounding “I would do nothing differently.” Being a child neurol-
developing, and changing. I have many patients with chronic dis- ogist and working with children is one of the best decisions I have
ease such as epilepsy, migraine, or attention deficit disorder. I often made in my entire life.
start working with them at age 5 or 6 years or even younger. I often I know that most physicians in other fields could write very sim-
continue working with them up until age 21. I see them as they ilar columns about the uniqueness of what they do and why they
finish elementary school and eventually graduate from high school. love it. I would welcome such submissions to San Antonio Med-
I have seen many of them go off to college and choose a career icine and hope to see some of these published in the future.
path. When I first tell a mother that her child has epilepsy and I I would also like to take this time to congratulate Dr. Jayesh
see the shock and fear in her eyes, I never hesitate to tell them that Shah for being elected to the Board of Trustees of the Texas Med-
many of my patients with epilepsy are smarter than I am and in- ical Association. He is an outstanding individual and will do a su-
finitely better looking than I am. It is difficult to quantify or ex- perb job for the state. Bexar County Medical Society is very proud
press the satisfaction one gets from seeing a child struggling in to have such outstanding individuals in our membership. Enjoy
school and wondering what is wrong with them to eventually treat- the summer.
ing an underlying problem with attention span and watching them
graduate with honors and have outstanding academic careers. Sincerely,
Watching a child go from being a poorly-controlled epileptic to SHELDON GROSS, MD, Bexar County Medical Society

8 San Antonio Medicine • June 2018