Valeria Truitt
I am shocked to learn, at this late date, that Dr. Chris Newton has died so young. He was a person with a passion for living and keeping other people living and it's difficult to comprehend that he's not still out there, saving other people's lives.
He must have been very new in the endocrinology game when we first met, in 2004, because my husband had been diagnosed after almost 10 years of misdiagnoses with Cushing's syndrome. Over the next year and a half, he worked to get my husband healthy enough to have an adrenalectomy (to eliminate the tumor on his left adrenal gland that was precipitating the Cushing's). I have to tell you, my husband, who'd retired from the USMC as a Master Sergeant, wasn't easy to deal with in the best of times, and as a abysmally sick individual, he was formidable. Dr. Newton took him in stride and never lost his sense of humor. In fact, it felt as though they had formed a strong bond.
When George went into a coma following the adrenalectomy surgery, it was Dr. Newton who kept my hopes alive. When George regained consciousness after 11 days and demanded to be released from the hospital, it was Dr. Newton who showed the crusty old Marine the error of his ways--and he did it with a wonderful blend of humor and compassion.
George: I am going home. You cannot keep me here!
Dr. Newton: Okay, if that's what you have to do. But give me an hour to arrange an ambulance.
George: Ambulance? I won't need an ambulance! My wife will drive me.
Dr. Newton: Not for you, for your wife! She's nearly exhausted now from being here in the hospital all day every day since your surgery, and if she also has to deal with you and all of your medical gear in the car, SHE's going to need the ambulance about half an hour after you leave here.
George: ::*blink*::
Dr. Newton: ::*blink*::
George: Okay, doc, if you think I need to stay here another day or so, I guess I can do that.
George was released from Dr. Newton's care in, I think, 2007 and he lived until 2010. Meanwhile, I kept up with the reports from Dr. Newton's next practice, in the Atlanta area, through the ECU Endocrinology nurse, for a while, until he left that job. And I am so sorry that I just imagined him in his white superhero jacket, doing wonderful work all this time. I'm so sorry that I never wrote the thank-you letter for all he did for us when he was here. It was as though God put him at ECU exactly when George needed for him to be there and kept him there as long as George needed him, then sent him on the next leg of his mission. I guess God decided that his mission on Earth was done, but I for one disagree. I wanted him to be "out there" forever.