A Good One Goes

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Christmas celebration with my dad's side of the family in 2022 was great. I don't know why or how, but despite a 2 1/2 drive, I had the best day celebrating with them possible. We celebrated on the 26th together, a Monday, since Christmas Day was on a Sunday. So that Monday, I felt good physically, and emotionally as well. It was so nice to see my sweet aunts, and especially my nieces, and nephew. The very next day, the 27th, I had my monthly appointment scheduled with my pain management doctor a little after 3pm. When I arrived, I noticed a sign on the door, instructing patients to call the phone number listed. Long story short, my pain management doctor had died on December 23rd. I sat in that parking lot, shocked. I drove home, went to my apartment, and just started crying. I have had several pain management doctors, and most were suspicious, uncaring, and short tempered. That could have described a lot of my doctors. But not Dr. Bowlware. He radiated joy, and made you feel like everything you did and say mattered. I remember hearing him talk with a man who was extremely upset one day (you can hear through the walls if voices are raised), and somehow he calmed that guy down, and he left content, without his prescription having been changed at all. That amazed me. One day Dr. Bowlware came in, sat down, sighed, and smiled. He said I might be his favorite patient because I never complained. He then chastised himself because he knows that's his job; he just hates to see suffering so often, and understandably, it can get to a doctor. He was just fifty-five years old. The last time I saw him at my November appointment he looked awful, but he had tested negative for Covid or any types of flu. For our protection, he was wearing a mask. Now, he was just gone. I thought about his wife, two daughters, and bawled my eyes out periodically for the next few days. About six days later I found the website to leave condolences, and I left a heartfelt message for his family, as I saw other patients had as well. I still don't know the cause of death, but the world lost a great man. I wish everyone could have met him. *If you're wondering, yes, it was a nightmare to find a new pain management doctor. They even tried a holistic pain management clinic that didn't prescribe medicine, that only did procedures. They found my back injury too severe to find any of their techniques "therapeutic". Three months later, I did get a new pain management doctor. A good man, but sadly, he's not Dr. Bowlware. But who could be?