The pandemic, COVID-19. It’s been this great disruption in everyone’s lives. Sadly it’s been more than that for some families. I pray and hope we are entering the end phase of this particular outbreak, and that gradually and safely things can return to normal, or as close to what our routine lives used to be. Whatever that looked like for each one of us as individuals.

We’ve all had to make adjustments in our daily lives, work & home, we have become shut ins, for the most part. Many have no work at all. It is my sincere hope that the country can quickly recover. As for myself, I also have had to make adjustments and am asked, from time to time, how I balance being a Plastic Surgeon in Beverly Hills with a busy Practice, and being a husband and father of 3 kids ages 3 and under, in these unusual times.

Here’s what my temporary new normal looks like :

If I’m not up working out by 5:45AM (3-4 days a week), the rest of my mornings usually start the same way…a pitter patter of feet across the hallway and the abrupt appearance of my 2-year old daughter, Violet, at the end of our bed at 6AM. “Daddy, talk to me!”

After I make breakfast for my twin 3-year old boys, Jamison and Smith, and Violet, my wife gets them ready for daily “learning lessons.” This usually consists of reading books, coloring, and creativity.

I hop in the shower and get ready for the office, as though I was going there. Amidst the crisis, I have now transitioned all my preoperative appointments, consultations, and follow-ups to telemedicine via video chats. I am still able to examine a patient, offer multiple options, and prepare them for necessary surgery – or prepare them for future elective surgery. Occasionally, I come to the office to sew up emergent lacerations, or I see any complex patients that require in-office examinations.

I’m in the process of writing a book, and I will complete administrative tasks. In addition, I review procedural techniques via videos from some of the surgical “greats,” in order to stay at the top of my craft.

Dinner with the family by 5:30PM most nights, followed by bath time with the kids, story time, and sink into bed to catch up on our latest shows.

That’s what a day in my life looks like currently. I’m grateful for my family, my partner, friends and colleagues. What are you grateful for in your life? Focus on that, stay safe and we will get through this together.