Thanking a retiring St. Cloud physician
Dear Editor:
My family wants to honor Dr. Peter Morrow of St. Cloud, for saving my husband’s life when my husband was suffering because of the symptoms of the Delta variant. By writing this letter, we hope to inspire other patients in our community who over the years received compassionate and professional care by Dr. Morrow. We believe my husband Daniel can enjoy his post-Delta variant life in part to God’s mercy upon his life, and second, to Dr. Morrow’s human, medical intervention.
My husband contacted the Delta variant of COVID in August 2021. It got a grip of my husband’s health and took our family through a four-month journey of hospitalizations, medication, and health virtual visits. We thank God we had Dr. Morrow on our side.
First, when Daniel was released from the hospital the first time, he almost died at home in front of my grandson and me. It was an unforgettable moment, followed by sleepless nights fearing the worst. Daniel’s symptoms did not improve, so we called Dr. Morrow’s office. His assistant, Alisha West, immediately made room for us to have a virtual visit — which saved my husband Daniel’s life.
As soon as Dr. Morrow saw my husband’s face, difficult speech, and swollen ankles with dots of blood visible through his skin, the doctor told me to call 911 immediately. Dr. Morrow then told me he would personally call Orlando Health St. Cloud so they could be ready for Daniel when he got there. I feared the worst at that point, but Dr. Morrow reassured me my husband was going to be okay, but he needed to be in the hospital for further treatment.
Dr. Morrow was right. Daniel was kept in the hospital for almost two additional weeks. We truly believe that Dr. Morrow’s compassionate way of treating our family actually saved my husband’s life. We thank God every day for making this happen through a committed physician like Dr. Morrow.
Second, after the second time he was released from the hospital, Daniel went through a series of prescribed medication and radiology appointments. We had no idea how much his lungs had been damaged by the Delta variant and did not understand much of what the results were showing. It was one of the radiology results that brought about the intervention of Dr. Morrow. After hearing our confusion and distress, he took time once again to help us understand what was going on with the radiology results.
As we understood it at the time, Dr. Morrow actually walked from his office practice and across over to the hospital where the records were kept and spoke on our behalf with the person in charge of reading the X-rays. We knew he did not have to do this, but Dr. Morrow did that. Once we heard what our next steps were going to be, we felt relieved and confident things would turn around for us, and my husband would get the special treatment he needed from various specialists in the field of pulmonology. We understood what we needed to do and it was clear that my husband had to go through a series of evaluations including walking again and breathing tests. For that, once again, we are forever grateful to our physician, Dr. Morrow. As of the writing of this publication, Daniel enjoys a good and healthy life with his lungs functioning at incredibly normal levels.
Thanks, Dr. Morrow and Alisha West, his lovely assistant, for caring for us the way you did. You are a great team together. To say we will miss our doctor when he retires at the end of this month is an understatement. We had to share our story to commemorate his dedication and truly caring virtues as our primary physician. I hope our story moves other patients of Dr. Morrow’s in our great community to do the same and share about the wonderful care Dr. Morrow has provided for them as he did for our family.
We will miss you, Dr. Morrow. We will miss your candid advice about the importance of taking care of our health and that there are certain things in life that happen naturally and by divine intervention. You are great human being. We pray you enjoy your retirement. You deserve it, after more than four decades serving our community.
Daniel and
Teodosia Rivera
St. Cloud
