Back in August 2020 I wrote, “The Show Must Go On” and 8 months into the pandemic, the term, “essential” remains an arbitrary term and political weapon used to shut down businesses and limit freedoms. It remains my steadfast opinion that Vegas must open up and we should be allowed to live our lives, go to school in person, open all businesses, shoot a basket in a public park and work all jobs. We have learned so much since the 1st Covid19 government shut down 3/17/2020 and our lives have been forever changed. On 10/17/2020, I had a chance encounter with Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak while picking up a delicious chocolate pudding pie from Marie Callenders on Cimmaron and Sahara. “When we were going to open up the town (Las Vegas), Governor?” I asked, to which he replied, “we are open.” “We’re not open for everything,” I said, to which he replied, “We’re open for gatherings of 250 or less, but the virus counts keep going up.” “But Sir, the virus counts are going to keep going up no matter what we do,” I said. To which he replied, “Now you just stay safe out there”.
As a 3rd year Internal Medicine Resident at Georgetown University Hospital while rotating through Infectious Disease for a month at the National Institutes of Health, my attending physician, Dr. Anthony Fauci taught me not to blame the patient for their disease. Having had Covid19 myself in January of 2020, I know what it is like to have this particular disease. Governor Sisolak has ingrained in all of us the importance of wearing a mask or face covering, practicing social distancing and limiting gatherings. The Governor has threatened to, “shut everything down again” if people don’t comply and the virus counts continue to rise. Despite his own best efforts, on 11/13/2020 the Governor himself was diagnosed with Covid19; the irony of the Governor’s Covid19 diagnosis was not lost on many Nevadans as the man who chided us for months for not doing our part to protect against Covid19 transmission himself came down with the very illness he was trying so hard to prevent.
Like many other business owners this year, I have been hamstrung by the reality of lock downs, Covid19 and the pain of 2020. By example, costs and risks of treating patients has gone up, I was supposed to be recruiting patients for multiple research studies into atopic eczema, lichen planus, squamous cell cancer and psoriasis, while giving talks in Barcelona, Spain, Mexico City, Mexico, Las Vegas and around the country- there have been many 2020 hurdles. It has long been my goal to make the world a better place through my work as a Board Certified Dermatologist at Las Vegas Dermatology. Early on this year, I tore up my 20 goals I had made at the beginning of 2020 and replaced them with 1 goal, “To Survive”. This entire year, I have thought a lot about Garth Brooks’ song, “Unanswered Prayers”. In the song Brooks opines about asking for his prayer to come true, ultimately, it does not, and his unanswered prayer turns out to be a blessing for him later in the song- the benefit of Brooks’ unanswered prayer is what makes the song so compelling.
“The DermBros” has become my unanswered prayer of 2020- it was the most unexpected and welcome outcome of the year. Although I did not ask for or want any of what has happened in 2020, my associate Dr. David Cotter and I have double downed on our efforts into Dermatology education. We have given 10 interactive and educational online “DermBros” talks- everything from Skin Cancer and Acne to Atopic Eczema and All Lasers All the Time. During the latest Derm Bros talk, our Halloween Happy Hour Hair Loss Harangue, we entered the Las Vegas Dermatology Dojo dressed in Cobra Kai NetFlix show inspired Gis- I even sported a blue mohawk like one of the characters in the show. Because it was Halloween, Laser Tattoo Removal client and Top Rank Boxing Ring Girl Stephanie Cook introduced Round 10 of the “DermBros” series. During the hair loss talk Dr. Cotter received a Hydrafacial Keravive Scalp Treatment to clean and provide growth factors for his scalp, while later in the Happy Hour, I injected Dr. Cotter’s scalp with PRP to regrow and strengthen hair in order to give others an idea of what these treatments involve.
We are only human and when we get a disease, like Covid19, we treat it and do our best to move on. As physicians, we treat patients with disease and we don’t chide a patient for getting the disease as the deed has already been done. If you do get Covid19, your odds of surviving are still pretty good in Nevada, especially if you are young and otherwise healthy. The State of Nevada Department of Health and Human Services has documented <2,000 deaths via Covid19 for 2020. When you look back at 2020, I hope that there is something positive that you can take from your experience. Do your best to stay safe- wear a mask or face covering, practice social distancing and when the SARS COV2 Covid19 vaccine becomes available, our practice will provide vaccinations in order to help rebuild our community.
