A patient presented to me two weeks ago from the east coast. She is predominantly Spanish speaking and as a result the communication before her visit was lacking. She had arranged for a consultation with the assistance of her daughter and the translator in the clinic.
We were told she was from the west coast and was interested in a facelift consultation. In reality, she was from the east coast and was interested in a mommy makeover (breast rejuvenation and a tummy tuck). She also mistakenly was expecting to have surgery that day.
We were told that her daughter was taking care of her, that she had taken a couple of weeks off work, and was scheduled to fly home in two weeks. The only way that she would have the recovery time I would require before returning home was to start the process immediately.
Amazingly, everything fell into place for her and we were able to rush things along. We scheduled breast augmentation that evening and a tummy tuck a couple of days later. (Emergency breast augmentation is not a common part of my practice, if you are wondering).
We asked to talk with her caretaker before surgery to be sure she was responsible and capable. When we found that she was not going to be present, we of course had to cancel surgery.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
She called a local church and explained her situation. They arranged for a caretaker to stay with her for her recovery period.  The individual who volunteered was amazing.  She was a Spanish speaking, extremely nice and responsible lady. She dropped everything in her own life to care for this complete stranger who she met for the first time just before surgery. She took her into her home, helped her with food and bathroom, cared for drains and did many things that loved ones find cumbersome after such a surgery. She took her sight seeing, bringing a wheel chair. She brought her to all of her clinic appointments.
They are now great friends!
People from Utah are kind and I am proud to practice here.