Betrayal

It is amazing how life can change in the blink of an eye.  Feb 27, 2006, the day Brian was diagnosed and we were given no hope for his survival.  The day in 2008 when he was re-diagnosed after having had no evidence of disease for 16 months.  A year ago when we were told that he had cancer in his brain.   September 3, 2011 the day he died.  Brian was a Chiropractor, and a really good one at that.  He had a natural talent for it.  He was committed both to his patients and the community in which he worked.  We worked hard through all of these life changes to keep the clinic that he so loved open and running.  In 2010, Brian was on some pretty heavy duty chemo and he was tired.  That was when we decided to hire an associate (Dr. C) to help out.  I never imagined that Brian would really never practice again, I don't think he did either at that point.

I was just dealt another life changing blow in late December.  In early November I offered to sell our practice to Dr. C.  Just before Christmas, she announced that she had decided not to purchase the practice AND that she was going to open her own practice down the street from it. What's that saying?  Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?  Why should she PAY for the practice when she was confident all of the patients would follow her to a new location?  She never signed our contract, so I don't have a "no compete" clause, which means there is nothing I can do to stop her.  She sent letters to our patients letting them know that she was leaving and where she was going.  She handed out her new business cards to patients she was seeing in my clinic while on my payroll.  She sabotaged the schedule by telling patients NOT to schedule their next appointment.  She is taking my front office person, who has worked for me for almost 4 years and on top of that has been calling her and telling her which patients from our clinic she scheduled that day.......At a time in my life where I was concentrating on taking care of me (the one person I completely neglected during Brian's illness) and my children, she was taking everything Brian and I had worked so hard to build and maintain.  I honored our agreement (though it was never in writing, remember she never signed the contract) to offer her first right of refusal on the practice.  While I waited for her reply, she was acting like a looter after a hurricane, taking everything she could.  It was a cold and calculated move. 

I'm sure she can somehow justify this move to herself and to the patients she is seeing.  I'd like to see her explain to my kids though how instead of doing the honorable thing she chose to take away the one thing that our family needs, a small amount of financial security.  You see, life insurance is one of those things that Brian and I always talked about but never did.  We talked about it with the birth of each child, and after baby number 4 we were getting quotes for it.  Brian was over weight so it was fairly expensive (though we were looking at the wrong kind) and he wanted to lose some weight before we bought it.  He had always been so healthy, so we never felt a sense of urgency, little did we know....So, selling the practice, while it was not the  amount of money we would have gotten had we had life insurance, it would have been enough to get me through until I figure out who I am and what I am going to do.

I listened to a voice mail on Brian's phone today.  It was our oldest daughter leaving a message for him.  She was telling him how Dr. C was taking his patients and how mom was so upset and was going to have to work harder than she already is.  I'm sure there was more, but I couldn't understand what she was saying through her tears and I am too heartbroken to listen to it again.

Who did Dr. C hurt with this move?  She hurt me and she hurt my kids, and she did it with a smile on her face.  I am strong though, or so I've been told, so I will survive this blow.  I will somehow find a path to wind my way out of this deep dark hole that I have been thrown into.  I have to, I have 4 kids that depend on me and I do not intend to let them down.  They have had enough pain in their young lives, and this was just one more blow that they did not deserve to receive.