Doctors come and go

Just as the news has come that Dr. Thompson is retiring, we are welcoming a new doctor into our family. Our grandson, Jonathan Thornton, today will officially become a doctor as he graduates from medical school. He has been selected to do his residency at Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minn., so we won't be able to use his skills personally very often, but he has already kept abreast of medical situations in both of his paternal grandparents.

One of my most poignant memories of Jonathan happened when he was a toddler. His mother was having serious surgery out of town and I was sharing babysitting duties with his maternal grandmother in her house in Butler. When I arrived for my "shift" Jonathan was asleep. My co-grandmother left for her job and in a little while Jonathan woke up. He had seen me often but he didn't expect to see me in that house at that time. He wouldn't let me hold him, but ran into every room in the house looking for his parents. He even insisted on going down to the basement to see if they were there.

When he didn't find them anywhere he let me pick him up and he put his head on my shoulder and just sobbed. I almost sobbed with him as I tried to explain to him what was happening. In a little while his older sister came back to the house from where she had been staying with another grandmother. Jonathan became very happy. He now knew he wasn't left alone. His sister made the decision to stay there with "Jon-Jon" and I was as happy as Jonathan was. I can't believe that little boy who cried on my shoulder is now Dr. Thornton.

The retirement of Dr. Thompson will certainly be another milestone in our lives. The certainty that he would take care of whatever ailed us was reassured each Sunday as we saw him singing in the choir. Occasionally, we would see him take out his cell phone and listen and then possibly slip out the choir door. The few times there was a medical emergency in the congregation he would always come quickly to assess what was happening. I'm sure that was a great comfort for the pastors who knew they would not have to deal with such things.

He mentioned the number of babies he has delivered. We can proudly say that two of them were our great-granddaughters. That's a tie we will never forget.

Dr. Thompson is the last of a long line of doctors we have depended on in the different places we have lived. Ones that our readers will possibly remember are: Dr. Ammerman, who delivered me in the old Ammerman Hospital; Dr. Ronald in Butler who delivered our last child, Susan; Dr. Lutie and Dr. Long, also in Butler; Dr. Pascoe and Dr. Pearce who took care of our children's ailments here in Nevada; Dr. Candice Moore while she was a general practitioner; several visiting specialists, mainly for Lester; Dr. Loney in the past and again now in the emergency room; Dr. Gravely when Dr. Thompson was not available; and many others that we consulted from time to time for different reasons. Everyone was appreciated, as well as the doctors who cared for my parents and sister, Miriam. They were mainly Dr. Pascoe again, Dr. Wray, and for Miriam, Dr. Harms.

There are other great doctors in town that I didn't happen to consult professionally, but honor for their good work and civic mindedness. I won't start naming them now or I would surely leave someone out.

As I proudly welcome our grandson to this profession, I want to thank all of those who have cared for me and mine and think Nevada should be proud of their medical teams and hospital. I know I will find another regular doctor that will be great.

I still will miss Dr. Thompson, but plan to still see him singing in church. I hope the fishing is good, the grandchildren cute and smart, and that Kansas wins all games except when it plays Mizzou.