Dr. Blahey is an Angel

In 2006, I joined the Marine Corps and in 2007 I was sent to Iraq. After all the terrible things that happened there, I was ready to come back home, I made it! On the way home from Iraq, I had the worst cough I’ve ever had, to the point of coughing up large amounts of blood. When we arrived back in the U.S. I did not immediately go to the doctor. I had plans to visit with my friend’s family, which was six hours away from Camp Pendleton. We went to sleep when we got there and I woke up with my shirt stained with blood. I asked them to call an ambulance and remember nothing until I woke up in the hospital with a chest tube draining into a bucket. I had a collapsed lung and was eventually diagnosed with Bronchiolitis Obliterans Organizing Pneumonia (BOOP). I was in the hospital for 4 months. The vast amounts of steroids given to treat the BOOP caused a secondary condition called steroid myopathy and I couldn’t walk without a wheelchair or a cane. I was medically separated from the Marines in 2009, as the lungs take a long time to heal and the illness comes back 1 to 3 times per year. I have seen approximately 30 different doctors in the last 18 years and Dr. Blahey is at the very top of my list for professionalism, knowledge, bedside manner, and trustworthiness! She listens to the symptoms I tell her and actually does the hands on work that so many doctors do not do anymore, such as check my ears , nose, and throat; and draw blood and test for Covid, flu, and strep. She wants to make sure she is treating the correct illness. Two years ago I was diagnosed with another autoimmune disorder called scleritis in my eye. She had me in an eye doctor within one hour of seeing her and I had this diagnosis within 4 days. I should add that the diagnosis is not an easy one to make. I had 11 different eye exams and tests until one of the eye doctors decided to send me for an ultrasound on my eyeball in Houston. Without Dr. Blahey’s network this may have taken months to diagnose or I may have been misdiagnosed. At this very moment I am dealing with a scleritis flare up and I have called Dr. Blahey after hours or on weekends 4 times, which I HATE to do. She has answered every call, offered to put in medications after hours, and had a positive attitude while working at 8 pm. There is so much more I can say about Dr. Blahey as a doctor and as a person, but what I really want to say is, Thank you Dr. Blahey! Thank you for making me feel comfortable coming to you with my health problems and not making me feel guilty for being sick or bothering you! Thank you for taking the time to research and understand my illness. Thank you for answering the phone whenever I call upon you! And thank you for being humble enough to send me somewhere else when you feel there is someone that may better treat my symptoms. Thank you, Dr. Blahey for being the best Dr. I have had and for being such a great person as well as a great doctor! My wife and I appreciate you more than you can ever know!!