Cherished Relationship Spanning a Lifetime

Family Doctor: Dr. Glenn Gould

Well My Family doc story is most of a lifetime.

In about 1984 or 5, my Dad who was 64-65 at the time was painting our back fence in Varsity and took a lashing over his eye by a branch of a bush that sprung back. He called to me while I was in the back garden. He rarely asks for any assistance so I knew this was urgent.

I came around to the alley and saw blood sweat and tears flowing down Dad’s face and we jumped in the Austin Marina and booked it to Market Mall Clinic. There a very young Dr. Glenn Gould met us and calmly ushered my Dad to one of the clinic rooms and irrigated the eye and upon examination said the injury was full of sound and fury but not of long-term significance. Bandaged up he and my Dad were already comparing notes on distance running—the value of a shared literary cannon to throw around such great allusions.

Well Dr. Glenn was my Dad’s Doctor for life—through three surgeries to address his peripheral vascular disease, three attempts and one success at smoking cessation, the challenge of University, mandatory retirement, shared poetry and books at every visit, a few TIAs and eventually stroke recovery, and to the end. Glenn was my 2nd call when I found Dad, deceased in the shower – getting ready for a lunch date with younger colleagues at 82 years. Glenn came to the phone to explain procedure to me with an unattended death and walked me through getting some support there for me and getting someone to come pick up my 4-year-old before the Police and Coroner would arrive.

Dr. Glenn was my doc too. He helped me with weight issues, three pregnancies, caregiving balance over eight years of having my bi-polar Mom in our home, the challenges of a child with health concerns, support for the choices of my three very different children, and the sincere handshake at each visit until his retirement when he thanked me for the privilege of knowing and working on health with our whole family.

Key to the depth of this teamwork was that the assets of his patients were present in his thinking. He saw our skills, experience, values, and goals as important to our health and to his understanding of the best treatments. He did not share our faith, but he responded with deep respect and appreciation to our principles. When we turned that faith encouragement towards him in the deep challenge of his cancer diagnosis he received our cards, notes, and drawings sharing our prayers with the same respect. He could honour our long faith obedience although he didn’t share it. He never dismissed the element of our faith from our health decisions.

I marveled at Dr. Glenn’s ability to relate to all ages, to help without judgement and to focus most on listening to the concerns of a patient and their real-life situations.

A family doctor is an asset that was of immeasurable value to our family. To know and be known in trust and respect.

Dr. Gould deserves his retirement, to enjoy his family and their families and to keep the promise of his cancer recovery to have that time to replace the many hours of devotion he gave to his patients. But the best thing he did was to be a family doctor that mentored students into the family medicine field. He was always modeling and helping students in his practice and we now are reaping that bounty with his practice full of wonderful young doctors who have been trained to listen with patience and respect.

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to reflect on the blessing it was along my family’s journey to have a family doctor.
Lois Uptigrove, Calgary