I had a routine stress test, which surprisingly suggested that I had a perfusion issue with my heart. My doctor recommended an angiogram and cardiac catheterization. The problem was that I was already scheduled to fly to a remote area of Alaska 4 days later to begin a new job. The nurse at my cardiologist's office was able to get me scheduled for the procedure as an early morning add-on, just 2 days later, leaving less than 48 hours until I was to be on a 7-hour flight to Anchorage, followed by another 1.5-hour flight. I had many questions about how this would work, and I spoke to my cardiologist the night before the procedure. He assured me that as long as the procedure was done through my wrist, I would be cleared to fly.

I arrived the morning of my procedure to find out that the only cardiologist working that day did not do wrist approaches; only through the groin, which would have meant no flying for at least 1 week and rescheduling flights, losing my housing arrangements, renegotiating my contract, rescheduling all the patients that I was scheduled to see the following week, and so much more. So here we were with a dilemma the morning of my procedure....cancel the procedure and risk having a cardiac event in remote Alaska, proceed with the physician I was assigned to with the groin approach and reschedule all of my plans that literally took months to make, or think outside the box. This is when Meghan stepped in, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, "I don't want you to worry; we will figure this out".

She was amazing. She was professional, compassionate, extraordinarily qualified, and she became my personal advocate. She looped in all the doctors involved, as well as her supervisor, and was very diplomatic with the doctor who was originally scheduled and made me feel at ease. One of her peers, Katie, also deserves an honorable mention. Together, they kept the focus on my needs and helped me relax while we all waited for another doctor to be called in to perform my procedure. In the end, my cardiologist, whom Meghan spoke with personally, was able to find another team member to come in and perform my procedure through my wrist. All ended well, and I caught my flight. Without Meghan and her willingness to advocate for me, I have no doubt that things would have gone very differently. It takes a special person to go above and beyond as she did, and I will be forever grateful.