Hi Reader,

Follow-up: I'm proud to say that I'm still Dry for January, except for a small cup of delicious, warm sake I was offered at a friend's house during a maki roll-making party inspired by their young daughter's new found love for the cuisine -- Kanpai!

I'm still giving myself credit. It's important to be flexible with this kind of thing.

I still remember the time my late brother, Jim, introduced the rest of the tribe (mom, dad, Matt, and me) to the range of cuisine that most people refer to simply as "sushi". He suggested we go to a restaurant in Allentown, PA to give it a try.

I was young and a bit apprehensive, but I've never looked back. This is one of many things he introduced me to for which I'm grateful.

Japan was one of Jim's favorite places to visit. The unique combination of neatness and quirkiness suited his sensibilities. I think he even had a Japan 4 tattoo...

If you haven't seen the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, I recommend it.

It's full of gorgeous imagery and valuable life lessons. The dedication of the tamago (egg/omelette) guy alone will leave a mark on you...

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The Direct Care Derm

The show is up to 576 listens in 3 weeks! Thanks to all of you who have listened, subscribed, rated, reviewed, and given me feedback/encouragement.

​Episode 006 featuring the wonderful Dr. Dhaval Desai drops today. It's a treat.

A brief note about the episode:

As any decent entrepreneur knows, problems are to be expected, and it's our job to solve them.

When we were preparing to record, there was a loud echo of just my own voice that I couldn't figure out how to ditch, so we just went for it.

I did my best to ignore it, and we managed to have a great conversation.

However, the echo ended up being attached to Dr. Desai's track. This meant that when I was editing, I had to use just his track with both of our voices in it -- mine acually being the echo of my voice -- in order to avoid hearing everything I said twice. We know I already say more than enough as it is!

This workaround made the timing slightly off and reduced the quality of my voice, but he still sounds great.

This glitch also means I wasn't able to capture side-by-side video of us for the short video clips I like to share, so it ended up being just Dr. Desai in those clips, even when I'm talking.

I think this actually ended up being a blessing in disguise because it means we get to see him listening.

It's a beautiful example, even though he wasn't deliberately trying to show it, of the art of active listening. It's immediately apparent, just by watching him listen, why and how Dr. Desai is such a wonderful physician, friend, father, son, and husband.

Dhaval popped into my life at an interesting time.

Perhaps something inside him — you'll find out what I mean once you hear him speak — moved him to reach out to me at that time.

We are both part of a virtual men's group that often resembles the "locker room talk" of which former president Donald Trump speaks so fondly.

Author and renowned feminist, Caitlin Moran, refers to this type of talk as "banter" in her important book, What about men? A Feminist Answers the Question.

Men excel at banter, but they don't tend to be very good at talking about their feelings. This is primarily due to lack of practice. That adds up over time and has far reaching consequences.

My conversation with Dhaval is wide-ranging, vulnerable, and healing. I hope you enjoy it.

Some things we discuss:

🔥 How Dhaval helped save me without knowing it.
🔥 The big power of small gestures.
🔥 Systemic racism, George Floyd, and white passing with vitiligo.
🔥 Talking about getting help — Men can be vulnerable, too.
🔥 Don't compare your despair (shout out Robin Roberts).
🔥 The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation. (The recipient of all sales proceeds of Dr. Desai's book.)

More about Dhaval — Dhaval Desai, MD is a dedicated father, husband, son, and doctor. In his work as a caregiver and a colleague, he places a priority on the well-being of both the patient and the healthcare provider. His commitment to fostering and advocating for humanity in medicine inspired him to write a personal narrative of his experience as a frontline physician during the COVID-19 pandemic, Burning Out on the Covid Front Lines: A Doctor’s Memoir of Fatherhood, Race and Perseverance in the Pandemic.

Along with sharing the story of his own struggles as a leader and healer during a time of intense pressure and uncertainty for countless doctors, nurses, and hospital workers, Dr. Desai calls attention to ongoing issues plaguing the healthcare system, including health inequality, racial injustice, an emphasis on metrics over compassion in treatment, and the alarming rate of burnout and suicide among healthcare professionals.

