The Tipping Point: Coddle + Cure's Origin Story
Why did you start C+C?
I started the website for Coddle and Cure in 2020 during the pandemic, as a platform to help lift others up in a time of such uncertainty in the medical world, but the why really started long before that.
Even at the beginning of my career, during my time as a resident and then as a doctor (I’m a board certified Podiatric Surgeon), I found myself placing orders for patients to get them less expensive medical supplies using my amazon account (if they didn't have one) so that they could save money on things like crutches and boots whose prices were were hiked up at the hospitals. I always knew this healthcare system was messed up. Filled with talented doctors but expensive and out of reach for a lot of people.
I thought the best thing I could do was to be one of the good guys. To help people where I can; do my small part by treating patients and teaching students and residents how to be good doctors, while spreading a little knowledge along the way.
And I did that for 10 years. Until my world was flipped in 2019.
My love, Barrett, had an episode on a plane. It was not quite a seizure, not quite fainting, but something weird and scary. He was stabilized in the air by myself and our friend Priscilla until we landed 20 minutes later in our then hometown of San Francisco. B was taken by ambulance from the tarmac to the nearest hospital.
In the emergency room, they assessed him and came to the early conclusion that perhaps he had over indulged on our trip to Vegas and was hungover and dehydrated. But that didn’t seem right. Nothing from my medical training made me disbelieve them; this was a total gut instinct. By seeing someone whom I knew so well, look so ill out of nowhere—my gut just knew this was not a hangover.
“Here’s my advice if you just don’t feel right about leaving the doctor with what you have been told: Speak up. Don’t be rude or condescending, but be honest.”
And I was. I said: “Doc, I have to tell you: we have been hung over many times before. This just isn’t normal. I don’t feel comfortable taking him home, I’m scared something else bad is going to happen. I know you don’t think it was a seizure, but is there some small test or blood work you can do just to make sure?” He obliged and ordered some more bloodwork, as that wasn't out of the question.
That sent us on a trajectory I could never have imagined. I’m going to be general here when speaking of Barrett’s medical condition, procedures and results. To be honest, it's all too much and we don’t need Monday morning quarterbacks critiquing what happened 3 years later.
The bloodwork came back abnormal—really abnormal. Which led to brain scans, which discovered an inflammatory brain lesion.
In 24hrs he went from fine to possibly having brain cancer.
Barrett spent 4 days in that hospital until they were able to get a hold on what was happening to him. They couldn’t quite figure out what the lesion was. It was pretty abnormal looking and behaving. They put him into the MS (Multiple Sclerosis) category and set him up with repeat scans and a doctor to follow up with. He had one last brain scan before leaving the hospital, for good measure. We had just gotten him home from the hospital when the phone rang at 6:30 pm on a Friday. It was the neurologist. He was worried because the lesion had worsened in just those 4 days. He ordered some meds for Barrett to get IV (intravenously) and he had to go to the cancer center immediately to get them administered.
I began to call everyone I knew in NY and California to get a recommendation for the best Neurologist. The recommendation for Barrett’s doctor came from one of my brilliant, sweet patients, who was also a pediatric neurology fellow. I emailed her and asked who she thought would be the best at UCSF, the top hospital in San Francisco. I then polled every doc I knew in UCSF to try and help get Barrett the soonest appointment. Best I could get was 3 weeks away, and that's with all the name dropping.
Lesson here- use your network. Never be shy to reach out and ask people for help or recommendations.
Things like this went on for months: lots of tests, lots of visits, little answers. He was thankfully stable and so was the lesion, after that emergency medicine. There were talks of chemo and brain surgery, but little evidence to push any doctor to a definitive plan. We were constantly in fear of what this mystery brain lesion was going to do. But then I found out I was pregnant Dec. 2019. So not knowing what this lesion was going to do became less of an option.
We decided to head to Mayo clinic after several recommendations from friends who had remarkable success. I got him an appointment for the end of Feb 2020. Barrett was working hard to stay positive, and to continue on with life in general, so we decided I would handle his medical logistics. Things like making appointments, calling back doctors, dealing with medical bills, so many bills (then collections because of that original airport ambulance-that’s another story!) and emailing family with detailed updates.
Lean on friends, family, neighbors who are willing to help. Patients need to focus on getting well. If it's possible to trust someone else with the logistics, please do so.
Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minnesota during the month of February felt like a freezing cold medical Disney world. But we felt so well taken care of and cared for. We spent 5 days there. After another million tests, they gave us a plan.
Barrett was going to need brain surgery. Just a biopsy, but still, brain surgery. They said we could get the biopsy done at UCSF so we could avoid having to travel post surgery, but that the procedure should be done and it should be done soon.
The biopsy was scheduled for mid March when the pandemic hit San Francisco. USCF along with all the other hospitals in the area canceled all non emergent surgeries, including Barrett’s. It wasn’t until May 27, 2020 that he was able to get the biopsy and start his treatment with the proper plan. Almost 1 year later. I told them they needed to have him in top shape by August 2020 because there was going to be a new man in my life and I’d have to take care of him also: our son, Jackson.
At each doctor's visit those first 18 months, I: took diligent notes, messaged the doctors with questions, read up on everything they suggested, prepared questions for the next visit, scheduled his exams and tests, and typed up long summaries for our parents and family because I knew they were torn apart to not be there.
Barrett often says if this happened when he was single he would have just gone home from the emergency room and never questioned that he might have just been hung over. That even after the initial hospital visit he would have been overwhelmed with the laundry list of things they asked him to do for follow up and probably would have just not done it, like he had done for his shoulder injury several years earlier. Not because he doesn’t care about himself, but because it is so overwhelming and the last thing you want to do when you’re the patient is call an insurance company and argue about an ambulance bill.
Skip ahead to August 2022: Barrett is well. That biopsy opened up the path to understanding what happened that day in 2019 and gave the doctors at Mayo and UCSF an excellent treatment plan. We sleep well knowing that Barrett is healthy and that he got the very best care.
I share this with you because this is my reason. This is why I started Coddle and Cure. Whatever I know, I want to share it. I never want any person struggling with a medical crisis to feel alone. I hope one day to grow this platform into a community and an organization that can truly make a difference and help anyone lost in the convolution of our healthcare system.
Thanks for reading along. If you need help, reach out. I will do my very best to point you in the right direction.
- Be well, Dr.D