By HARRY COVERT
This is the happiest holiday of the year for me. Lots of good things are happening, including my venture into retirement from the Alexandria Sheriff’s Department and prognosis of good health. In the spirit of the holiday and such happy prospects, I didn’t want to neglect recognition of three of the finest Alexandrians I know.
Harry Covert
For 25 years, Michael David Lieberman has been my primary doctor. He’s kept me healthy and has always been ahead of the curve when advising me on how to stay fit and live a long time. He recently informed me there is no reason I couldn’t have another quarter-century or more of productive and happy life. That’s nice to hear.
Dr. Lieberman and I are about the same age, he’s three months younger, and we both don’t look bad for a couple of guys at three score and 10 plus. He’s an avid sailor, I’m an avid talker and thankfully he has always been on the mark with medical advice.
It was in the middle of a hot July day in the early 1990s when mowing the lawn I broke out in a heavy sweat halfway through and then could not continue. I sat down for a while to recover my strength. Over the next hour or so, I managed to finish the yard. It was not easy.
The next morning I thought I’d take a walk around the block and suddenly, exhaustion hit me again. This time I figured I’d better see the doctor. Fortunately, Lieberman was in the office and immediately looked me over and calmly said I may be having a heart attack. He sent me around the corner of the medical complex to the “newest and best young cardiologist.” Amazing because the young physician, Narian J. Rajan, instantly diagnosed the problem – heart arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat).
No heart attack thankfully and a prescription for the next decade did the job. I continued regular visits to these medical men, par excellence. Then, unexpectedly, following a checkup, Dr. Rajan said I needed a stent. That almost sent me into mental paralysis since I’d never had any type of surgical procedure. I was scared almost to death.
Dr. Narian Rajan
Dr. Rajan did the job the next morning at Fairfax Inova Hospital. I couldn’t believe it but I watched the procedure. He explained everything as he went along; even though I shut my eyes watching him push the stent into place. Four and a half months later, preparing for a Caribbean cruise, I had to have a checkup. “We have to go in again,” Dr. Rajan, an expert tennis player, reported. “And, we have to do it tomorrow.”
I wanted to take the cruise and pleaded to put off the second procedure until after the cruise. The wise doctor, smile and said, “Sure, go ahead if you insist. Do they have an operating room on the ship?” I said I didn’t know. “Well, you better check it out today because you’re going to need it.”
He was right and back to the hospital, he burned out scar tissue, inserted a new stent and I’ve been perfect since.
For three years, I began to suffer severe back pain. I tried everything to ease discomfort. Nothing worked. So Dr. Lieberman checked me out again and, after discussing life in Alexandria, some politics he was blunt. “If you don’t get this fixed, you’ll be riding in a wheel chair,” he said.
I was walking with a cane. One of my friends thought I was affecting a new look as an addition to sartorial splendor. It was pain I’ve never felt. We discovered I had two slipped discs and another one slipping. Excruciating.
Dr. Corey Wallach
“I want you to go see this new orthopedic surgeon,” Lieberman said. “If it were me, I’d do it tomorrow.” The pain was so great, I took his counsel and called Dr. Corey J. Wallach of Alexandria.
Dr. Wallach agreed to see me. “I can fix you up,” he said. “If you can endure the pain there’s no need for surgery.” I thought he was kidding. He was serious. “Go home and think about it and let me know,” he said.
Half-way home, I called Dr. Wallach’s office and said I couldn’t stand the pain. Within two weeks, this young surgeon had me on the table at Mount Vernon Inova Hospital. We laughed and joked in pre-op. I reminded him it was back surgery not brain surgery. We all grinned and the nurse inserted the needle in my arm “to see if all was well.” And for the past one-and—a-half years, I’ve never had any pain, no prescription painkillers and the discs are perfect. Walking is fun.
In the rush of our holiday celebrations, we sometimes forget to thank those who know how to make our lives better and better. Lieberman, Rajan and Wallach. What a first-class triumvirate.
I step into my new “private life” now — no cane and no pain, just smiles and years to come.–©Harry M. Covert 2012
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The original verson was published Dec. 29, 2011 in The Alexandria Gazette and is used with permission.
