Wakelee Bledsoe

The article on Anne Donatelli made me feel a need to blog for her.  But writing about her, made me naturally begin to think about Wakelee.

I met Wakelee when my oldest son was in need of a Pediatrician.  I  loved her from the beginning.  She didn't hold back on her opinion, and it was always caring.  She gave me all the "best case" and "worst case" scenarios.  I believe she did this, so that we were never surprised.  Luckily we never really got the "worst case scenario" but we would have been prepared for it, had it come to that.  I was really pretty lucky with all my kids.  They just plain were healthy.  That good health made them pretty darn adventurous, and we had lots of visits to the hospital.  I don't regret any of that.  They had extremely full and fun lives.  Extremely.  And Wakelee saw us thru all of their adventures to the hospital. 

There was a time ...oh....about maybe Katie's 4th broken arm, that I noticed alot of questions were being asked of both Katie and myself.  I realized they were wondering why a young girl was in the hospital so often for broken bones.  It was almost funny, but a little scarey too.  Wakelee took care of that though, and I never had a problem.  I can sure see why they would wonder about it though.  We made AT LEAST yearly emergency trips to the hospital.  Overall, my kids had about 8 broken bones.

I will say, the concussion that Evan had was without doubt the scariest.  He was about 7 or so, if I remember right.  He'd been doing jumps on a BMX bicycle, and fell and hit his head, while at a friend's.  I was called to get him and it didn't take me long to know he had really had a hard hit.  He did know me, but he was bleeding, and kept asking "Where are we? Where are we going?"  Over and over.  We spent the night in the hospital, and of course it all turned out fine.  Wakelee took care of him, and visited often, though we were only 2 days.  She knew that THAT scared me ...and she just had a calming affect on me. 

Besides that concussion and Katie's broken arms, she saw Joey a few times.  He had managed to fall on a nail and a few days later it became infected..... badly by the appearance of high white blood levels...(or something like that) He would maybe need to be on IV .... I was prepared to spend time in St. Lukes, where we went.  He wound up having a "Miracle Recovery"  .... I STILL don't really get that. He couldn't walk, then he was running around.  Beats me.  Worst case scenario ...negative.  Home we came.  Joey had another medical miracle like that....and another medical miraculous recovery.  He's like that..... my obstinate child who likes to be different.  Home we came again.  Wakelee supporting us the entire time. 

We didn't really get sick often, but we did once, when I was expecting Joey.  Evan, Katie and I all got ear infections.  I didn't take myself to the Dr. .... but eventually I did drag myself to her, and she took care of me too....after scolding me for letting my ears bleed before I took myself in. 

My daughter and son take their children/my Grand Children to her.  Life is certainly a circle...I'm so glad of it.

Again, part of that circle....is that Wakelee was Jessica Miller's pediatrician while she was so ill with her childhood cancer.  Jess loves Wakelee, and her feelings about her are intense.  There is a feeling of 'She saved my Life" when you hear Jess talk about her.  When we found out that Wakelee had become so ill, I could see how devastating it is for Jess.  Jess says that Wakelee saw her "Thru it all, from getting her tonsils out, til she made me get a Grown up doctor at 20 years old"   She also says "People like her should be exempt from cancer"  It sure seems true to me, but I know that somehow "what will be, will be"  It will all work out how God means for it to.  It sure makes it hard to understand at times, so we just have to know that it's not really for us to question the 'whys' of difficult times.  Love....Live..... and Appreciate NOW.

My family sends prayers and best wishes for Wakelee.  We love you and are forever grateful for you.

Jessie Miller, Jessica Miller, Evan Miller, Katie Miller, Joey Miller, Jillian, Bryce, Austin, Cash, and all the Grandparents.