What I'm Writing

​Is LinkedIn the cilantro 🌱 of social media platforms?​

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​Millennial Toa$t with a Twist​

1 TBSP of pumpkin seed oil 🎃 for fabulous hair 👩‍🦰 + 10ish grams of locally grown kale trio microgreens 🌱, abundant in vitamins A, C, and K, for firm, glowing skin.

​The 🐕 Days of a Wisconsin Winter 🥶​

​Your Derm's Secret to Looking 40 at 50 without Needles & Knives🧴

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​Anne Lamott on How to Get Ourselves Working Again​

What I'm Learning

I'm learning about my blind spots and potential missteps.

A good friend and subscriber messaged me after reading the bit about "clients" vs "patients" in last week's newsletter.

Recall:

He said, "I’m interested in hearing more about why clients not patients. I’m sitting with it because my initial reaction as a patient is 'I don’t want to be a client. My health shouldn’t feel transactional.' Curious what other people think."

I explained that, for me, it's less about the word itself and more about being steeped for a long time in a broken system of “providers” and “patients” that thrives on getting the most "patients" through to the fewest "providers" possible, which makes all of us feel like we're on an assembly line.

When I think about "clients", I think about people who are choosing to pay for a service they value/desire and are expecting something commensurate to that payment in return. In contrast, when I think about "patients", I picture someone who doesn’t feel like they have choices, agency, a say in things... they feel and behave like a passive receiver of “healtchare”.

I'm grateful he cared enough to ask.

Perahaps, while my intentions are good, the message I'm sending with this language is bad, so I'm also curious what other people think.

What do you think? Let me know. I value your honesty and opinion. 🙏

What I'm Building

I had a great conversation with Kate Groff, NP, Chief Nursing Officer at FirstHx, about a digital health tool I'm excited to use in my practice.

​FirstHx is the kind of thing I imagined in my head but didn't want to build. Thankfully, some other awesome folks also imagined it AND built it!

And many of those folks are physicians and other clinical care team members. When it comes to digital health innovation, that matters.

I'm passionate about serving people who haven't felt served, seen, and heard by the insurance-dependent dermatology market.

These people often have complex "medical histories" that can be initmidating to doctors who are constantly strapped for time and stretched too thin.

​FirstHx will enable my clients and I to work together to paint the best possible picture of the story that brought them to my digital doorstep and organize it in a way that is accessible and useful.

I know my clients won't care about my solution if they aren’t first convinced I know their problem.

This will help facilitate that in even the most complex cases.

I was pumped to learn that FirstHx is in talks with VitelHealth, the physician-founded platform I've elected to use for my practice, to build an integration so I'll be able to use FirstHx's tools seemlessly within VitelHealth.

This integration will improve the client experience and my expeience, both of which are priorities as I build my practice.

Catnip (Dognip?)

This is Yuki.

She's the oh-so-good girl of my new friend and microgreens 🌱 dealer, Frank Stella, owner of Cricket Bow Farms here in Wausau, WI.

The kale trio on the Millennial Toa$t came from Frank.

Frank and I are both recent graduates of the excellent GEARS Certificate of Entrepreneurial Excellence program at MCDEVCO here in Wausau, WI.

Here's to shopping local!

As usual, I'd like to express my gratitude to each of you for being one of my first 136 subscribers! It means the world to me. If you know anyone else who may enjoy or benefit from this newsletter, please share this note with them or send them here to sign up and get a free gift from me. Talk soon, Stephen ​ P.S. — Above & Beyond Dermatology, my dermatology practice is open for virtual visits to residents of Wisconsin (full branding and website as well as brick and mortar location coming soon). If you or someone you know lives in Wisconsin and needs the help of a dermatologist, simply email me at drlewellis@aboveandbeyondderm.com or text me at 715-391-9774 with any inquiries. I'm happy to give you a no obligation, good faith estimate over the phone. Heard me talk about Sun Powder and want to try it? You can order it here and beat the Amazon price by almost 20%. ​​​​​​ ​ ​

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